Spring break is over, as fast as it came. No more fabulous trips or home cooked meals, back to easy mac, ramen, homework, and pain. I genuinely agonized my return to campus. It meant getting right back into the swing of constant assignments, papers, and exams that make poking my eyes out a questionably available alternative. Don’t get me wrong, I enjoy college to an extent – higher learning, the amazing people I have developed relationships with, and the freedom to spend my days watching Netflix without judgment. What always screws up the contentment is returning home and re-learning what it means to truly enjoy yourself. Yeah sure, in college you have freedom and parties and interesting classes, but at home you’ve got your mom to gossip with, a home cooked meal, and the bed you spent your years growing into, calling your name. Going home for spring break is the greatest vacation of all because there’s no pressure to act wild, no drama, and no reminders of all the unfinished assignments and midterm papers waiting for you when the time is up.

Leaving home to return to campus after a week away is like going through a breakup. By the end of your week spent at home you have become comfortable once again with your surroundings, excited with the snacks in the pantry and your parents smiling faces to greet you at the end of the day. You get to watch fun shows with your family and bond about things that don’t involve getting wasted or how many cups of coffee it took you to complete your paper last minute. Leaving such a perfect environment is heartbreaking, and as soon as you start to feel right at home again, its time to return to reality.

I recognize not everyone might not enjoy the home life that I do, and share the attachment that I have to my family – maybe you went on a trip to another country, or headed to the beach to shotgun beers and tan your days away. It’s as equally painful to leave those things as well. Reality bites and the short taste of sweet bliss you get from a week of no responsibilities and a literal requirement for relaxation – there’s really no recovering from the blow of its dismissal.

Being a junior, I recognize the significance of these breaks more than my younger peers. I can see on the horizon the fast approaching reality of no longer having a spring break, or a summer break for that matter. Eventually those things become “vacation days” and “paid leave,” and the opportunity to whisk yourself away with no ties to responsibility become a thing of the past.

I hope you appreciated the time you had this spring break, and the limited time you may or may not have left in the future. Because I did, and now I sit here reflecting on what is gone, and what is left to come.