I knew I was ready for college long before I went.

I remember feeling nervous before I started my first year, but the kind of nervous that pushes you forward instead of holding you back.

When I started at Susquehanna University last year, I was comforted by the thought that I was close enough to home that I could get there easily if I really needed to, but far enough from that, I wouldn't resort to going home every weekend.

And honestly, during that first semester, it got to the point where I wasn't thinking about going home in the first place. I was adjusted, I was happy, and I was having so much fun.

I spent most of my summer so excited to go back to school, but I quickly fell into a comfortable work routine with my summer job.

I got the same nerves I had the first time I moved into college at the beginning of this semester. They were still the good kind of nerves, but I felt a little hesitant to leave home once again. It wasn't that I wasn't excited to go back to school, I was just comfortable with where I was.

There's a big part of me that feels homesickness a lot more than I felt it last year, and I'm not quite sure why.

The first time I felt it during this semester, I felt really disappointed, like I was letting myself down for missing pieces of home.

I love it here at school. I'm happy here, I love my friends here, and I'm doing something I truly love. But something that has been really important for me to distinguish this year is that it's okay to love it here and still miss it at home.

I love the independence and the work environment at school, and I miss the simple comforts of home. I love my friends at school and am so lucky to have them, and I miss seeing my family every morning.

I'm lucky enough to have both of these places, to be able to miss one while I'm at the other and then miss the other just as much when I go back. Missing both just means I'm fortunate enough to have two places in the world that I love equally, and that's far from disappointing.