Coming home for break is a weird feeling. You get so used to living a certain life for a couple of months, so going back to the certain familiarity is something that shakes us a bit. It is even safe to say that coming home from break has several different "stages," all of which make the experience one to remember. As I come home for the first long-ish break of my college career, I understand this completely.
So, here are the stages of coming home from college.
1. Complete and utter excitement
You come home and you finally are able to shower without your shoes on. This is heavenly. Even better, you feel so excited to see people you haven't seen in months. Your dogs are even jumping for joy as you walk through your front door.
2. Comfort
As your mom whips up one of your favorite meals, you feel utterly at peace. No more dining hall food for you. This time it is all real and authentic. You savor every last bite, and you make sure to tell the whole dinner table that you are so grateful for a home-cooked meal because "you wouldn't believe how old the dining hall food gets."
3. Weird feelings that are hard to describe
You begin to walk into your room, but you realize it just doesn't feel the same anymore. It feels emptier. I mean it pretty much is, considering you haven't lived there in weeks. Waking up in your bed doesn't feel the same way, and neither does sitting on your couch watching a movie. The old things you used to love now seem distant. It is weird to have someone do your laundry, and it is even weirder to have someone be in charge of feeding you again.
4. You look at your backpack, but never actually open your backpack
I hope others can relate on this one. The amount of times I bring my backpack home to work on studying is every time, but the amount of times I actually study is none. Maybe I should work on that.
5. Boredom dawns upon you
Yes, relaxing is wonderful and all, and it is super nice to walk around the house in pajamas, but this feeling only lasts for awhile. You miss being the busy bee you are at college. You feel weird having free time. I mean, after college, extended amounts of free time can even be uncomfortable.
6. You start to miss school
You realize you love your family and your home very much, but your life is not moving forward there. You start to miss the people you see in your community bathroom on Monday mornings. You start to miss that walk home from Geology. All in all, you miss this routine you have gotten used to.
Home will always be home, plain and simple. But as we enter our college days, we find it harder to live two different lives. There is a season for everything, and going back home is out of the season where we are young and can be completely independent. A home cooked meal and a mom's hug will always be cherished, but the excitement and uncertainty of independence also needs to be cherished. And that is something worth getting used to.
