College is a magical place. If you decide to go away for college it can become even more magical. You're all on your own, (sort of) and you can do whatever you want (almost). It can be super easy to forget what it feels like to be home with your family. Until you come home for summer break, that is. That's when you face some difficulties about being home that you may not have known existed.
1. Packing/Unpacking
If you went to a school that was in a town or city that was a few or more states away from your hometown, chances are you're not going to be coming home that often. This means that you're most likely going to have your entire life necessities crammed into your tiny college dorm room. There's nothing wrong with that, of course, until you have to come home for summer and take all of it with you. It takes days to pack all of your previous belongings and random purchases that you've made in the last year into bags and suitcases and lug them across the country, but you've got to do it. That's only half the battle. Once you get home, you still have to unpack all of your things and return them to their original places. If you left enough stuff at home in the fall you might be able to put it off for a couple days (or months) because who really needs an extra noodle strainer anyways? You can circulate the same five articles of clothing and no one will notice anyways.
2. Suddenly cool things will happen in your college town and you won't be able to go.
Snapchat will break your heart. You're going to see your friends out at your favorite spot or there's going to be some kind of festival or parade a couple of minutes from your dorm and it's going to be sad. It seems like once you leave your college all the fun starts happening.
3. Finding a Summer job
Almost every single person who's in college is trying to look for a summer job at the same time as you. Being someone who goes to college in a different state makes things especially hard because a lot of businesses want someone who is looking for a long-term position. It's pretty much a battle to the death for the rest of the jobs out there.
4. Not being able to get things so easily
Most college campuses have places where you can buy everything that you need right there on campus, if your college doesn't then it's almost a given that you'll be able to buy these things at a place within walking distance. While you're at home, this is not always the case. When you're away at college, you can take a nice walk to the nearest convenience store at 2 a.m. for some ice cream or pizza rolls. You cannot do this at home.
5. Missing your college friends
Maybe it's because you go to classes together and live together and spend almost every waking moment with your college friends but for some reason you get way close way fast. You're going to miss your friends and group chats just aren't the same.
6. Trying to catch up with what happened with your friends from home
It won't feel like it while you're away but life in your hometown does progress when you're gone. If you haven't gone home for most of the year chances are that you've missed out on at least one major thing in your friend or friends’ lives. This part is kind of sad and sometimes confusing and trying to catch up is difficult.
7. Trying to use the new slang you've picked up
