Heading home for Thanksgiving break was something most college students were looking forward to on campuses across the country. This was especially true for many freshmen, many of whom had never been away from their friends and family for this long before. However, Thanksgiving break may not be exactly what you were expecting.
Yes, you get to see your friends and family, and those reunions are the best, but there's also this weird feeling with being home, especially if you haven't come home in a long time. Because you're happy to see your friends, and it feels like it's been years since you've seen them, while simultaneously feeling like you just said goodbye to them in August. It's a weird, lightly unexpected feeling that can take you off guard. And then there's the fact that you're back in your hometown, with most of the people you went to high school with. In some ways, it feels like the most natural thing in the world, and in other ways, you feel like an imposter. Like you all don't belong their together anymore now that you have these new lives off at college.
That's the other aspect that adds to the weird, unexpected feelings you may run into over Thanksgiving break. While you're super excited and happy to see your friends and family, you feel weird not to be completing your daily routine at college, and seeing the people, you complete that routine with. On top of that, you start to miss your college friends, and you'll start to realize how odd and slightly annoying it can be to "belong" in two different places, even if you sometimes feel like you don't belong at either.
Overall, going home from Thanksgiving break may lead to you realizing that you actually have two homes now, your home where your family lives, and your college.
