1. Home-cooked meals
Nothing beats a nice, healthy home cooked meal. In college, you don’t get much like that. The dining hall will serve the occasional homestyle meal, but nothing will ever compare to the delicious meals cooked at home. Eating pizza and salad for every meal at the dining hall gets old after a while!
2. Your Closet
Coming to college and only getting to bring a third of your clothes is easier said than done. Fitting as many clothes as you can into the tiny 3 drawers and closet you are given is as much of a struggle as it sounds. Never take a walk in closet for granted!
3. Clean Showers
Wearing old navy flip flops and dragging your shower caddy to the bathrooms with you every time you shower is not fun. Going home for breaks and stepping foot in the clean, hair-free shower with no shoes or shower caddy is like a dream come true for college students.
4. Your Car
If you are lucky, your parents let you bring a car to school. While they are living the life, the rest of us are stuck walking and riding the bus everywhere. Not having a car is one of those things you don’t realize you miss until you don't have it. Although it may suck to walk everywhere, at least we always get our 10,000 steps in!
5. Free, Convenient Laundry
Laundry is a pain, and having to pay every time you do it is even worse. If you were lucky like me, back at home my parents always did my laundry for me. That being said, coming to college and having to do my own laundry was a change for me. High schoolers- don't take free, convenient laundry for granted!
6. Your Pantry
If you were smart, on move in day you packed your room with tons of snacks, but nothing ever compares to your pantry at home. In college, a Target run consists of buying the most amount of food you can for the cheapest prices (AKA ramen and pizza bagels), while at home the pantry was always stacked with healthy, high quality snacks. Whenever I go home for a weekend, the pantry is the first place I go.
7. Your Room and Bed
While having roommates and living in the dorm is fun, I find myself missing my room and bed at home all the time. Climbing up into my TwinXL bed on the top bunk is a nightmare compared to climbing into my big, comfy bed at home. Dad- this is why I sleep till noon every time I come home for a weekend!
8. Your High School Friends
In college you meet some of your best friends, but the inside jokes and fun times with your high school friends you will never forget. The people you grew up with know you better than anyone else and it's always the best time seeing them. Counting down the days till Thanksgiving break!
9. Extra Money
Whether it was babysitting or working at the nearby restaurant, back at home, I always had a part time job to make sure I had extra cash. Coming to college as a freshman and spending triple the money I did at home really killed my bank account. They weren't kidding when they said all college students are broke!
10. Your Family
This is by far the thing I miss most about home. Miss the countless laughs and judge free times with the ones I love most. Coming home is always the best thanks to family- and when I say family I of course mean pets as well. Cuddling with your dog is the best feeling after being away at school for a while. Nothing's better than family- never forget that!