Coming home after being cooped up at college is always an amazing feeling, but it is also very awkward at times. I love coming home to my family and seeing everyone again. When I am away, I miss being home and being surrounded by the people that love and support me. But when I'm sitting on the couch watching endless amounts of episodes of "Ink Master" and random people are walking into the house that I have never seen before, it's a little awkward. Like, do I introduce myself? Do I say, "I don't think we've met before, but I'm Erika and this is my house that you've just entered"? Do I just let them go about their business? I know that they are here to visit with my parents, so do I just keep sitting here and go about my business like everyone else is going about with theirs?
It is also so weird being completely independent at college and then coming home to rules and situations that you haven't been accustomed to throughout the past few months. Like when I just go to leave the house and grab my car keys and my mom is sitting on the couch like "Where you going?" She's asking because I (1) didn't tell her where I was going (2) didn't say who I was going with and (3) didn't say what time I would be back. For the past 4+ months, I haven't had to tell anyone where I was going. Being home and falling back into the swing of the whole parental guidance stuff is just weird.
Another awkward instance is when my family is talking together and they're talking about things that have happened in the past that I have literally NO idea about. I just sit there out of the loop and trying to soak up all the juicy info I can to be able to comment on the topic at hand. It's a weird feeling to be "out of the loop" from the only constant loop I've been in my entire life.
It's also very weird having to share the TV again, like woah...what a concept. It's also weird that I can't shower at 3 a.m. and that I don't have to be up at 7 a.m. every morning to get ready for class. I enjoy being home more than anything. I really appreciate the quality family time that I have with my loved ones when I am home, but sometimes it's a little too weird being back. Like when I'm casually just trying to use the bathroom and all of a sudden the door pops open and my little dog just sits on the floor and watches me as I awkwardly continue to sit there. Hello there . . . Can I help you?
Having a younger brother and going away to college is also a SUPER weird thing because he is SO grown now. When I left for school my freshman year, I could 100 percent beat him up and not even have to worry about it, but now he's a man with facial hair and muscles and I don't think I could win anymore. (I will never say that out loud though, so don't ask me if I really think that.) He is growing up so fast and he's almost "too cool" to even know his "nerdy" sister anymore because she's going to college to be a "chemist" while he's the "popular kid" in school. Where'd my little brother go?
Honestly, college has changed my life in so many ways, but trying to adapt to life back at home after being away for a little while is a challenge that I don't think I have learned how to overcome yet. The awkwardness I feel makes it harder to be away and even weirder to come home sometimes. I wish it was a smooth transition and that I had an easier time with the change, but I wouldn't change being away at school because now I cherish the time I get to have with my family even more than I did before.
I want to thank all of my family members for letting me come back home to barge into their lives, which I am not normally a part of because of school.
I love you all and I am excited to see you all this summer!
