Being in college is unarguably one of the most unique life opportunities many young adults like myself have the chance to experience. College allows a certain kind of freedom that neither high school nor the “real world” have to offer. This moment in time can be fun, stressful, exciting, heart-breaking, and or inspiring…but it can also be quite confusing. For me, I know that on more than one occasion I have felt as though I am living some sort of double-life between school and my hometown.

Being at Purdue has allowed me to meet dozens of friends from all over the world that I would have never met otherwise. What makes this dynamic interesting, though, is that these newer friends whom I all of the sudden feel as though I “can’t live without” or have known my whole life, in fact, know virtually nothing about my whole life prior to entering the realm of college. They don’t know my hometown. They don’t know my parents or my best friends from high school. They haven’t tasted a tangerine ice cream cone from the dairy bar back home (which my friends and I adore). They haven’t seen how everyone and their brother celebrates our town’s homecoming parade like it’s the best day of the year…

Alternatively, my friends and family that raised me don’t know my college life. They don’t know the best and worst places on campus to study. They haven’t experienced riding the bus with the particular drivers who drive as if they are racing in the Indy 500. They don’t see everyone going out on Thursday nights and crawling to class Friday morning. Maybe it is just me, but it is really amazing how little my worlds interact and even more interesting on the occasions in which they do.

When my boyfriend, sister, or absolute best friend comes to visit, I, all of a sudden, become aware of how this realm of mine is completely foreign to those who don’t live in it as well. As those I care about come to see me more, they get a better idea of the place, but their perception is still nothing like mine. I know what roads to take around my busy campus, the top coffee shop to frequent, the best parking places, and of course, the tastiest Mexican restaurant around town. More often than not, my people love visiting and enjoy their stay, but at the end of the day this place is mine. When I do go home, it’s a place that a handful of people from my hometown will only hear about in conversation or see on Facebook but never actually experience. Of course, I wish it was possible for my homies (literally) to fully understand the beauty and greatness of my college home and for my college BFFs to see my old, small town the same way that I do, but it just isn’t so. And maybe, just maybe, that is the best and most special part of this snippet of life.