Going away on any long trip comes with a lot of feelings- curiosity, excitement, anticipation, and maybe a bit of anxiety. Studying abroad is no different, especially when you’re departing from the comfort of your home and leaving the familiar behind for a whole semester (or a year if you’re brave). Once you’re on that plane, en route to your new home, you can’t help but wonder what you’ll be like on the way back.

I chose to spend a semester in London, England – home to royalty, Harry Potter, the best accents in the world, and a million other English staples. From the get-go, I spent afternoons having tea at Kensington Palace, shopping on Oxford Street, and buying all the food at various markets. Gone was the life of routine and simplicity, because every day was a new adventure. Cliché, but true.

It’s surprising how easily you become accustomed to this new lifestyle of spontaneity and random adventures. After two weeks, I knew my way around the area, on the tube (subway), and was coming to know the different boroughs in London. When you study abroad, afternoons are rarely spent in the library doing homework or in your dorms watching Netflix, rather you’re constantly exploring new places and planning your weekend getaways. Who needs “Game of Thrones” when you could go to Paris instead?!

After four months of wandering around Europe, you fly back home and everything is basically the same. Of course you’re happy to see family and friends, but you miss the days of going to movie premieres, just because you can, and going to a One Direction concert, just because you can. Nothing’s wrong with routine, but when your routine becomes traveling, settling into the old one suddenly loses its appeal.

I’ve found myself looking at my (2000+) study abroad pictures far too often and holding back the urge to post a #tbt on Instagram every day. My walk to class is no longer through the quaint streets in Kensington, the uber-posh section of London, but rather through a typical college campus.

The worst part about coming home after studying abroad is that the friends you made are now scattered across the U.S., and you find yourself wondering how the heck you went so long without them in your life. You miss the people that you get lost in Florence with and the people that drop everything to get scones with you late at night. Then coming back home, you realize Chipotle really isn’t that great, and nothing compares to late-night Nando’s runs.

Studying abroad opens your eyes to different parts of the world, and “home” is no longer just one place. Being broke is the least of your worries because it meant you got to wander around Europe and have once-in-a-lifetime moments. While my next big adventure for the day is getting Starbucks after class and not catching the sunset at Primrose Hill, it just makes me more appreciative of the times I did have. You have to realize every day has its own adventures, and as Hannah Montana once said, life’s what you make it.