nos·tal·gia-

Noun. "a sentimental longing or wistful affection for the past, typically for a period or place with happy personal associations." -Dictionary.com

All my life, I have heard that high school and college would be the best years of my life. The two stages are quite different, but I have learned a great appreciation for both. Since being in college, I have taken full course loads every semester, handled multiple part-time jobs, been an officer in my sorority, and tried to maintain somewhat of a social life on the weekends. With all these responsibilities looming around me, sometimes I can't help but to miss those seemingly worry free years that feel like a lifetime ago. Don't get me wrong-- I LOVE college. I love the friends I have made, I love living on my own, and I definitely love being 21 aka legal to do the things I have been doing illegally for years. But still, sometimes I hear a song on the radio or see a picture on my Facebook memories, and I have to smile a little because those were some of the best times of my life, thus far. Below are the top 5 things I miss the most about high school:

1. Friday Night Lights

Coming from a small town, I feel like "The Boys of Fall," by Kenny Chesney was literally written for our little high school football team. Every home game, we played this song over the loud speakers and I kid you not, I got chills. EVERY TIME. There was no greater feeling than cheering for some of my greatest friends who were playing their hearts out in a game they loved. Win or lose, we always went to IHOP afterwards and the party usually continued after that. Some of my favorite high school memories revolved around those Friday nights spent with the whole town celebrating our love for football and our school.

2. Knowing Everyone and Their Mama

This can be a blessing AND curse in a small town. For the most part, the majority of the 231 people I graduated with had been going to school with me since Kindergarten. If there was a new kid, everyone jumped at the chance to date him because half of us had "dated" each other already at some point in the past 13 years we had gone to school together. I could name almost any face I saw walking around school, and their mama, and their grandmama, etc., though this wasn't always a good thing as news travels fast through the grape vine. Now, being on a college campus with over 6,000 students enrolled (I know, this isn't really that big), I am lucky to catch a familiar face in a whole day of traveling across campus. Sometimes I just wish I could go back to the days of knowing who was actually around me.

3. Skipping Class and Not Regretting It

I have a love/hate relationship with non-mandatory college classes. I mean, it's awesome to wake up one day and be like "Nah, not going to class today." But 99 percent of the time, I regret skipping within the first 10 minutes I should have been in class. In college, professors don't care if you fall behind. It's your responsibility to show up and do good, no one else cares. In high school though, skipping class was like a right-of-passage. If you didn't skip your 25 minute advisement period to go get food from the gas station down the street, what were you really doing with your life? If you had a substitute for the day, skip. If you had finished all your work in that class the previous day, skip. If you had finals next week but you were passing all your classes, skip. I'm honestly not sure that I ever made it a whole week without skipping at least one class my senior year. The best part? Still managing a 4.0 and graduating with highest honors, holla! It was just high school, after all.

4. "Work" Was Just a Social Thing

Along with about 20 other girls I went to high school with, I worked at the local Chick-Fil-A. It was a part time job, of course, and I probably averaged only about 15 hours a week during the majority of the school year. My parents helped me out financially, I just wanted a job for extra spending money. I loved my job, mostly because I always worked with my friends and night shift just wasn't really that serious. We joked around after hours and played pranks; I worked to give me something to do at nights and during the weekends. Now, I work to pay bills and be responsible and try to "adult". Sometimes I work 30 hours a week, sometimes I work even more. It's a lot less fun, that's for sure.

5. My Friends Were All Here, Together

One of the hardest adjustments for me in going to college was being away from the friends I had been with my entire life. I was blessed to live with one of my high school best friends our freshman year of college, but then I transferred to GCSU where I knew no one. In high school, I had a very tight knit group of friends, a "clique" as some even said. I always knew these girls would have my back and help me make some of the best/worst decisions throughout high school. Now, our little group of friends have went off in our own directions and even though we still try to catch up every once in a while, it's not the same as spending every waking moment together like we once did. I miss being able to meet up for Mexican food whenever one of us had a bad day.

Like I said earlier, I really love college. I have met so many new people and even made a new best friend that I know will last a lifetime. I look forward to the future of graduating and growing up to be a fun, young adult in my twenties thriving in life. But sometimes, I miss the carefree days of riding around while I should have been at school and having bonfires every weekend with so many of my closest friends.