Third time’s the charm, right? I am no longer considered an underclassman and goodbye’s are not quite as hard as they were two August’s ago when I made this move for the first time. The excitement of moving to a different place is gone because the place that was once new and exciting is now just another home — another place that is comfortable. I feel no nerves or stress over my class schedule or what things I need to buy to live on my own. All of that is gone.

This time around I say goodbye to my friends and family like I would if I was going to be seeing them soon. I drive into my college town and feel little excitement or nerves and much more of…nothing. Not in a bad way, but in a way that just feels like I am coming home again. The streets and the scenes are familiar to me and all I am thinking about is my favorite restaurant I finally get to eat at after months of being away.

I am no longer in the dark. I am no longer a young adult (sort of). I am half way through college and I can feel the difference. I feel older and it doesn’t scare me at all. I feel comfortable knowing my mom is only here to help settle me in before I am left on my own again. I’ve had this realization that going away for the third time is nothing like going away that first time. And there is never going to be another time I move that feels like it did back in August of 2014. It’s almost like seeing someone for the first time, and never looking at them the same way you did when you hardly knew them. Once you learn about their personality and mannerisms it’s like looking at a different, more familiar face and that, to me, is exactly how moving away again (and again) feels like.

The way I feel about my hometown changed, too. There is a new appreciation I feel toward the place I grew up that I never felt before, not even after coming home the first time from college. There is something different to me about going home for that second summer after starting college. This summer all my high school friends were off in a million different directions studying abroad and going to internships and I finally felt the pull that college had on my once most-prized friendships. Yet, the urgency to see them after being away for so long is gone, too.

This time around I was 20 years old and finally realized I no longer needed to tell my mom what I was doing or where I was going everyday. There was a new found freedom in that and I took full advantage of it. I was free to do whatever I wanted, and this meant I was free to explore and go places I had always wanted to see. I traveled and planned “grown up” trips with my friends that allowed me to discover that new appreciation I have for Northern California.

Third time’s the charm. I am now an almost 21 year-old college student with an internship, a job, and an Editor in Chief position. I am no longer not sure of who I am. I know who I am and I know where I want to be. I am not the person I was those two August’s ago. So much has changed since then, but all was for the better. So now, here I am only weeks away from starting my third year of college and I couldn’t be more ready.