It’s the middle of May, and you just said goodbye to people who have been your best friends for the past nine months. You said goodbye to your freshman dorm, and your freshman roommates. You’re driving off campus for the last time until August and this is what you think about on the ride home, along with the occasional tear or two…. or thousand.

1. The amount of change that has happened since the first weeks of school.

More likely than not, freshman year of college has been the most life-changing experience you’ve ever had. Reflecting on the person you were Orientation Weekend, versus who you are now and realizing how much you have actually changed is amazing. I remember being at one of the Orientation Weekend activities and having one friend. Now, practically wherever I go I see one of my friends.

2. How much you are going to miss your college friends

These people have been your rock for the last nine months. They’ve been there you through all of this change. People say you meet your best friends in college, and they are not kidding. As you all part ways, your goodbyes all have some type of “let’s hang out this summer” in them. Sometimes it’s just something you say, but thankfully my friends and I all live within a drive-able distance from each other. After spending two semesters with my friends, I cannot imagine not being around them anymore but come fall, we will all be back together again.

3. Your plans for the summer

Whether this includes going to visit your college friends or just watching hours of Netflix, your plans for the summer will definitely be on your mind. You have been locked into this college thing for the last nine months, and now you are free. There are so many things you can do over the summer break, but most importantly, you do not have school (unless you’re taking a summer class or two).

4. What it will be like at home

At school all of your friends are your neighbors, you do not have any parents breathing down your neck to do your laundry or clean your room. And now, you have to drive to see your friends, and you are living with your parents again, and you will have responsibilities at home. Sometimes parents resume their old rules, sometimes they let you do whatever, and sometimes it’s in the middle. Your moving home will be as big of an adjustment for your parents as it is for you. They have been living without you for the last nine months too, they do things differently now and you all will have to adjust.