Coming home for winter break is overwhelming. For the last four months, you have been living independently. You have made new friends. You have adapted to a new life, in a new city. Now that you are back home, you have no idea how to get back into your old routines or go back to your old life. Whether you like it or not, your home life went on when you left, and although everybody is exactly the same, everything is extremely different.
In your dorm, you have learned how to clean, fend for yourself, and do everything you can by yourself. But now, returning home means going back under the watchful eyes of those you lived with. You have the responsibilities of living amongst everyone at home and that means living how they are used to living. Although you have set rules for yourself back at school, you now have to go back and follow the rules at home, do what you are told and when you are told, even though that is not how you have been living for the past four months.
Another weird thing about coming back home is seeing your friends. Things change, circumstances change, and people change. You are the only person you know in the friend group who went so far away. Although you have been friends with everyone since you were a little kid, it can be hard reconnecting with them and remember the role you play in your friend groups.
The other hard thing is keeping in touch with your friends from school. This is because you are all trying to reconnect with our old friends. Everyone is dispersed around the country and in different time zones. It can be hard to keep in touch, especially when you don't see them every day like you used to.
Another hard fact you'll face is that you're leaving the place, the city, the campus, that you learned to love over the past four months. Just when you feel comfortable and have a nice routine, you have to pack up and leave for a month. Your life is suddenly uprooted, and you're sent back home to deal with the changes in your reality. While home, you may need to face some burdens that you couldn't face when you were away. But, life moved on, just like you did.
Coming home is weird and nobody tells you that it is going to be. You come home and expect to go back into your old routine, but you can't. Even if you didn't notice or didn't mean to, you changed while you were away at college and home doesn't feel like you expect it to feel when you get there.
