I'm not talking about a long-distance relationship, unless that relationship is with my college town. But it's true that my heart is in two places at all times: my hometown, where I grew up and where I spend my summer and winter breaks, and my college town, where I spend pretty much all of the rest of my time. It's a weird sensation to feel like you belong in more than one place, whether that's missing friends, places or just a cold glass of sweet tea.

A lot of people travel for college, but I don't think most of them go halfway across the country, from Colorado to South Carolina. The drive takes at least three days (and yes, I've done it a few times), and traveling by plane means a day of flying and layovers. It's strange, even with all that time, how quickly it feels like I'm suddenly settling into life on the other half of the country. I go from sitting at my desk at school writing final papers and studying for exams, to lying on my couch marathoning the Harry Potter movies, in the span of a week. Most of the people I go to school with live a few hours from campus, so they can experience that every weekend if they want to. Their lives aren't split quite so separately.

Living in two places at once means that when I leave school in May in South Carolina, I'm wearing tank tops and shorts, but by the time I get home to Colorado, I need to find my sweats and possibly even my winter coat. It did snow the first week of my summer vacation one year, after all. It means I can go from wishing that cute guy on the college basketball team would talk to me, to hiding from my ex at my hometown gym. It means that when it's 2 a.m. and I really want to go to Waffle House, like all my college friends do, I'm finding myself at Al's Tacos with my best friend from home. When I'm used to walking down the hall, across campus or down the street to hang out with my friends, now I drive across town or have to invite people over.

It's a weird feeling to sometimes wake up in the morning and, for a split second, wonder where you are this time. Sometimes, I wake up in South Carolina, and all I want is to see the beautiful mountains on the horizon at home. And there are days I wake up in Colorado and wish I was getting ready to walk to Sunday brunch with my friends. I know that someday I might not come back to South Carolina again, or that I might not even live in Colorado, but there will always be a piece of my heart in that tiny college town. The grass isn't always greener on the other side, but sometimes I wish the two sides of my life weren't quite so far apart.