As I get ready to head back to the University of Tampa, here are the things I'll miss most about leaving my home, Puerto Rico.

Family

And while I do mean my blood relatives whom I am very close to, and my friends who are also very important in my life, when I mention family here I mostly mean the community that we all have as Puerto Ricans. The fact that whenever you go to a doctor’s office, everyone that comes in says: “buenos días” or “buenas tardes” (depending on the time); and everyone that leaves always wishes you to be able to leave as soon as possible. It is the fact that whenever you sneeze in a public place, all twenty people around you say bless you. It is the fact that even though we all use Google maps to get around, it doesn’t mean we still don’t ask everyone around us for directions, just in case. It’s the fact that there’s always that restaurant you always go with your family where everyone knows your name and always mentions how much they love your grandfather. It’s the fact that when Mónica Puig won the first gold medal for Puerto Rico, I don’t know one Puerto Rican who did not cry as if it were their own sibling. We cry together. We laugh together It’s the fact that Puerto Ricans are experts at uniting as one in the good and the bad times. I always miss that when I am gone.

The Road Trips

Puerto Rico is beautiful, not only for its award winning beaches, but for it’s beautiful mountains. Whether you’re on a road trip to a cave in Tinajas, a beach in Cabo Rojo, or your grandparent’s house in Manatí, you can be assured that the roads will be beautiful. Not for the lack of lines that distinguish the lanes, or the holes on every single street, but for all the amazing views you have on your way to your destination. Also, Puerto Rico is so small that road trips won’t ever be longer than three hours, while my regular road trip in school is a minimum of four hours.

Food

Alcapurrias, mofongo, trifongos… You name it. My grandmother’s cooking is out of this world… And my friends’ grandparents make mean tostones too. Whenever I am away for long, I call my grandmother and give her a list of everything I’ll want to eat when I get back. And restaurants in Puerto Rico are a gastronomic experience that cannot be compared. You can be at a burger joint like El Hamburger where there is no A/C and still be amazed with the food. Or you can be at a fancy steak restaurant and still be able to order your favorite Puerto Rican side dish without feeling disappointed. Even if my college had 5-star rating cafeterias, it would still never compare to the simplest food truck in Puerto Rico.

The language

I never really realized how much I needed to speak Spanish until no one around me understood it. I am fluent in both languages, but Spanish is my native tongue. So, whenever I am super excited or extremely mad, I really just want to shout in Spanish… not English.

The heat

While my school doesn’t deliver nearly as much snow as Syracuse would, the cold can get depressing and annoying. And whenever I know that I’m going to have to wear a jacket to walk outside, I always go back to my pictures of Puerto Rico and ask myself what I ever did to deserve this weather.

Mod Cons

OK, so these really apply to anyone who lives in the modern world and can be a spoiled brat, like I am going to be for the next paragraph… But I figured they were worth mentioning. I technically have these in school, but I have to share them or they’re just not as comfortable. My Apple TV is literally bae. I use it every single day and I literally do not need cable TV anymore… However, the fact that I have DVR is awesome because I can watch The Bachelorette live or give it a couple of minutes of head start so I don’t have commercials, but I still get to join in on all the discussions going on in Twitter about it. And my bed: Even though there is Uber, the fact that I have the liberty to get into the car and be in Walgreens for four hours, just looking through the lanes, with no judgement because I came using my own transportation is beyond comforting… Also, way cheaper. It’s also so much more convenient than having to wait for the Uber to arrive when you need it for work, school, appointments, etc. But most importantly, my bed. My nice queen size bed that sometimes smells like my dogs, but mostly smells like clean without me having to walk all the way to the laundry room to get it cleaned. My bed is probably what I miss the most from one of the most beautiful tropical islands in the world.