When you first leave home to go off to college, it's not uncommon to be homesick. Even though you are living somewhere new for the majority of the year, the place you go back to at Christmas and for the summer is still home.
But, after a while, you slowly stop saying "It's time to go back to school," when you're at home for the summer and classes are about to start. You instead find yourself saying "It's time to go back home."
College isn't just school anymore. It's where all of your best friends are. It's where 90 percent of your stuff is. It's where all your new memories are taking place. It feels more like your home than the place you go for holidays does.
I believe it is supposed to be this way.
You're on your own for the first time, learning how to be independent, it SHOULD become your home. It should feel like home. You should love it.
This flip-flop of where your "home" is doesn't happen abruptly. It's a slow change. It is signified by a few tell-tale signs.
1. The holidays you spend at home with family start to drag on.
Instead of feeling relieved to finally be back "home" you realize that you are mostly just missing school and can't wait to go back. You're starting to have withdrawals from your roommate and your perfectly decorated dorm room.
2. When talking to your dad about going back to school you experience a few accidental slips of the tongue.
Instead of telling him the date you go back to school you accidentally say "I go back home on ____" which, of course, causes him to make the most hurt face you've ever seen.
Whoops.
3. You start feeling kind of uncomfortable in your parents' house.
Of course it still feels homey and comforting, but more and more often you find yourself feeling more like a guest than a resident. Which, honestly, you kind of are at this point.
Your dorm is "your space," the bedroom at your parents house has probably become a sort of storage unit that they kindly left a bed in for you. You don't really feel like you belong there anymore.
4. You start finding more and more reasons to stay at school during breaks instead of going back home.
Maybe you and your friends are doing a "friendsgiving," you get an internship for the summer or all of your friends just happen to want to stay on campus together during spring break.
5. Eventually, even your parents start referring to school as your home.
They tried not to give in at first. Their home was going to remain your home in their eyes for as long as possible. But eventually they couldn't deny that college had become a deeply loved place for you and they realize that the place you live for the majority of the year is pretty much undeniably your home now.
***
College becoming your home doesn't mean you don't still get homesick. No matter how much you feel at home in your dorm, you still will always miss home cooked meals and hugs from your mom. Your parents house will always be a home for you.
Your college starting to really feel like home is a tell-tale sign that you picked the perfect school for you.
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