I'm halfway through summer after my first semester in college, and I'm realizing that being back home isn't as glamorous as it seemed nearly 3 months ago. In late April/early May, I had been sitting in a dorm room half filled with packing boxes, thinking that the only thing that would bring me peace would be going home. Shockingly, when my dad came to take me home for the summer, I felt like I was leaving a part of me at school. My residence hall had become a home to me. The car was packed and my little white-walled dorm room was bare but that little room held so many memories; Memories made with people that have become like family.

It was at that point, that spending three and a half months back in my hometown didn't seem too appealing. Did I miss my family while I was at school? Immensely. Did I want to reunite with my hometown friends? Absolutely. As soon as I got home, I was greeted with tight hugs and "We missed you!" However, when I went to my room, it felt empty despite everything that physically filled it. There was no bed built 5 feet from mine and my walls were bare compared to my white walls covered in memories and posters. Worst of all, my friends that had become such a huge part of my life weren't right across the hall. Sure, over the years my brother has grown to be one of my best friends, and he's across the hall, but it's not even close to the same.

I think the hardest realization was that I was the only one that had new stories and experience to share; All my friends had stayed home and gone to local schools. Meanwhile, I wanted them to feel the same excitement as I did. When I told them stories about the time my friend from school came stumbling in and did something really funny after a night out, I wanted them to laugh. I wanted them to feel like they were there and knew these people. That's when I started to really miss friends from school. They knew the people and the stories and had likely experienced them with me. You start to feel so comfortable with those people living a 5-foot walk from you that you feel incredibly distant from your home friends. You have history with your hometown friends, but I think it's the learning experience that you have with those in the same boat as you that makes college friends so easy to miss. Every time you do something you learned in college, you start missing the friends that have become family over the past year.

So as I lay in my bed at home, which I've covered in my sheets from school to make me miss school a little less, I think about how maybe a home is more than where you grew up and maybe, just maybe, your heart can call two places home at once. I must say, as much as I'm enjoying my time at home with my family and friends, I can't wait to be curled up in my friend's room watching Friends or getting ready for a night out with the people I have become so close to. Although, I'm sure that as soon as I'm back at school, the glamour of being back in my hometown will return just as quickly as it left.