As we begin our spring semesters, we don't feel nearly as confused and scared as we did the night before our very first semester of college. We feel ready, even though we don't even have a pen.

We feel calm.

We know where our class buildings are and where we'll get lunch. We fall back into the routine of things. As fall semester wound down, the urge to be home with Netflix and a fully-stocked fridge was strong. We relaxed and experienced our hometowns in the same nostalgic, odd way we now do. We saw our parents and high school friends, and we went to the same old places for food and fun. However, after a while, it was time to go back to school.

It was time to go back to classes and schedules, new friends and activities, and the environment you'd begun to get used to. The restaurants and stores you'd started to love – they've been waiting for you. The habits and routes you've become accustomed to – they're excited to have you back. The friends who understand and know you as you've become, not as you were before – they're back as well.

You're home.

It's not home as you've known it before. There's no fireplace or baby pictures, no family or pet dog. It's a home that is all your own. It's one filled with different clothes, furniture, and memories.

I've moved several times in my life. When you first move into a new home and happen to go out of town, you get confused on the way back when your parents take a wrong turn, only to realize that the home you were picturing coming home to... it's no longer yours. After a while, when you are heading home from a holiday, you are expecting to return to, and excited to see, your actual home. Maybe we don't use the word "home" when talking about school, but doesn't it feel like the end of a vacation? You've had a great time, but it's time to come back to where you belong.

As the cliche movies always say, "home is where the heart is." And don't forget that "home is a feeling – not a place." Sure, we miss our old homes every so often, but my heart is here, and there's absolutely nothing that can beat this feeling.

So as you settle down and begin again, here's my message for you:

Welcome home.