Going home from college for a long period of time is a weird feeling and there are some things that will happen every time you have to move home.
You feel like a little kid again.
Being in college gives you a lot of freedom to do whatever you want, whenever you want, and get home anytime you want. When you are back home for the break you have to constantly follow your parents' rules and depending on your parents you may even end up having a curfew that is hard to get back in the habit of when you are used to staying at the library until 3 am studying.
You feel obligated to be with people 24/7.
You already live on a campus where you can't get away from people at any time. You go home and get your own room and sometimes bathroom, but then your parents constantly want to spend time with you, you have to see family and catch up with your friends from home and you just never get time alone!
You can't get away with eating fried food and ramen 12 times a day.
Maybe this is just me, but as soon as I get home my mom makes sure I'm eating lots of fruit and vegetables to make up for the amount of Cane's and Chick-fil-A I eat while on campus. I hate trading in my Ramen for veggie pasta, but I have to remind myself I can go back to being unhealthy very soon.
You either gain a few pounds or lose a few pounds.
For some reason, parents seem to think college kids don't eat enough and so they try to plump us up like Santa Claus so you gain weight. However, if you switch to eating a lot of healthy food you will probably shed a few pounds over the Christmas holiday just to come back in January and gain it all back in PCB.
You decorate for Christmas.
This is one of the best parts about moving home for holidays! You get to string up lights on the Christmas tree, make a gingerbread house, and supply your house with Christmas cookies. If you are lucky you can do it all with your family by your side!
You have to learn how to interact with people that aren't on a college campus.
I go home feeling like a robot and I forgot that there are real humans that already have careers or exist under the age of 18. It takes a couple of days to fit yourself back into a life that isn't revolving around test questions and GPAs.
People ask you so many questions.
Now I live in a very involved neighborhood so I face an extreme of this when I go home, but coming home from college is your local communities' favorite thing. They get to ask you if you met anyone yet, how your semester went, what your future career will be, how life is going, if you magically became a 4.0 student, and it is all very overwhelming. Just don't forget that you haven't seen all of these people bombarding you in a while and they genuinely want to know that you did okay and things are going well.
Sleeping in a real bed is magical.
Let's face it, campus and student housing beds kind of suck. Being in your bed, not one 15 other people slept in years before you, but your own sweet oasis of pillows and blankets is an angelic feeling.
Showering is a normal sized shower is better than sleeping in your own bed.
A teeny-tiny shower that you have to wear flip-flops in is not ideal, but once you go home that first shower is the greatest feeling in the entire world.
You can finally relax.
Most people end up working over Christmas break or having a lot of responsibilities at home, but it is a welcome break to the constant stress and studying of school. Now you are home and can breathe and regroup for another semester.
