I was one of those kids in high school who felt suffocated by their town’s city limits and craved the new surroundings of college. I couldn’t wait to apply to schools, to decide on one, to graduate, and to move into my dorm. The future could not come fast enough. I didn’t care if I ever came back to the place where I spent my first 18 years of life.
This past year has been full of changes and craziness, and I’ve loved it. College has definitely made me more spontaneous and go-with-the-flow, and I enjoy living that way-to a point.
Coming home in May brought about mixed feelings. I made the most amazing friends and experienced nights and memories that I will always remember, but hope to God my parents and future children never find out about. Freshman year was pretty wild, and it made me sad to see that come to an end. I dreaded coming home and retreating to a summer of working and watching daytime television. There has been a countdown to syllabus week on my phone since spring semester’s finals week. But then, I came home, and for the first time in a long time, was reminded of how lucky I was to have such an amazing place and people to come home to.
There is something truly special about waking up in the morning and going to the bagel place you had your first ever PEC at (if you call it Taylor Ham please reevaluate your life) for breakfast. Walking into Dunkin (Or Starbucks, my town has both), and seeing your favorite barista immediately begin making your coffee is one of the best things in life. The little things truly do mean the most, especially when we’re talking hometowns.
My best memories of freshman year was made in my dorm building, with my best friends in the rooms down the hall. Those aren’t our dorms anymore. They now belong to a whole new group of girls, who will hopefully love their shoebox, trash can dorms as much as we did. But at home, the best memories I made are in the parks where I played summer basketball, the streets I drove through with my best friends when we were 17 and finally had the freedom we never thought would come. Those streets and blacktop will always belong to me, and I’ll always be able to go back to them, no matter how far I may go.
DMB said it best, “Turns out not where, but who you’re with that really matters”. High school was not the best of times, but it gave me the best friend I could have ever asked for. This is the friend who knew my favorite pizza place in town (in a town of over 15 pizza places this is pretty impressive) and took me out to lunch when I failed my road test. The movie theater down the road from my house gave me my first job, my prom date, my first paycheck, and a group of friends I can not imagine my life without. The people are what make a place so amazing, and I truly have the greatest people to come home to.
College has been the best adventure so far, and I know this upcoming year will be no different. But, there is something special about the place you came from. You will always find your way back home, and I am so thankful for that.
