Waking up to the smell of fresh coffee, unpredictable weather, and an always friendly greeting from my mom. A laundry room that's never full and a fresh, homemade meal on the table. A car to drive instead of public transportation and never having to use an alarm because someone will always wake you up when you ask. These are a few of the things that characterize home, a place I never truly appreciated before I went away to college.

Being a five hour drive away from home doesn't seem like much, but it's more difficult to get home than you would think. Planes are expensive, trains take longer than you'd think, and the bus is just... well, it's a bus. On a weekend, I've gone home once throughout the whole entire school year. This has made me have a completely new appreciation for home.

I didn't know how much I'd want to be in Syracuse when they were in the Final Four -- some serious FOMO right there. But, the crazy college kids and even crazier adult Syracuse fans are what makes it home and it's something you can't get anywhere else.There are so many things that make your hometown unique and you don't even realize it until you're gone. Until you're craving a food that makes your mouth water and you can only get it five hours away. Until you're dying to snuggle up with your dogs in front of the fireplace on a rainy day. I took home for granted without even knowing it.

I wanted to go further away than five hours away when I first started looking at schools, sorry Mom. When I got to school, that was a different story. I was extremely jealous of all my friends whose parents could come on a whim to take them out to dinner on the weekends. Those whose always got to take their laundry home instead of dealing with the crazy packed laundry room.

School is my home. And man, am I in love with it. Living a door away from friends, going out without a curfew, eating whatever you want at all hours of the night. I love the no rules thing. But, it's not equivalent to home. Home will always be something special.

I grew to appreciate the little things about home, things that are impossible to get at school. I started to appreciate how different everyone's homes were and how they were all special in their own way. The truth is that home will always be home. Even if you go to school close to home, it's not the same. Home has a smell and a warm, fuzzy feeling. Nothing will ever be able to replace that.

Just remember, there's no place like home.