Almost every college student looks forward to the holiday break. Good food, good family, and hopefully a good present thrown in. But for out-of-state students going home for the holidays is more than just a title for a cheesy Hallmark movie, it is the well-needed refresher and trip home they deserve.

Everyone gets to that point in the semester where they feel like they've reached their wits end in homework, tests, and dreaded group projects. They feel burnt out and have probably threatened to drop out, around twenty times a day.

I just got back from my first holiday break since starting college, and before I was a sobbing mess practically every other day but now, I'm staring finals dead in the eyes ready to take them on.

After coming back to campus, I realized just how much I really did need this break. I came back actually excited to go to class. I haven't been excited to go to class since syllabus week! I had been floundering in all my work before, but now I have a plan on how to attack these three weeks until my next break.

I spent my time at home trying to cram almost every available moment full of face-to-face time with some of my best friends that have turned into a second family. I even went to my high schools' football playoff game, which I never thought I would do, in order to spend time with my friends that I hadn't realized how much I'd missed. Tuesday was filled with movie-worthy-hugs and mile-a-minute conversations that I am so grateful for and will remember for a long time.

My mom asked me when I was heading out the door one day, "You know you have a long break, where you can spend more time with them in three weeks right?" and I told her I knew but also that I hadn't seen them in three months and that's the longest I've been without some of them in four years.

Seeing them in real life and not just on a screen lit a new fire underneath me, even though one of them got me sick (looking at you Ashley), and being around them pushed me to do my best going into finals just like they pushed me during high school.

Being able to be in a familiar setting kind of hit the refresh button on my system and I was no longer the tiny freshman in the big campus all alone. I was able to get a newfound hope that would push me through the rest of the semester.

Now I just have to worry about getting through pre-spring break of next semester.