Going to college is one of the most exciting things about the beginning of adulthood. You're making your mark, finding yourself and preparing for the real world. This new chapter in your life will shape you with every experience and soon, college becomes your new normal.
Meanwhile, you barely have the time to notice how everything around you has changed since you left. Life did not magically stop after you went to college; it kept going. If you did notice, here are thirteen things that have changed about your hometown since you left for college.
1. Old friends change
Sad, but true, friends come and go. Between you and your high school friends, you guys are on different paths. Therefore, you grow apart as you begin to spread your wings. Yet, you still get a chance to make new friends. Personally, I have the privilege of keeping the same best friend since fifth grade and many of my other friends aren't so lucky.
2. Your hometown becomes a small town
In college, you'll notice that it consists of many different people from all over the country. People come from towns that you have never heard of. You get a taste of the real world and home seems to become this small universe and even smaller as you establish a place for yourself.
3. Your bedroom
As you get older, your taste changes from pretty in pink to dark or pastels. Once you come home for a break or holiday you'll want to re-arrange, change a couple of things, maybe even get into Pinterest décor. However, there are parents who take this into their own hands and turn your room into an office or a storage place.
4. The hang-out spots
When you go back home and make plans to hang out with some old friends, you'll realize the places you guys used to go are not the same. It's not your crowd anymore because you're not a teenager anymore and you're not twenty-one, so you're stuck with finding a new place to have fun.
5. The food
Granted, while at home, you have to eat what is cooked for you and it might not be what you want. In college, you have all the control you want, and you get to test your taste buds finally. Yet, food from home still has a place in your heart because nothing can compare to a homecooked meal that you didn't have to make or order.
6. Everyone from high school avoids each other like the PLAGUE
I am guilty of this but unless you are like me and my best friends, no one wants to interact with you anymore. Most people even run the other way.
7. You spend more time with family
Making a way in this world is difficult, in college you're on your own, but not just yet. While your old friends are too busy not being your friends and everyone else is working, you end up spending most of your time with your family.
8. Your attitude
Once you come back home for summer break, it will hit you…You're not in high-school anymore. College has changed you and has even shaped you through various experiences and life will never be the same.
9. Your closet
Out with the old, in with the new! You'll realize that all your clothes are from your high school days and you need new ones because bedazzled jeans and band tee shirts are not your thing anymore. So, you end up tossing all of your old stuff and you get the chance to reinvent yourself.
10. No one knows you anymore
People from your hometown will recognize you from the same school or through other occasions as you grew up. But the person they knew and the person you are are not the same. Trying to connect with someone who doesn't know the 'new' or 'grown-up' you is very difficult because they assume everything about you from the past.
11. Holidays become more exciting
While you're away most of the year, holidays become more fun when you're barely home. You get to be surrounded by family that you haven't seen in so long, you're fed free food, and you get to leave right after before it gets normal.
12. Different things to do
Because you have no current hang-out spots when you come back home from college, you discover new things to do for fun even by yourself. You guys start to rely on going out to eat, to the movies, house parties, or even long drives.
13. No place like home
After being away from home for so long, you learn to appreciate the little things. Like your favorite local restaurants that none of your friends from college have heard of or even sleeping in something in your full-sized bed that's not a twin.
