During the summer before college, I was given a lot of words of advice.

One of them, however, was always said and stuck out to me, "it's okay to be homesick". I understood that. College is hard and scary and I will want to go home. I might be sad and miserable and depressed for a while. I might call home once a day and cry on the phone to my parents. My friends will be just as homesick, but we will all be too afraid to talk about it. It's okay to be homesick.

Well, I wasn't.

I wasn't homesick. I haven't been homesick since I began Orientation the weekend before school started. Did I cry while leaving my mom and friends? Of course. But have I ever been so miserable on my school campus that I wanted to fly home and never come back? No. Sure making friends was hard, but I dealt with it. College and making friends is all about putting yourself out there, so I did. Feeling like the awkward and inexperienced freshman might have been hard at times, but that didn't stop me.

Villanova has two breaks in the Fall Semester, a week off in the October and a long weekend for Thanksgiving in November. Each time I would go home, all I wanted to do was to come back to campus. I missed my new friends and new bed and my new home. My friends would talk about how coming back to school from being home would be miserable, that they'd be homesick. I couldn't relate. I never felt a deep need to go home.

I love my life here. I love the person I have become while here.

For some reason, I felt bad about not missing home. I love my family, friends, and dog. But did I need to be unhappy and have a mental breakdown to signify that I do love them? No.

Don't get me wrong, being home is nice. It's nice to be back where you know everyone, someone will do your laundry, and you can shower without shoes on. But those deep feelings of homesickness that apparently "every" first-semester college freshman was supposed to feel, never came.

It's okay to be homesick, but it's also okay to thrive at your new home.

Don't let other people tell you how to feel. Everyone is different and adjusts to college differently, so whether you're homesick or never want to go home, don't feel like you're alone.

Being homesick doesn't have to be the college norm.