Coming home for the summer is generally one of the most anticipated breaks during every student's college years. After you come home, you want to hang out with old friends and have fun. Except, you notice something is different, but you cannot figure out what is wrong. Once you take the time to think about it, you notice how everything changed a lot. All of your old friends are different and you realize that you are also different now. This can be good or bad. This situation highly affects the summer break.

After graduation, all of your friends either went away to school or stayed home to do whatever. It can be going to a local college or just working. During this time away from home, everyone you were friends with have moved on and so have you. You also have made friends at your university and moved on. It is a mutual drifting, but it can feel awkward when you return home and make plans to do anything. Once you start hanging out with them, you realize that the reason you were friends was that you saw each other everyday.

When the plans are made with old friends, sometimes you notice that they still have that high school mindset. They act the exact same way and do the same stuff they always did with the same people. Nothing has changed in their lives other than graduating from high school. This can be strange when you move away and change your view on things and spend time away from home. During the time away, you are out on your own and start doing things you would never imagine doing with your old friends from home. You do not want to do what you did during high school but you want to do something new and exciting with your friends. There is a chance that you realize that you did not like what you did then and stopped acting in that way.

I personally noticed many things during my breaks from home. Since I am going into my junior year of my undergrad, I have not talked much to my old friends. I have noticed that a lot of things have changed since I been away from home. Relationships have formed and broken. Marriages have happened and some babies have been born. It is surreal to think that so much can happen and you can miss everything as it happens. Sometimes those people change during this time and are not the person you left behind. Perhaps you are the person who has changed and realized more of who you are as a person. Either situation is okay. Life moves on and you have to too. Some people you do not talk to much anymore could be from them breaking contact or you broke the contact with them purposely. I will admit that I did that to certain people. I do not regret it, and you shouldn't regret it either. Even if they broke the contact with you, still move on and carry on with your life. Experience new things and meet new exciting people.

There are those few friends that you do keep contact with and it feels like you never had that break. They are the friends that you will have forever and are the most important. Yeah they have changed some, but so have you. Everyone changes and sometimes you realize that you have changed as well. It can be hard to grasp sometimes, but it is part of becoming a better person. Being home for the few months can make you look forward to the upcoming semester in August and seeing those new friends. Everyone who goes away from home after high school to a university notices this. It is life.