The last few weeks of the school year in college are always a struggle. For me, one of the hardest parts has been by simultaneous dread and excitement about going home. While I've been preparing to say good bye to my college friends, I've also found myself missing my "home friends" even more as I prepare to finally see them! I'm sure most college kids will relate to these stages of missing your hometown friends.
1. Constant texting
You may have drifted apart over the year as you both got busy with finals and social lives, but in the last few weeks of school, you start thinking about your friends back home and you feel the need to check in with them constantly.
2. Being the first one home...
Being back in your hometown gets boring real fast when all of your friends are still away at college. Being the first one home is the ultimate struggle because you realize you literally have no idea what to do with yourself without your friends.
3. ...or being the LAST one home.
This is, debatably, even worse than being the first one home. While all of your friends are back home relaxing and hanging out with each other, you're still at school, taking tests and packing up your stuff. Your motivation becomes lower than ever, your annoyance goes up with every snapchat they send of all of them having fun without you, and you're irrationally afraid that they're all going to bond and become closer and you won't fit in any more when you come home in two weeks,
4. Preparing what you're going to say to them
When you don't feel like studying any more, your mind starts to wander and you imagine the moment when you will finally reunite with your friends over and over again in your head. You start to plan out what you need to tell them about first, where you should get food on the first day you're home, and that one story they started telling you that one day that you need to ask them about.
5. Nonstop talking about them
You know you're being annoying but you can't stop telling your college friends about your friends back home, trying to explain inside jokes they don't get, and emphasizing how excited you are over and over. You hope your college friends understand that you love them all equally, and don't worry, they get it.
6. The Countdown
When you're finally in the final days before going home, it's all you can think about. Three days. Two days. One day. 12 hours. 46 minutes. You know the exact moment you will meet up. You feel a little bad for being more excited to see your friends than your family, but they'll always be there.
Happy reuniting!