As I write this, my phone is telling me that I am approximately 869 miles from my family, 872 miles from my boyfriend, and 828 miles from my best friend. When my parents and my baby sister visit me in three weeks, it will mark 54 days since I have last seen them, however I won’t see my brothers until after 70 days. My best friend Sarah and I will see each other at Thanksgiving after 107 days apart, and my boyfriend Peyton just visited me after (only) 35 days.

It is simultaneously the greatest and the worst thing.

I go to a school where about half of the students are only a train ride away from home, and the other half (including myself) are stuck on a plane for a couple of hours if they want to see their families. It is often quite difficult to see parents arrive for football games every Saturday, but I am also very thankful that my parents are unable to unexpectedly show up in my dorm room. Sometimes, I would give anything in order to watch my brothers play basketball and lacrosse, or to see my newborn sister smile for the first time. But just because I am so far from home, it does not mean that I feel disconnected or a lesser part of my family. My mom and I talk on the phone or FaceTime more than I would like to admit, and my dad emails me interesting articles almost every day. If anything, I now talk to my brothers a lot more than I ever did when I lived down the hall!

Even though I know I am missing a lot of date nights with my boyfriend and How I Met Your Mother marathons with my best friend, I know that when I finally do get to see them again, it is going to be so unbelievably worth the wait. Sarah and I already have a mile-long list of things to do when she comes to NYC in February, and Peyton has promised that he won’t see The Girl on the Train movie until I can go with him.

Here at school in New York, my three closest friends are from San Francisco, Los Angeles, and Virginia. As I am from Atlanta, we are all quite far from the comforts of home. Being so far away has helped us all grow closer as friends and form our own little version of a family. One of us is the mom, another is the kooky aunt, the wise older sister is present, and the adventurous best friend rounds out the group (you all know who you are). While many of our fellow students are having lunch with their families on Sunday afternoons, we are disrupting people in the library with plenty of “whispers” and laughs, or going shopping in Manhattan and getting amazing food from Halal trucks.

I am learning that going to college far away is the greatest thing that I could have done for myself. If you ever get the chance to spend some time far away from home, do it. Some days, you may just want to sleep away the day and think about all that you’re missing. But most days, you’re going to be forced to grow up and learn about yourself in a way that you never could have imagined. You’ll meet new people, learn about new things, and be exposed to amazing places that once seemed too far away to be real. People always say “Distance makes the heart grow fonder.” I have learned the extensive truth behind these words in just the short amount of time that I’ve been away at school. But, I also have a slight addition to the saying: “Distance makes the heart grow fonder, more mature, excited for the future, and immensely grateful.”