As you pack up your belongings and prepare to head home for the summer, you might be filled with conflicting emotions. On one hand, you're ready to get back to see your family, but on the other, you don't want to leave the school where you've made such great memories. Leaving college at the end of the semester is definitely bittersweet, even if you know you'll be back in a few months. Here are five conflicting thoughts that may run through your head as you get ready to leave at the end of the semester:
1. You can't wait to be done with classes, but you don't really want to leave campus.
The ultimate struggle of going to college: the school part makes you want to leave as soon as possible, but the friends, events, and community make you stick around.
2. You can't wait to see your hometown friends, but that means saying goodbye to your school friends for three months.
The relationships you have with your school and home friends are so different, but you can't have both at once. No matter where you are, you'll always be missing one group.
3. You're eagerly looking forward to home cooked meals, but you're slightly dreading living in a house with rules.
Yeah, your mom's cooking beats the meal plan any day, but nothing beats the freedom of college. At school, you can go anywhere at anytime without someone asking where you're headed or when you'll be home. Hopefully, your parents treat you more like an adult now that you're in college, but living at home can feel a lot different after a year of independence at school.
4. You can't wait to sleep in your own bed with no one else in the room, but you end up feeling pretty lonely.
When you're at school, it's easy to get annoyed with a roommate, either because you have to tiptoe around in the dark while they're asleep or because they wake you up doing the same thing. However, when you get home, your room will feel empty and lonely without that other person who's slept near you for months. And yeah, your bed is way more comfortable at home, but you don't get to have late night chat sessions with your roomie anymore.
5. You think you won't miss it, but you really will.
My freshman year, I couldn't wait to get home, and I knew I wouldn't miss school at all. However, after a month, I found myself wishing I was still there. At home, you can't just walk down the hallway and knock on a friend's door when you're bored. And although you might never sleep at college because some events don't start until 11:00 p.m., you start to get pretty bored when you realize the most exciting evening activities at home include your parents turning on Dateline at 9:00 p.m. Going home for the summer has its advantages, but college is one of the best times of our lives, and come August, you'll be ready to get back too.
