You did it! You survived 9 months of classes, exams, and countless late nights working towards that GPA. Now that the school year is over, some of us college students return home for the summer, and with that comes a complete shift in the environment we once knew. Coming home from college and living at home is a lot different now than it was a year ago due to the newfound changes you have created and experienced living on your own. Here are some things I have noticed:
It takes some time to get used to living home.
I remember coming home my first week back for summer vacation and honestly feeling like somewhat of a stranger in my own home. It was strange to come back and resettle into a place I had to say goodbye to for an entire 9 months. Coming back felt almost like some sort of culture shock.
You have to answer to someone again.
This is arguably one of the hardest things to adjust to when coming home. Having your parents to answer to after so much time apart can sometimes make you feel strained and cause a hassle. I know that I was used to doing what I wanted, when I wanted, and not having to explain myself to anyone back at school. Coming home and having to inform your parents of your plans with the possibility of them not allowing things is not something that is easy to adjust to.
You have more free time and alone time.
This may sound like a good thing, but the majority of the time when you're at home, you don't really have much to do. Parents work, siblings are still in school for a while, and it can get really old really fast. You could work everyday of the week, but there's still a lot of downtime left after work due to the fact that you don't bring work home with you. This leaves a lot of free time for things like swimming, Netflix, and maybe reading a book or two. In other words, being alone at home can be quite the boring activity, and it is usually avoided as much as possible.
You have someone to buy you food!
This one is NOT a negative, I repeat NOT a negative. Since you are back home for the summer, your parents are forced to feed another mouth again, and you get something other than cafeteria food every night, yay! I know one of the main things I was looking forward to when coming home was the quality of the food due to the 9 months I had to live without it.
Your parents have higher expectations.
Now that you're home from college, your parents have much higher expectations than they did when you left. Now that you've literally survived on your own, they are going to expect you to be more responsible and continue to take care of yourself. Things like doing the laundry, keeping your room clean, and cleaning up after yourself is just generally expected after you've done it for yourself for so long.
It may seem like a lot is happening all at once, but being home for the summer can have a lot more pros than cons. Things such as seeing all your old friends, finding a summer job to keep you busy, and best of all? No schoolwork for 3 months! Enjoy your long overdue break for the summer, and cherish the time you get to spend at home!
