Going to college out of state is not for everyone. It can be scary and lonely at times but it also helps you grow so much as a person and exposes you to new ideas. Here are a few things you might miss if you go to college out of state.
1. Local food places
That burger place you went to with your friends after school, the breakfast joint you and your family always went to on Sunday morning, and even your specific fast food restaurants will be dearly missed when you go off to college. Also, if you are from the North but going to school in the South or vice versa, be prepared to say goodbye to a lot of chain restaurants you took for granted — I would kill for White Castle right now.
2. Your pets
Maybe this is a bit of a given, but unlike other people at your college who live close to campus, you can’t just drive home over a weekend and see your pets and unlike your family and friends at home, you can’t just text or Snapchat them to ask what’s up. (Unless your dog can Snapchat, which in that case I’d like to get their username).
3. Your high school
You might not have loved your classes when you were in high school, but you will probably miss some of them when you go off to college. You could slack off with less guilt because you weren’t paying thousands of dollars to attend class. Also, many high schools provide a different kind of support network among faculty than in college.
4. Local grocery stores
You have probably taken for granted the shop you buy your food from, however there are tons of local grocery stores across the country that only exist in certain places. Publix, Meijer and Piggly Wiggly, for example, are only in certain areas — you’ll probably have to get a new discount card when you get to college
5. Knowing the road system
You probably never thought about the highway system of your hometown, but you will miss it more than you might think. Not to mention that you will have to MapQuest everything if you feel like leaving campus.
6. Local slang
If you call carbonated beverages soda rather than pop or if you call tissues Kleenex or the grocery cart a buggy, you might surprise or even confuse a few people in your college town.
7. Running into people you know
Other than on campus, you’re not nearly as likely to run into someone you know in public in your new college town. Unlike your hometown, you won’t run into your old babysitter or kindergarten teacher or an old coworker. Even if this seemed like a time consuming nuisance, you’ll probably come to miss it.
8. Everyone having similar experiences
Certainly even in the smallest of towns, people are different from one another, but there is a lot more congruency when people are all from the same place. You’ll come to miss everyone having a mental image for a place you are describing or knowing all about one supposedly evil teacher or nice old lady who gives the best Halloween candy.
