Going to college can be scary no matter how far you are moving, but going out of state is a whole other story.

You can’t drive home for the weekend.

I mean you can, but it might take the whole weekend to drive home and back. Living out of state forces you to be independent and lets you build closer relationships with your friends. Sometimes I think I would love to go home when I’m stressed or school is just overwhelming me but I am so happy I don’t have that option. Your entire life you have your family to fall back on. That doesn’t necessarily change in college but you are forced to pick up the phone and call them. You deliberately communicate with them rather than taking it for granted and realize why you needed them in the first place. When your laundry basket gets full you can't just ship it home to get cleaned; you have to actually get out of bed and figure out how to do those things on your own. You learn how to cook, clean, live with roommates, and most importantly live on your own since that’s what you’ll have to do from this point onward.

Holidays turn into vacations (even if you’re just going home).

We all get a little bored or tired of our hometowns by the time we leave for college. Once you’re on your own, in a new town and climate, with unfamiliar streets, you’re no longer a regular at every restaurant, you realize how much of your life was spent in that “boring” hometown of yours and how amazing and proud of it you truly are. Eventually your college town will start to feel like your hometown and your hometown is a place you go on “vacation” to. Going home is a sweet escape from the reality of test and homework. All of a sudden being at home is much more exciting than it ever was in high school. Once you’re at home long enough for your parents to start asking too many questions and trying to make you do things you usually don’t have to do at college, you’re more than happy to go back.

Your friends go from around the corner to around the world.

Meeting new friends in college is one of the most important parts of going away. The less people you know going into it, the more likely you will meet more new people and branch out. You still love your high school and elementary school friends but now you have a very special place in your heart for your college friends as well. Your college friends come from all across the globe (or at least country) and give you an excuse to travel and visit them. Having all of your high school friends home for the holidays is always nice, and if they went away to college too you can visit them and see what the other campuses are all about!

Trying new things is less scary.

College is all about trying new things and stepping outside of your comfort zone. Once you leave the state you grew up in, your family, friends, and your pets, there’s not much that will scare you. Studying abroad, changing majors for the third time, skydiving, really anything you set your heart on is never out of reach if you believe in yourself and are willing to fail a few times before getting what you want. Going away to college forces you to endure failures and push yourself. When you’re on your own you have to be willing to try and keep trying since there is no easy way out when you’re far from home and have nobody to rely on but yourself.

You realize what a small world it really is.

Whether you grew up in a small town or big city you still probably feel like you know just about everyone from your neck of the woods. When you go away to college it can feel like a whole new world until you realize how many connections are out there. You can meet a complete stranger, uber driver, or your random roommate in the dorms and realize you know a lot of the same people. Someone is always related to someone, went to camp with so and so, or lived a town away in kindergarten.

You never know who’s going to make a lasting impression.

When you were growing up, you wento to school with all of the same people for years. You know who your friends are, and who you think you might never talk to again, but in college people can make just as big of an impact, if not bigger, in four years or less. It’s pretty crazy to think about how many people meet their future bridesmaids, spouses, employers, and lifelong friends in college. These four years are arguably some of the most important years of your life so enjoy every moment!