If I've realized one thing is true about college, it's that you live a double life throughout your years at school. You have your life you had in your hometown, and then you have your completely new life at college. No one in your hometown knows your college friends and none of your college friends know anything about your life at home.
I remember when I first started feeling at home at my college. It wasn't long after orientation that I started referring to my dorm as my home, so it's safe to say that I felt comfortable in my new life really quickly. While I am grateful for this easy adjustment, it got really confusing when I would refer to both my college and my real home as my "home."
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It's odd to experience the sensation of living two lives and having two homes. You have completely different social circles in each home, and you can't really explain one life to people in your other life. The role you have to play in each home changes, too; in college, you make your own rules, but at home, you are subordinate to your parents. Your living situation in college, including where you live and what you eat, is often very different (usually worse) than your circumstances at home.
I find that the transition from one "life" to the other is often extremely jarring and stressful. This is because your life at college is completely different to your life at home, and it's usually hard to get integrate back into one life after you've been living in the other.
I have no preference of one "home" or "life" over the other; I've surrounded myself with wonderful people in both places, and I can always make the most of each circumstance I'm in. Each place has it's own perks and cons, yet whenever I'm at one home, I miss the other. There will never be a way to conjoin these two lives, but perhaps it's more beautiful that way. That way, you get the best of both worlds.
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