If you grew up in a small town, you get the lifestyle.

You probably knew nearly everyone in your high school, and, unfortunately, they all knew you too. Friday night football games, the movie theater, and that one restaurant everyone was always at were the only places to go on the weekends, and odds are, everyone “experimented” a little too much, because again... there wasn’t much to do. You took a quick drive to your friend's house and did your homework at the same coffee shop every afternoon. Every sporting event was a community-wide festivity, and so was the annual spring musical.

Brand name items weren’t really a big deal, and only some people cared enough to buy them. If you left the country, state, or even county, you probably posted dozens of pictures, because you only left your town maybe a few times a year. Walking around downtown, going to the park, and “shopping” at the “mall” (it had maybe six stores) were your weekend errands. Your high school had three types of people: the rednecks, the jocks, and the hipsters. You never really felt like you were in one of those categories, but you probably were.

When choosing a college, you were begging to leave this small town. “I can’t stand it here anymore.” “I have to get out of this place.” “I need to start over somewhere bigger.” On graduation day, you looked around, realizing this would be the last day you would ever know every person in the room, the last time home would still feel like home and you and your best friends would be this close. You looked around and realized life as you knew it had ended.

Two months later, you moved into college. Big kid college, with 40,000 students and a real football team (even if they aren’t very good), placed smack in the middle of a city 10 times bigger than your hometown. It’s just as you pictured: you know no one, you can be anyone you want, do anything you’d like (#collegenoparents), and “begin” your life. You meet new people, rep your school at tailgates, join clubs and organizations, regularly go to frat parties, and spend a lot of time in the library. You eat what you want, go where you want, sleep when you want.

College is just as you pictured it. Sometimes you go into the city, where there are weekly festivals, daily concerts, and an unreal bar and restaurant scene. You are never bored—there’s always something to do, whether it be school work, an on campus activity, or a city event. You can drive to any restaurant and any store in 10 minutes, and you meet a new person every single day.

But you miss that one restaurant and coffee shop you've been going to since you could drive. You miss the view on your way to school, and the lack of traffic, and seeing five people you know everywhere you go. You miss your friends and family, you miss your after-school "spot," and you especially miss crowded baseball games on Thursday nights. Moving away from home has been the best thing in the world, but it has also made you appreciate the simplistic, laid-back, comfortable life that you once had.