8 Irreplaceable Things You Miss When You’re Away From College

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Being home from school on summer vacation is great… except when it isn’t. Sometimes your love for your college town overshadows your love for your hometown. It could be the places, people, or just the situation you’re in at the time. It’s okay, longing to be somewhere else happens even to the best of us. Here are some reasons why you might be missing your college town.

1. Your college friends.

Obviously. College is a place where you reinvent yourself, and your friends at home just don’t get the ‘new’ you. Friends from home have known you through some of your worst years – your high school years – college friends just don’t have that knowledge (and that is probably a good thing).

2. That one burrito/Chinese/pizza place.

You didn’t know this sort of food could be a heavenly experience until going to college. Whether it’s expensive or dirt cheap, that food place will still be there when you go back to school. But that thought just doesn’t resonate when you have a midnight craving over summer.

3. The cute barista.

You know the one. Everyone talks about him/her and it’s a campus-wide fact that that barista is the best barista (whether it be based on looks or coffee-making pizazz).

4. The all-nighters.

We say we hate them, but let’s be honest; nothing is quite like getting loaded on caffeine and being super productive. All-nighters let you see the world when everyone is asleep, and experience the inevitable internal panic that happens to everyone in the early hours of the morning.

5. Independence.

You never know what you have until it’s gone, especially when it comes to being independent. You’ve lived the past nine months without your parents and now you get to spend three months back at their house and with their rules. Good luck, my friend. When you’re away at college you learn to appreciate your parents, but when you’re back home for the summer you remember why you liked being independent.

6. The mutual understanding of when to socialize.

When you’re home and out with the public, people have less boundaries. Old ladies want to talk to you in line at the market and family wants to talk to you before you’ve had your morning coffee. College students (usually) respect social boundaries.

7. Being able to walk somewhere at two in the morning.

Depending on where you live, you may not be able to do this. But small (nonthreatening) towns are quiet enough at night that you can walk around at your will. However at home you don’t really have this opportunity. You stay with people that won’t let you roam town at 2am, and your hometown isn’t even safe to roam that late.

8. The knowledge.

College is a mecca of education, at any given moment you can find someone who is studying something different than you. It’s beautiful.