Going away to college is one of the most stressful and life altering experiences one can go through. You’re leaving what you know to go on a path you’re less familiar with. With college comes so many amazing opportunities, but with that being said, your home will always be your home. As a freshman, going home for the first time can be nerve- wrecking and exciting all at the same time. Seeing our loved ones and our past routines can be almost strange coming back to after being away. Now, what exactly can we expect from our first visit home?
One thing that may seem obvious is the fact we’re leaving our roommate. Now this may be a blessing if you don’t have the best roommate situation, but if you’re like me and have a strong bond with them, it can be sad. Going home and living a few days alone felt weird and almost as if I was missing something. If you’re someone who’s used to being and doing things with your roommate, it almost comes as a shock. I got so used to having my roommate around that when I went home, I missed that companionship. Even as someone who likes their alone time, it can feel lonely and abnormal without them. Don’t worry though as the roommate debriefs when you get back will be unmatched.Â
More on the physical aspect side, if you’re someone who has your college dorm bed raised, expect to feel weird the first time on your bed. Going from a lofted bed to my normal bed felt so wrong. When you’re used to your bed being high, regular beds feel so much lower and frankly odd. As soon as I walked into my room I wondered, “Why is my bed so low?”, but it wasn’t, I was just so used to having to climb onto something to be able to get in bed.
Something I never would’ve thought to expect from going home is the freeingness of not having to wear shoes in the shower. This may sound weird, but with communal bathrooms, no one dares to go in without some sort of shoe. I almost forgot what it was like to not wear shoes in the shower and I can’t lie, that’s a weird feeling that I wouldn’t have expected.Â
Now I’ve talked about different situations that you may want to anticipate, but what about feelings? So many others I’ve spoken to have described going home for the first time as coming home from a vacation. Getting back into the swing of things can be hard, but once you do, it feels like you’ve never left. With this can come some shock when you remember this was not just a few months vacation where you were forced to read hundreds of pages, but a new lifestyle. Going along with this, the best way I can describe the feeling of coming home is the idea that nothing changed, but everything changed. Coming back home can spark feelings of uncertainty and with that one can feel as if things have changed. Maybe furniture changed too, or your brother got a new haircut, but within all these changes, everything feels the same. It’s a hard concept to grasp, but while things are changing, there is just something about coming home that feels familiar and as if nothing has changed at all.Â
Be prepared to feel like a celebrity as well because it’s important to remember while we’re off at college doing all these new things, our families lives haven’t changed for the most part. They are excitedly awaiting our next visit home. We can’t forget pets too as they also know and will be waiting to greet you as soon as you get there. If your dog is for better lack of words nonchalant like mine, trust that they will treat you differently too. Even if it’s a few extra seconds of cuddle time before they make their grand escape like my dog, it’s something.
Moving away to college is such a big change and coming home after that can flood someone with numerous different emotions. It’s important to note that while so much is changing, your home will still be your home and coming back to it will be an adventure in itself.Â