1. You don’t have the privilege of going home whenever you want. While your in-state friends take advantage of living close to home, by rewarding themselves a weekend in their own bed after a stressful week of exams and assignments, you unfortunately don’t have that option. The only time you get to go home is for the holidays and breaks, which don’t come by very often.
2. Lack of home cooked meals. Meal plans are extremely convenient for on the go college students, but after the first week of the semester, you’re already craving your mom’s Sunday Spaghetti dinner.
3. When you need to try to book a flight back home in advance, but your professors won’t give you the final exam date. This has happened way too often for me, and it annoys me more and more every time. If only professors understood that booking a flight home in advance saves you a ton of money. But of course by the time the exam date is released, prices are at least $100 more…
4. Bartenders assuming you have a fake ID when you go out because your license is from another state. No sir, I really am from New York and I really am 21. There’s no need to scan it twice just to prove yourself wrong, once again.
5. Out of State Tuition. Most public universities have both in-state and out of state tuition, which is great for those that are local, but incredibly annoying for those that aren’t.
6. People claiming you have an accent. When you go away to college, it’s like you’re entering another country, because everyone points out your accent. I pride myself on not having a strong New York accent, however, I am still constantly asked to repeat myself whenever I say “water” or “coffee.”
7. We need to rent a storage unit for the summer to store our college belongings. Because our parents can’t come pick up our things in multiple carloads to bring back home, we are left with no other choice than to keep everything in a storage unit during summer. On the plus side, at least, it doesn’t clutter up our garages at home.