Heading back to school used to mean anxiety-driven trips to Staples and nervously comparing schedules with your friends on Facebook. For those going back to college, though, the tables have turned.
I had been counting down the days at my summer job before the summer was even half over and getting a little too excited any time someone asked me when I go back to school.
Every trip to Bed, Bath and Beyond to get the (somewhat) necessary things was one step closer to my happy place. Along with the abnormally strong feelings of excitement I have about going back to school, though, are feelings of sadness for the things I know I’m going to miss.
There are a few things you just can't get when you’re away from home:
1. Bagels
I’m admittedly "bagel-spoiled" from my Long Island upbringing, surrounded by an infinite sea of perfect bagels.
Bagels at school just don’t cut it. Sure, there are lots of places that claim they have real New York bagels, but no one ever gets it right. Every weekend morning is just a breakfast disappointment.
2. Pizza
Similar to the bagel thing, pizza just isn’t the same away from home.
There’s a time and a place for cold, leftover Dominos, but that time and place isn’t every day until I get home for Thanksgiving.
3. My Bed
My $150 mattress pad might try to trick me, but nothing is ever going to top my bed at home. It knows me; we’ve been through life together. I have my specific spot upon the mattress.
Sleep just won't be the same until we’re reunited.
4. Sick Days
Being sick is never fun, but there’s something special about sick days at home.
Missing days of school with my mom bringing me soup and taking my temperature, even when I was old enough to do that all by myself, just made a cold that much easier to get through.
Being sick at college just means doing work from bed and not eating because my mom isn't there to bring me my soup.
5. Home Friends
I love my friends at school. But we all have those one or two friends from home we couldn’t live without.
There is something overwhelmingly comforting about your first best friend from home. Texting and FaceTiming just isn’t the same as when we’re together and laughing about the crazy 13-plus years we’ve spent together.
The second we’re reunited, it’s as if we didn’t spend a day apart. We’ve been through every stage of life together, even the awkward ones we wish we could forget. (SMH, middle school.)
Nobody else will ever share that with me.
6. My Shower
Showering at home is so much more convenient.
First off, you do not have to wear shower shoes. The water pressure is better, you get to leave your stuff in the shower without needing a shower caddy to tote it back and forth from your room and so much more.
7. My Crazy Family
As much as I love to complain about my overprotective, technologically slow, extremely loud family, I miss them the second they drop me at school and drive off. The reality sets in that I won’t get to be annoyed by them in person until Thanksgiving.
Yes, I still have the hilarious and super random texts from my mom. And don’t get me wrong; they know how to be just as overprotective and annoying over 200 miles away.
But it’s not the same as being there with them at home.
