There are those who use every chance they get to talk about their hometown, those who take the trip back each time they have a free weekend, and there’s us – the ones who aren’t missing much, and we’re content with that. If it weren’t for seeing our household pets or being fed an oversized home cooked meal some of us would never travel home from college.
It’s not that your hometown is boring or even small, maybe it’s just not your style or you have simply fallen in love with your new place of residence.
The location of the school you chose obviously appealed to you for a reason. This is where you wanted to reside and explore for the next four years so it’s understandable that you would want to consider living here or elsewhere post grad. For those of us who came from small towns to the overlapping and busy life of the D.C. and Nova area, it is especially difficult readjust to our quiet lives back home.
Not being homesick doesn’t mean you don’t love your parents, and it doesn’t mean you don’t appreciate where you grew up. You also do not have to feel guilty if people from home feel that you have “changed” or outgrown your previous lifestyle. Celebrate the fact that your geographical comfort zone has expanded! Be thankful to your parents that you were raised to be brave and adaptive.
We don’t choose where we are born and raised.
Your friends quickly become family, and college apartment has become home. This is, in fact, the busiest time in your life thus far. There’s always work, studying or networking to do, sometimes home becomes an afterthought or a fleeting reminder to make a phone call before you fall asleep. There’s nothing wrong with that either.
Whether you feel that your place of origin has nothing to offer you, you belong somewhere else, or you simply just don’t have time to constantly check in and think about all the hometown happenings you are not any less grounded. College is about growing, learning, meeting new people, having new experiences, and of course seeing new places. Whether you choose to make this new place your home or venture elsewhere, you will always know where you are from.