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SBU | Life

From Home to School and School to Home

Riley Connors Student Contributor, St. Bonaventure University
This article is written by a student writer from the Her Campus at SBU chapter and does not reflect the views of Her Campus.

As a second-semester senior, I have had my fair share of breaks in college. Whether it’s a long weekend in October or three weeks in January, I know what it is like to go home for a period of time after living away at school. 

While each break has been different, and my emotions leading up to my time off has varied, one thing is certain: the transition from school to home and home back to school never gets easier (for me, at least). 

Now, to preface, I totally understand that I am fortunate in so many ways. I am thankful that I am able to go away to school and have an environment and life there that I love and always feel welcome. 

I also am so grateful that I have such a loving home that I never want to leave. Each time I go back to my house in Williamsville, I am met with my wonderful family, my favorite food, a comfortable and familiar bed, and a space that I can fully relax in. 

Because of the beauty and safety that both “lives” provide me, I frequently struggle to leave my little pink house with my roommates when it is time to go home, and I have an even harder time coming back to school after I have spent a few days or weeks at my family home. 

Part of this definitely has to do with the fact that I feel like two different people: my high school, family self at home, and my more mature and independent college self. When I am physically in one of those two homes, I can revert back to whatever “person” fits that location. 

Unfortunately, I can rarely code-switch quickly enough to prevent personal discomfort. 

When I come home, I need a transition day (or two) to get back to the person I am when I am home: a sister, a daughter, a young person, and a Williamsville resident with connections that run deep throughout my town. 

When I return to school, I always require a few hours to find my “school” self again: a student, roommate, dancer, writer, and independent individual who has to count on myself to get my life together. 

I wish I could end this article with some wise words on how to fix these feelings of emptiness and imposter syndrome surrounding the transition between home and school. If someone reading this has some special trick to figure this all out, let me know. 

What I can say is this: it is so wonderful to love two places so much that I struggle to leave either one. And, better yet, my home home will always be around for me to come back to. So, while going back to school is something that I have never found to be easy, I have started appreciating that I have a school to return back to altogether.

Either way, if you have a hard time going back and forth from school to home, both mentally and psychologically, just know you’re not alone. Even this veteran college student finds it tough. 

How great is it to have that struggle?

Riley Connors

SBU '25

Riley Connors is a member of the St. Bonaventure chapter of Her Campus and plans to write about college, careers, movies and just about anything that comes to her mind that week.

She is a senior Adolescent Education and English double major. Outside of Her Campus, Riley is a member of the SBU Dance Team and is a part of SBU College Democrats. She also has a radio show with her roommates on St. Bonaventure's radio station, WSBU-FM.

In her free time, Riley enjoys hanging out with her friends and girlfriend, spending time outside in the sun and listening to any song by Boygenius, Hozier or Lizzy McAlpine. She cherishes her time spent at home with her family and dog but loves her St. Bonaventure family that she has created in her three years of college.