Most college students are considered adults, but there are always some instances that make us teenagers. Or at least, we still feel like teenagers. We rely on our parents for some things but at the same time, we are responsible for ourselves and what we do. Personally, I love being around my family and at home. I live at school, but the friendliness and comfort of home is something I can never replace.
I was the first one to leave home and now, my little sister will be going off to college next year. To know that next year when I go home on weekends, she won’t be there, is really strange. I had a revelation lately where I wanted to go back to live at home and just commute but then realized it was not home I was going to miss, but the way things were. Realizing this two years into college is kind of late, but my senior year of high school was the last time that my siblings and I would all be living in the same house full time. It is scary knowing things are going to be different and changing.
Currently as a sophomore in college, I will be living in a house near campus next year and for the rest of college. That is even entering new territory. I have no problem cleaning and cooking and doing other household things, but the thought is still scary. My housemates and I are on our own; no adults or RAs. I guess that is the first step of adulthood. It is that weird phase of sort of being an adult but then again, not really.
College is like fake adulting; you are responsible for yourself but at the same time you can still go get help if needed. Which is not to say that you cannot get help even when you are old and really adulting, but college can still be considered a shelter from the rest of the world and not the “real world.”
It is a weird in-between that most of us can be experiencing. There is a “stereotype” that upperclassmen or even some first-year students shouldn’t be homesick because we are somewhat of adults. Truly, it is an unneeded pressure trying to decide and figure things out. There is that pull of wanting to be an adult but also wanting the comfort of home and being little again. Taking it one day at a time like my mom always told me is the only way I can embrace what this weird phase might bring.