It’s true what they say, absence makes the heart grow fonder. When your friend group back home is as close as mine the hardest part about college is not seeing them every single day. Though it’s no surprise we send and receive over 100 texts daily via our group message, it is simply not the same. That’s one thing that makes going home for breaks that much sweeter, whether it be for a long weekend, Thanksgiving, Winter, etc. Knowing that your besties reciprocate the same excitement for a reunion makes the wait almost unbearable. With that being said, there are different phases that make up the break back together that almost all groups of hometown friends will be able to relate to!
1.) The day you leave school to go home
It’s bittersweet saying goodbye to your school besties but you know it means the day has come. The countdown has come to an end and the reunion is only a few hours away.
2.) The meet up
It’s usually at a designated house around a designated table where you spend hours upon hours catching up and telling stories. Even if the stories are totally irrelevant to each other’s lives you listen with full ears anyways and wait until it’s your turn to talk. It feels so right to be back.
3.) Driving around endlessly blasting songs
The feeling of nostalgia seeps in as you drive around the roads you have driven on for as long as you’ve had your licenses together. Back to the infamous JOLs, and driving school days. You listen to the same songs, and sing your hearts out, stop at the same landmarks in your hometown you always do, and relish in the joy of being back with your favorite people.
4.) Breakfast, lunch, & dinner outings
If your friends at home are anything like mine your favorite thing to do together includes food and ice cream. We base our days around what meals we have scheduled and usually make a list of when and where we’ll be eating at during that break.
5.) Remembering you have guy friends too
The moment when all of the girls are sitting around snuggling for the hundredth time over said break when someone says something like, “I wonder what the boys are up to?” And then you realize it would probably be nice to stop having GNO’s and GNI’s and include the dudes for once. Even if that means sacrificing a night gossiping or wreaking havoc with the chicks.
6.) The night
There’s always a sleepover that is more significant than the other nights, aka “the night”. It usually begins with wine and ends with tears, both happy and sad.
7.) When you’re ready to say good bye
LOL, this actually never happens. However, there does come a time when you have the same heart ache to reunite with your school friends and wish you could spread the love to everyone at the same time in the same place. Heaven would be all of your hometown friends and school friends together hanging out in the same location.
8.) The goodbye
For me and my friends this always occurs over breakfast. As break comes to a close, we finish telling the last details about our lives (astonishing how there are still stories to be told) over iced coffee and muffins, up until the very last minute of the first good bye. It sucks being the first to go, but sucks even more being the last.