As a college student, the end of the school year is an exciting time. The weather is looking up, classes are ending, and overall it’s good vibes for summer to get started. I think something that isn’t talked about enough is the hard parts of leaving for summer break.
There are a few parts of leaving for summer that are really hard for me personally. But it all boils down to having to leave who you are at school behind. The person you have grown into for the past grueling months, and all the progress you make, is always celebrated at the end of the year.
Sometimes it can be a very melancholy feeling. And if you’re like me, someone who reminisces on their past way too much, then you might relate to this feeling.
I am a person who soaks in their environment, and the people who they surround myself with. So thinking about returning home, sometimes I fear that I will lose all the progress I’ve made and revert back to an old version of myself I didn’t like.
I want to preface this by saying, I love my home, my family, and everything I have been provided with. I am also grateful for everyone I meet because they have made me who I am today.
However, every time I go home, I have a looming feeling that I’m not going to be the same anymore. Or maybe even worse, I never changed.
This blog is for the people who feel lost when they go back home. I have a few friends, who I barely know anymore. I am the youngest, so my sisters have all moved out of our house. My childhood pets are no longer around, and I overall feel very lonely when I go back.
It’s okay for things to change. I think I have. I always feel like when I go home, I will be sucked into an old mindset that is detrimental to who I am.
I think this speaks wonders to the way I feel about how much I am growing. I feel like URI has provided me with, especially this year, great friends, opportunities, and memories that I am sad to leave for a few months.
I’m entering my senior year so I don’t even want to begin to think about graduation next spring.
Going home for the summer can be a hard adjustment as moving in is. Moving away from the great friendships I’ve made over the school year is hard.
Sometimes I wonder whose idea it was to create a community of like-minded people for you to have fun and grow with and then just take it away for months at a time. Because they might have had an evil motive.
On another note, sometimes you’re faced with the feeling of being stuck and thinking to yourself “what do I do now.”
For the past few weeks your mind has been completely taken over by fitting as much in as you can in the little time left. Flooded by work, projects, essays and studying for final exams while you are trying to say goodbye to your peers and friends. On top of that stressing about packing and was faced with the exciting nerves to return back home.
For about the last month at school, it’s been a non-stop game. While you get hit with the opposite as soon as you return home.
The best way to combat these polarizing feelings from anxiety to emptiness is to learn to embrace the chaos and change.
It’s going to be okay.
Hello there! My name is Madeline, I’m from New Jersey. I’m a Journalism and Spanish major with a minor in Gender and Women’s Studies. You can also see me on campus in my position as the current Photo Editor of The Good Five Cent Cigar. In my free time I like to thrift, do yoga, and play guitar with some friends. This is my first semester being a part of the Campus Rec marketing team as a blog writer and photographer. I am so excited to share my love of well-being through this platform and continue to be a part of the Rhody experience!