Even though it was just a short 3 months ago, it feels like ages ago that I was saying bye to my parents from my dorm room. Now, after 12 weeks of taking classes, meeting people, and making memories, I find myself back in my hometown. As much as I’ll miss Penn State, coming back home is, in its own way, just as exciting as being on campus. Between living with my family, seeing my dog everyday, reuniting with my old friends, and simply being in an area I’m familiar with, being back home is a great change of scenery from the college lifestyle. However, along with this transition back into life at home came readjustments that I was naïve to.

The first is living in my old bedroom. As small and old as my room was in Packer Hall, I grew accustomed to living there quickly, so coming back home and living in my old bedroom has been a drastic change. It certainly has it’s advantages, like a larger bed, a ceiling fan, and a one-person bathroom right down the hall; however, I’ve already grown to miss certain aspects of my dorm room since being home, like the decorations, lights, and most of all, my roommate. As nice as it is having privacy, I loved having a roommate during the first semester to hang out with or work on homework alongside. Without him, doing homework in my room has become a lot more lonely and boring. I will say, though, that his presence is compensated for by my dog, who has started hanging out in my room while I’m doing homework and makes the rigorous work days more tolerable.

The next adjustment is having my car again. After walking or Ubering everywhere for the past few months, coming home and having my own car again is a big change. As much as I love walking around on Penn State’s campus, having my car back and driving around on the familiar roads of my hometown is a luxury that I forgot about. With my own car, everything is a short drive away: restaurants, stores, gyms, soccer fields, friends houses, and basically anything else I could want. On Black Friday, I even took a road trip with my friend to go shopping. Since coming home, I’ve been putting my car to frequent use. It has been a change adjusting back to life as a driver instead of a walker, but the luxury of being able to drive virtually anywhere is a change I can get used to.

The last adjustment is returning to my gym routine. Like I discussed in my previous posts, I had a hard time working out routinely at a gym in State College due to Covid restrictions. When I came home, I immediately renewed my gym membership and started to return to my old lifting routine. After not being able to lift for months, it feels great being able to go back to my old weekly lifting schedule. It’s taken time for my body to get used to it, but being able to readjust to my old gym schedule makes coming home even more worth it.

Overall, even though I miss life at Penn State, it’s great to be home. Between settling back into old routines, living in my old bedroom, and being back in the area I know best, there’s a lot to get used to, but I’m sure that I’ll be used to it in no time.