I have spent the last eight months trying to build a new life for myself away from home. 

I’ve gotten involved on campus by joining clubs, sports and activities. I tried to make my dorm as home-like as possible by bringing items from the house I grew up in. I’ve even joined the student newspaper as a staff writer to meet new people and get more involved.

Yet after going back home, I’m left with idle and restless feelings. 

This is an experience I’m sure all college students can relate to. The area that used to hold our entire lives does not have the same significance it once did, and we have to admit that the life we built at university is more important to us now. 

When I first moved in at Chapman, I didn’t want to stay. I was convinced that orientation week was a summer camp, and I would go back home with a sunburn, ready to start my fifth year of high school. 

After months of wishing I was home, winter break was a wake-up call. I realized that there was nothing for me to do in my hometown anymore. Home is the place where mom and dad cooked dinner, where I got ready for prom, my first days of school and my first date… a long time ago. 

Although my home in Newbury Park is filled with memories, university is the place I’m moving forward in. 

Many college students return home for the first time idolizing the place itself rather than the memories made there. But when they visit home, they realize that without spending time and effort building a life, there isn’t one just waiting for them anymore. 

It’s a sad realization to come to. But as college students, we can both love and recognize that our hometowns are places that hold meaning but not necessarily our futures anymore. 

After realizing this, I still enjoy visiting my friends and family, but I have to accept that the place I grew up is just that — the place I grew up. 

“Going home” is a concept that has a different meaning to everyone. To me, “going home” is visiting my family in the town I grew up in. It also means going back to university at the end of a trip to continue building a future.

As my freshman year comes to an end, I know there’s lots of memories to look back on, but there’s also a plethora of experiences and memories to come.