10 Things You Realize When You Leave Your College Town

Drinks are going to be a lot more expensive.

Gone are the days of $3 you-call-its, $7 pitchers of Long Islands, and drink specials any day of the week just because.

Actually, everything is going to be more expensive.

It’s time to finally retire that college I.D. that helped you score cheap movie tickets, buy one get one half off burgers, and free apartment rental applications.

You consider this to be your new hometown in a sense.

Your actual hometown will always be the place you were raised as a child but your college town is where you came of age, became a real adult, and went through some major life struggles and achievements on your own. This town will always hold a special place in your heart and you’ll always feel a certain sense of nostalgia and loyalty towards it.

You’re no longer the same person you were when you moved here.

Think about what you were like as a freshman or a transfer student. So much has changed in the time span between when you arrived and the time you’re leaving. You’ve grown physically and emotionally and developed a strong sense of who you are while in this space.

You’ll likely never live in the same city as all of your friends again.

People take jobs in different cities, find opportunities back home, or go abroad for adventures. The last four years have been spent with some amazing people but you’ll probably never reside in the same city with all of the same people again.

It’s going to be harder to meet people.

In college you made new best friends or potential dating partners just by going to class, attending some type of social on campus, or bumping into someone at a party. You were constantly expanding your social circle but moving out of your college town and away from college life comes with entirely new territory with less social opportunity.

It’s time to get your life together.

When you’re in college it’s easy to manage people’s expectations because you can just use the excuse you’re in college, you’re figuring things out, you still have X amount of time before you graduate. Once you finish school and move out of town you realize it’s time to get your life together and move on to the next phase of life.

Your priorities are going to inevitably change.

And with all of those changes come a lot of alterations in what you find to be important in your daily life. Now that you’ve graduated you have a lot of big choices to make. Where are you going to live? Where are you going to work? With these changes and decisions you’re going to re-evaluate what you need and want to be happy and successful in life.

You can’t eat like you used to.

In college you loved drinking copious amounts of booze, indulging in late night eats, then nursing your hangover the next day with a greasy breakfast and black coffee. Your metabolism could handle it no problem but now the game’s changed and that kind of diet can only be reserved for the weekend.

You have to say goodbye to all your local haunts.

The awesome coffee shop in your neighborhood all your friends went to? The 24 hour diner that served the best breakfast in town? The comic book store you went to every week? All of your favorite spots you went to regularly throughout the years are going to be put in the past.