As I’m sitting in the Ohio Union studying, per usual, there are groups of high school students touring the campus, and I can’t help but feel a little nostalgic. This is my home, and these high school students are me one year ago. It’s crazy to think about.

Ohio State became my home soon after being on one of these tours, and I couldn’t be more grateful. I remember the excitement I had scheduling the day I could visit and counting down every day until I was here. I didn’t sleep the night before because I was so overjoyed. I remember not eating breakfast because I had butterflies in my stomach. I was ready for college, and I was ready to explore what could potentially be my new home.

Upon arrival, I could barely stay in the car. We drove through campus in search of the correct parking garage, and all I could think about was how happy and at ease everybody around us appeared to be. I knew that this could be me, and now it is. To these students I am now somebody that maybe they want to be one day, a Buckeye. College life is the best, right?

Next comes move in day and I’m standing in a room that I will soon be sharing with three others, four if you count my roommate’s live-in boyfriend, and I wonder how in the hell are we going to fit in here. I wondered how this small space would ever become home, but it did.

In the beginning you talk to your family and ask, “How is everything at home?” Home is the place you grew up, and now you just live in some dorm, right? Wrong. By week three, Ohio State was home. Not just my small, cramped dorm room, but the entire campus is my home. The Union, the Oval, each and every library, the restaurants, and even High Street are now my home.

I remember going back to where I grew up for the first official break we had and telling others how I couldn’t wait to be home. Three days I spent away from this campus, and all I could think about was how much I wanted to be home. Home was no longer where I grew up, it is this campus where I found who I was. I’ve grown here in ways that I couldn’t of grown without being here. Ohio State has made me happier than I’ve ever been and stronger than I ever thought I could be.

Now, I realize that just because Ohio State is my home, doesn’t mean where I grew up can’t be home, too. It took some time for me to realize that home isn’t a specific place, and home doesn’t have to be one place. Home is where you feel a sense of belonging and where you find yourself and your happiness. Home is where you go when things are bad, good, or anywhere in between. Home can be the people you love or the places you enjoy the most. For me, home is Ohio State and the people I love.

I hope that these students on their tour find a new home, even if that home isn’t here. As much as I’d love for them to experience Ohio State in the same way I have, I realize this isn’t home for everybody. For the students who feel the way I do, just know that the best is coming. Exams are rough, and classes can make it seem like this is the end, but I can promise you that this is a new beginning. You’re on the road to finding not only a new home, but finding yourself in an environment that will accept and love you for who you are. This is home.