Personally, I’ve always had at least one pet while growing up. At my dad’s house, we had two dogs. At my mum’s house, we always had at least one cat, normally two or more. Over the years there were goldfish interspersed throughout the years; I had pet mice, even for five years or so, I had a pet hedgehog as well. Growing up with pets in the house I think is a very important thing for the progression and growth of children and anyone for that matter.

Last month, I moved from my home in Washington – about a half an hour outside of Seattle – to a house in Santa Fe, New Mexico; where I attend university. Many would think I move like that would be monumental and all that jazz. But I had lived in the dorms in Santa Fe the year previous; I lived in London for three months during my senior year in high school; really, moving out wasn’t really a big thing for me. I talk to my mum on an almost daily basis, I Snapchat my little sister, I text my step dad, and occasionally FaceTime my little brother. I still love my family, and Seattle will always be home, but it was time for me to leave the nest so to say, at least for a little while.

The one thing that I hated to leave was my cat back home in Washington. My dad moved to Florida a few years ago, taking the dogs with him, so I had gotten used to seeing them once – maybe twice a year, if I’m lucky. But my cat? I was with her on a daily basis.

All in all, I’m the kind of person who prefers – needs, even – to have some kind of pet in the house, preferably one that I can pet and cuddle with. Especially when I have a schedule like I do this semester which is many six hour breaks that make me want to bang my head into the wall. I’m not the kind of person who functions well when I’m stuck in a house all day, all alone. It’s one thing if someone is with me and we’re just having a chill day where we stay at home all day, that’s fine. But if I’m at home because I don’t have class or work, and my roommate or girlfriend is super busy? I hate it. It’s so lonely and boring.

That’s what the first three weeks consisted a lot, especially before classes started and because I just finally started my new job.

Well, knowing that I don’t like this, and being the caring person that she is, my girlfriend surprised me last week with a kitten I had just absolutely fallen in love with when I saw her at the Petco by campus. We named her Artemis and for a four-month old kitten, she is really well-behaved.

Having a little furry friend in the house makes being home alone more enjoyable and less nerve-wracking. It makes the house seem a lot homier now and makes me smile every time I walk in the door.

If you attend school and you live off campus and are at all like me, I would definitely do some research on getting a pet for your home. Just don’t jump into it willy-nilly. Do your research, if you have roommates, make sure they’re okay with it, make sure that your landlord is alright with it, and make sure you can afford them. Don’t be that person that adopts an animal and takes it back to the shelter two months later because, “they got old,” or “they cost too much money,” or “I decided I didn’t want them anymore.”

Having a kitten (or any animal for that matter) honestly relaxes me and keeps me from getting too stressed out with classes, work, money, and everything else that usually keeps me on edge.