Nothing will ever replace Painesville, Ohio.

Sure, no one has ever heard of the small town east of Cleveland, but home is home. Despite the fact that I lived in three different houses growing up, each one would still feel like home if I returned to them. But therein lies the problem: those houses are no longer in my life.

I still remember the day when I was told my family would be moving to New York, leaving behind the place where I grew up. Sitting in the movie theater waiting for "Lone Survivor" to come on the big screen during the weekend of my 19th birthday, my parents told me that my dad had accepted a job that would take him to Long Island, somewhere foreign and far away from my current location. I was in disbelief, having never considered the possibility that my family or I would ever leave the state I made my living in. But this was my new reality. Having already been in school at The Ohio State University for nearly two semesters, I would be on my own in Ohio when my parents left permanently for New York in August of the same year.

I told them that I refused to leave my friends behind and that I would not be spending summers with them or breaks with them in New York, choosing to stay in my familiar territory rather than try out a new "home." For me, Long Island would never be what Painesville or Columbus is to me, even if it was their new home. I preferred to stay in the bubble of the Midwest rather than venture into the unknown of the East coast.

Having grown up a huge fan of the Ohio State Buckeyes, I knew this was the place I would always end up. I was forced by my mom to look at other schools during my senior year of high school just in case I didn't get accepted to my dream school, but in my heart, I knew it was Ohio State or bust. Even after visiting the University of Cincinnati and seeing what other schools had to offer, I still found my way to Columbus. And this is now where my home lies.

Home is where the heart is, and my heart now belongs to the great city of Columbus and to the school I grew up rooting for. Despite knowing that Ohio State was the school for me at a young age, I never thought that it would ever truly feel like home. I assumed that it would essentially be a "home away from home," and that nothing would ever truly replace that house of mine back in Leroy Township. While my roots are firmly planted in the house where my parents no longer live, a new seed was planted the day I first arrived at Ohio State for the start of my college career.

High Street became what the Great Lakes Mall was to me back in Mentor, Ohio. Instead of watching the games on television, I now got to experience the football team in person at Ohio Stadium. I was now one of those crazy students in the stands, cheering on their Buckeyes. I got to experience living on my own, surrounded by new friends and people that were students just like me. I could eat lunch and dinner whenever I wanted, and I could stay up all night playing video games if that's what I chose to do (assuming my roommate was cool with it). I learned new things from all the new people I got to meet. I went to concerts, listened to new music, experienced different cultures, learned new and exciting things in class and saw new things that I never would have seen during my high school career.

And all of these things became "my new normal." Going home to Painesville for the summer in between my freshman and sophomore year was the strangest thing I ever experienced. Having done things my way and on my own for half a calendar year, it was strange that I was back in a house that had "rules." The summer felt like years, as I could hardly wait to get back down to Ohio State to experience even more new and exciting things. That foreign feeling that I felt being away from the university told me all I needed to know: my heart now belonged in Columbus.

Still though, the end of my junior year here is approaching quickly, and it's a surreal feeling that I could ever leave this school. It would be like losing a home for the second time. I met some of my greatest friends here. I fell in love for the first time here. I cheered on my favorite team here, even in heartbreak and triumph. I jumped into a lake multiple times here. I found my career path here. How could I ever leave the place that has become so normal to me over the last three years?

And yet, that is the predicament I'm faced with. In a year's time, I will be graduating from this great university. I don't know what the future holds, and that's both scary and exciting at the same time. I'll be leaving behind football games that have become the biggest part of my life. I'll be leaving behind the residence hall and the house that I lived in while I furthered my education. I'll be leaving behind that freezing lake that we jumped into just for the sake of hating That Team Up North. I'll be leaving behind the college life and jumping head first into the real world. College has truly been the greatest time of my life to date.

But despite all of that, I know that no matter what, Ohio State is and always will be home to me. This place made me into the person I am today. The memories I made here will always be a part of me, and that is something that I know I can hold on to for the rest of my life. Even when my family is far away in New York, I know that I still have my second family here in Columbus. It is, truly, my home away from home.