Five months ago I left my small hometown to start a new adventure in my college town. My car was filled with clothes, pillows, stack-able drawers, Ramen noodles and everything else you would need for the college dorm life. However, a sense of wonder really filled my car up. My whole life I have lived in the same town. I know every street, backroad, good place to eat, bad place to eat, and person around me. I wondered how long it would take to discover all of these things in my new college town, or if I ever truly would. I wondered if it was possible to leave everything I have ever known behind and create a new place to call "home."
I'm here to tell you that this is possible.
In order to make your college town your hometown, you have to seek adventure. For instance, you know that one place back home that only you and your friends know about, the place where everything is better and ok? Find that. Go out and look for a new "spot" with your closest friends and make it your own. My friends and I went hiking one day and found the perfect spot. We go out to this spot sometimes and watch the sunset, and for a split second you forget that you're so far away from the place you used to call home. For a split second all the worries you had about that final, that job interview, or even that boy or girl seem to fade away. When you find your inner peace and the right friends to share it with, then it becomes hard not to feel like you are right where you should be.
You know that one place in your hometown that everyone eats after a football game or maybe even church? Find that. In my hometown, that place is a small Mexican restaurant in the middle of town, so naturally that is exactly what I went looking for. It just so happens, like most college towns, there are at least a hundred Mexican restaurants to choose from. It didn't take long for me to find "the one" because everyone took me to the same place. This place is so dear to everyone here that they even gave it a nickname. It has my favorite dish, awesome queso and kind waiters, but most importantly it makes me feel at home.
You know those back roads back home you used to drive on after a long day? Find those. In college, it is easy to go through the motions and get caught up in the stress of everyday life. We go weeks without even noticing we forgot to spend any time with ourselves and our own thoughts. So go out and drive until you get lost and have to use Google Maps to find your way back to campus. Shoot, you may just end up finding shortcuts to get to Walmart or Taco Bell and then it will really feel like home.
You know those friends, neighbors, or teachers from back home that made you feel safe? Find them. I'm not saying go look for a yoked friend that can be your body guard, I'm saying find the people you feel safe opening up to and letting in. In high school, I had a teacher I could go to for anything under the sun. Find a professor that you can connect with and do not lose that connection down the road. Choose your closest friends wisely, this is crucial in college. Find friends that will eat in the cafeteria with you when you're too broke to go to that awesome Mexican restaurant. Find friends that will hike with you to find a spot away from the rest of the world. Find friends that will drive down those back roads with you blaring anything from red dirt country to gangster rap, because for some reason there is no in-between here. Find friends that will take care of you when you're sick and mom is too far away to come to the rescue. Find friends that make you feel closer to home than you ever have before, because that is the beauty of college.
Cecelia Ahern wrote, "Home isn't a place, it's a feeling." So if you're still sitting in your dorm room in your new college town, get out right now. Go explore, go wave at strangers, go love, go feel, and last but not least... go make yourself at home, kid.
