That's what pretty much everyone at my college does, except for the lucky few who live closer to this town.
During my first four days at college so far, I've had quite a significant number of times when I talked about where I'm currently living to my friends back at home. Not only did I tell them what I like and what bothers me, but I also just sometimes have to let others know that I'm available again. And those were the times when I texted something like "Okay, I'm 'home' now. What's up?"
You see what I did there? I always put that "home" in quotation marks.
Today, I've asked a few other people at college about their opinion on the concept of home away from home.
One girl from a higher year said that she thinks that there is no such thing as a definite home while she is at college. She has been here for about a year now in total and during that time she made a lot of friends here as well who make her feel more at home here.
Someone else said that it's pretty weird. He doesn't live with his parents anymore and he said that it had taken him a while to accept that his new home isn't in the same town as where he had grown up. And now he went to yet another town to stay during the week because of college. He said that he honestly can't imagine calling this place home at any point since he'll only be spending his time here for three years and then he's back at home again, maybe forever.
After hearing these answers, I began to wonder what home means to me. Is it really just my parents' house? Is it my family and friends that turn it into home? Or is it here now? Can I call a place home when I know that I won't stay here for longer than three years? These are so many unanswered questions! I don't feel at home here yet. I'm loving in a room of someone else's house and share the kitchen and bathroom with the actual owner who I don't really know yet. I don't really know anyone here yet. Well, except for the girl sitting next to me in class. I have to buy and make my own food now and I haven't really found anything worth doing in my free time here. But maybe this will change within the next few weeks.
The reason why I'm writing all this is that I think the concept of "home" isn't bound to a place. I'd say it's rather bound to the people. It also really depends on your point of view whether you want to call the town you live in for college your home or not. But I personally think it's okay to find home in several completely different places at the same time. It may just get a little confusing for the friends in your hometown if they don't know which home you mean right now.
