I know finding a sense of home was difficult for me, as I moved from Aurora, Colorado, to Whittier, California, and had never lived anywhere else before. These are two completely separate worlds, yet I’ve found a sense of home in both.
It’s all about how you approach this new city and how you find aspects of “home” within it. I believe anyone can find home wherever they choose to go. Finding home may not happen overnight, and it may not happen in a week, but it sure will happen eventually. Living somewhere for an extended period of time will gradually feel more and more like home, no matter how your experience is going.
My goal is to help you get through this process as quick as possible while enjoying yourself along the way.
First thing’s first: finding your living space. Whether it's a dorm room, apartment, or house, home isn’t home unless you have your own personal space to live and sleep in. In most cases, your first experience staying in a new city for school will be in a dorm.
Making this new room feel like home is different for everyone, but is definitely something that is a necessary step. Whether you bring posters and decorations from home, or completely revamp your style when you get there, personalizing your room will make things more comfortable and familiar. When you have to spend every night in the same room, it’s nice to have pieces from your original room back home to make it feel less different. For me, I brought a lot of old photos and posters to hang, along with some of my art and some smaller items like my lamp and hat-rack.
Once your living space has been established, there are other aspects to home that may not be as easy and as fast. Your hometown is full of familiar faces and familiar places, which is a lot of what makes home, home. While these will come naturally with your new life and new schedule, I believe these two items are important to be conscious about, as well.
Familiar faces don’t necessarily need to be friends. The people you see on a regular basis can help make you feel more comfortable in your new environment. Of course, finding a solid friend or group of friends with whom you can be yourself with is huge, because these friends give you a sense of belonging no matter where you are or how you’re feeling. It helps to remind yourself that others are in the same boat as you, and you may be mutually helping each other by building these bonds and familiarity.
Finding places in your new city will be different for everyone, but think about locations that interest you or ones that are unique. Maybe it’s a local boba shop or maybe it's a trail you like to run. Wherever these places may be, naturally, the more you go somewhere, the more it starts feeling like a part of your home. It doesn’t hurt to do more research and find out more about the places that make up your new spot on the globe.
The challenge of feeling at home in a new city is one of personalization: identifying what about your new place—its attributes, the way it makes you feel—makes your home, home. You can bring some things with you, but some of the work depends on you.
