People say that home is where the heart is. I've found this to be true. However, something that's always confounded me is the fluidity of the word "home".

Before coming to college, there were two places I would refer to as "home": my best friend's house and my house. The former because it's where my best friend lives and she and I are, for all intents and purposes, sisters; the latter for more obvious reasons. Now, a third place has been added to that list. My dorm and my college are now also my home. This confused me slightly because I've been on campus for just two weeks, and already it holds a place in my heart equal to those I mentioned before.

I think that there're two parts to home: the people and the place. Let's start with the people, specifically my roommate. She is wonderful and I don't think my college experience would be going as amazingly as it is if she wasn't my roommate. I mean, who else is down for popcorn at 3am or a walk into town to buy bread and milk in the rain at 9:30pm. Our similarity is wonderful. Having someone who is so much fun and so like myself nearby in what was such a new place made it feel comfortable and safe much faster, I assume, than it would have if I didn't like my roommate. The second person I'll mention is a friend of mine. We met at accepted students' day months ago, and then reconnected first day of classes. He's also hilarious and, again, we're quite similar. Partly due to our similarities and partly due to college, we've already grown quite close. Having these two friends already made this new place home faster than it would have otherwise.

The second part of home is the place itself. I walked into my dorm on move-in day and the bed was bare and the walls were empty, except for my roommate's corner of the room because she had moved in a few days prior. Gradually, we've been decorating the room. First, I decorated my part of the room with a poster and some pictures, which had the immediate effect of making this new place seem more like my own. Then I put some stuffed animals and a pillow on the window seat, and suddenly I had my own little corner, my own little place. As the days have gone by, my roommate and I have agreed on a few things in terms of joint decoration. Now, we have fairy lights lining the top edge of three of our walls, and some fall-themed ones above the window. We have a clock on our window and bunting above our closets, and a shelf waiting to be set up. We've turned what was a brand new place into home by getting to know each other and by getting to know it.

College is now my home. This doesn't mean that my house or my best friend's house are less than they were before, they just need to make some space in my heart for this new place that I've grown to, and am growing to, love.