I am from Ohio. I bleed Scarlet and Grey. Saturdays during football season are spent in front of the TV watching Ohio State win. I am very biased in that opinion. Ohio State Buckeyes all the way. Sorry BYU fans. I have lived in Ohio all my life, but nothing ever compares to the life I have in Idaho.
Idaho is special. Idaho is known for Potatoes. If you go up to a random stranger and ask them what is the first thing they can think of when they think of the state of Idaho there is a huge chance that they will say something along the lines of potatoes. Idaho is home to Brigham Young University-Idaho. It is in a small town called Rexburg. BYU-I, as people call it, is a private university formerly known as Ricks College and is operated by The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.
As a member of the church, it is common for us to either go to BYU-I or its sister campus Brigham Young University or BYU for short. I was drawn to Idaho. I was drawn to BYU-I. It helped my case that a sister missionary who brought me back into the church was going there after her mission, but for some reason as I continued to pray as to where I was going for college BYU-I was my first choice.
I applied and got in. No surprise there with such a huge acceptance rate, but I will never complain about that. I moved to Idaho the first week of September in 2015. I was scared and freaked out completely. Here I was, over one thousand miles away from all my friends and all my family. I knew maybe a handful of people, but they had their own lives. I moved to my apartment near the temple and got all settled in. I met my roommates the next day and had an adventure with that.
My freshmen year at BYU-I didn’t go as I thought it would. Idaho became home because I finally felt like I belonged. That is what home means to me. Home is where you belong. I came to Idaho looking to forget eighteen years of drama. Eighteen years that I do not ever want to relive. Yes, I did eat some potatoes. Hello, why would I move to Idaho and not eat some potatoes? Actually, my first singles ward bishop brought us boxed scalloped potatoes--no joke. Best move in present ever.
To me, home is where I could feel like myself. I found myself out in Idaho. I found my best friends--the group of friends where you are in three or four different time zones and you have a group text message going on all the time. It is a group of friends where, since you live on the east coast, you go to bed early and wake up to fifty text messages and everyone wondering if you died. That is life.
It is the people that you know will stick around forever that make you feel like being over one thousand miles away doesn’t suck. Idaho became my home because, in reality, I was the happiest I have ever been while living there. Living in the Potato State changed my life. For the first time, I remembered what it was like to laugh until you cried. I did that many days with the friends I made. I learned many life lessons. My favorite one is not to use the dating app, Tinder. Just don't do it. Not at BYU-I.
I love Ohio. I will always love Ohio. In reality, though, Idaho is where I am meant to be.
