The Homes We Create

BY KIERSTEN MCDEVITT

This past semester, I called London, UK my home. During my few months abroad: I lived in a flat and went to school down the street, I became familiar with the aisles of the British grocery stores, I turned into a local restaurant regular, and I rode the tube everywhere, alongside other native commuters. As my time abroad went on, I really got to know the borough I lived in. Spending a semester in the UK gave me the chance to understand a new culture and with new social norms; I was fully immersed in a Briton’s way of life while starting to call it my own. My travel experiences in London and in other places have taught me a few things, one being that you don’t always have to go abroad or spend a long period of time somewhere to call that special place your home.

Any place we travel to that is significant or special to us creates its own home in our memories. The tropical vacation you went on with your family for a week could feel like a home to you, or even the day trip you took with your friends to a state park. When we make great memories in a place we visited and look back on them, we’re able to revel in the distinct value they hold with us. These values take form in things we saw, ideas we learned, and the people who we experienced all of it with. Traveling to a place you’ve grown to love is like listening to a new song that you’re obsessed with; when it’s playing, you’re completely consumed by everything about it. Thinking about my home overseas is nostalgic. I can still see the afternoon sun coating the white city walls, peeking through the winding streets like a thread of yellow. I can still hear the rhyming high o’s of pedestrians and the black cabs rolling by me on the street. These details all remind me of how it felt to be there for the first time by myself, enjoying a new culture with new friends.

I call London a home just as I call a road trip through Tennessee with my mom a home. These details are different—full of fresh air and dense, characteristic trees of the Smoky Mountains. I can still hear the hours of old tunes drifting out the window of our car, and can still feel the warmth of the small-town bookstore we stopped in. This stress-free trip with my mom will always have a similar, familiar and cherished place in my memories.

Wherever we travel, we will always remember the way we felt when we visited a special place. The excitement of a city’s night lights, the calming scent of salt on an ocean breeze, the exhilaration of skiing down a mountain run, the cheery afternoon sun at the terrace—certain pieces are unforgettable. These values and ties we create in the places we visit are what make our travel experiences so special.