Making a home away from home
Making a home away from home
Syracuse students decorate dorm rooms to be their own.
Whether you’re a 20-minute drive or 2,000 miles away from home, moving to college and making a life for yourself in a room with cinder blocks for walls is hard. It’s uncomfortable, it’s weird, and it’s not what you’re used to — which is exactly why it’s so important to turn your initial empty room into a place that takes away some of that discomfort. A place that feels like you.
Sophomore Anya Freedman from Nantucket, Mass., believes that growing up in such a unique place shaped her identity. She channeled her home through her blue and white coastal-themed room in Milton Hall.
“I like to put up pictures and stuff, but I also have the jewelry case that has Nantucket on it,” Freedman said. “And then I have, obviously, Nantucket on my cork board and these little things that one of my friends gave me right before I left, which have lobsters and hydrangeas, which are staples of Nantucket.”
Even though Freedman enjoys Syracuse, for her, it doesn’t compare to Nantucket. This is her second year away from the small Massachusetts island, but she still isn’t fully adjusted to being away from home.
“I get really homesick, especially last year I was super homesick,” Freedman said. “Like, this year’s been a little bit better, but it’s also very different. Syracuse is very different from Nantucket, so I like to have some things that remind me of the ocean and stuff like that.”
To feel a little less homesick, Freedman decorates her room at school as she would at home, encapsulating the scenic ocean with the blue accents and the classic Boston cuisine with her food posters. For her, it’s the little things that make her space truly comfortable.
“I have lots of pillows, obviously, and blankets, because I have a lot of them on my bed at home, too, and this one, actually was really expensive, but I like it. It’s really soft. It’s nice,” Freedman said.
From all the way across the country in Newport Beach, Calif., freshman Claire West is also used to calling the ocean home. As someone rooted in the laid-back and calm culture of her home state, she wanted to have a room that reflected these parts of her life.
“It’s important for me to have, like, some things that remind me of home, just because I am so far away and I’m so used to just being around the ocean or those types of places,” West said.
In her open-double in Day Hall, she created a California-themed collage featuring a surfing poster at the beach she frequents and a flag from a Newport Beach-based company her mom gifted her.
Beyond the pictures and posters on her wall, she also showcases some of her favorite elements she brought from home. The consistencies in her rooms, from her dorm in Syracuse to her childhood bedroom in California, have helped West with her transition to school.
“My bed at my house, I also have a twin bed, so this is basically what my bed looks like, which kind of makes it feel like home.,” West said. “I think my favorite thing is my heated blanket. I have it at home, too, and I love it so much.”
Moving to a place with more trees than water is partly why West decorated the way she did, but she also prioritized creating a space where, above all else, she could escape from the challenges of being a student.
“I think it’s important because you’re surrounded by a lot of spaces that you’re not comfortable with. And so just like having a place to like go back to and like, you feel very safe at it’s nice,” she said.
Other students also prioritize creating this same feeling of comfort. Sports management freshman Harry Clark, who began college only a month ago, said his sports pride is one of his favorite parts of his dorm room in Day Hall.
“For almost all of the freshmen here, it’s the first time being away for a long period of time,” Clark said. “So it’s nice to kind of have a place where you feel like centered, you can relax, you can, you know, do all the same things you did at home.”
Hailing from Cape Cod, Mass., Clark said he combined his love for sports with his passion for his city when decorating his room.
“I have a big flag on my wall, ‘Believe in Boston.’ I’m a big sports guy, so a big Boston fan growing up during like the prime Boston sports kind of dynasty was nice,” said Clark.
He decorated his room to reflect his interests and personality. Besides the neon green flag, he went for a simple and minimalistic vibe, showcasing his laid-back persona.
Beyond just Boston memorabilia, Clark has pictures on his walls and dresser of his friends and family. It’s those pictures that remind him of why he came to Syracuse, the people who supported him and helped him along the way, he said. They’re the people who make him feel at home.
“To know why you came here, know who you came here for, know who helped you get here, all that stuff,” he said.
Like Clark, for junior resident advisor Brooke Killgore, one of her favorite parts of her room in Walnut Hall is her photos that remind her of everything that’s waiting for her back home in Tempe, Ariz.
“I love photos, especially being by myself in an RA room. Photos just help me feel less alone in here. It’s not that big of a space, so it’s nice to just be able to decorate it and wake up every morning and see some of my favorite memories,” said Killgore.
As someone with a lot of interests, Killgore wanted her room to reflect that. She aimed for her space to be an extension of her personality, so that after a long day of class or reporting for CitrusTV, she can return to a space that really feels like her.
“I care a lot about my friends, I care a lot about sports. I care a lot about the little things. I have a lot of little momentos in here that probably don’t go with the videos you’ve seen of the freshman girls who decorate their room and everything’s organized,” Killgore said.
Being 2,000 miles away from her parents with no plans to go home until winter break, Killgore said everything she has in her room makes the distance better when home feels far away.
“I have to survive, what, five months without really seeing my parents, without seeing my best friends,” Killgore said. “To know that I have little pieces in here that remind me of Arizona and Washington and all the fun things that I’ve ever done with my life just makes college a little bit easier.”
