Can College be Home?

Isn't it interesting how easily we can go through life without really thinking about it? It is to me, at least.  I almost laugh at myself for just slipping into college life and new country transition so smoothly. Not an "oh that's hilarious" laugh, but more of an "I just caught myself completely off guard" laugh. I didn't expect my transition to be this "simple", I guess I could say. I have been in college for a little over two months now, and it feels so natural.

This past weekend we got Friday off for Fall Break - or as some of my friends are calling it, "Fall Pause". I left campus Thursday afternoon with two other girls and we drove to Louisville. This was my first time off campus over night, and, as much as I love Asbury, I was excited to be away for a bit and get a taste of what it would be like. We had a lovely drive there. I spent Thursday evening until Sunday afternoon at the McKinley's house in Louisville (and for those of you who don't know who they are, they are a family I know from Indonesia who have pretty much become my adopted second family). The best part was that I got there, and even though it was a pretty much foreign zone to be in, the family was not foreign to me. I was comfortable, I pretty much knew what was expected of me, I understood the boundaries, and it was a weekend of familiarity (to an extent). It was relaxing to be with people who knew Indonesia, who I could speak in Bahasa with, and talk of my high school with. The weirdest part of seeing them all now was that I was talking of people from Asbury - people they wouldn't even know of unless I mentioned them - and I was speaking of a life that I currently lived in but that they were not specifically familiar with. I have become so accustomed to them knowing who and what I was talking about.

Another aspect that caught me off guard about my weekend away from my Asbury world and into my "Indo world" was that it was weird to process that both exist at the same time. When I returned back to campus on Sunday evening, it felt like nothing had even changed. It felt like Asbury world paused and was just waiting to resume once I came back. Within two hours of being back on campus and doing tons of laundry, I was back into my same routine. Wait a second... routine? Did I just say that I have a routine here? Do I have familiarity here? Do I feel comfortable here? And that is when I began to laugh at myself. I had not realized just how much I had gotten involved in my life at Asbury. I was excited to see my own bed again and I smiled when I looked at the wall next to my desk and saw pictures of my friends and family that I love. When I got out of bed on Monday for my 8am class, I walked into the bathroom to shower and I suddenly found myself thinking, "I feel like I'm home".

I cannot remember the last time I was able to say that and mean it. The thing is, I did not even have to force myself to come to that conclusion - it was just natural. Calling Asbury "home" makes sense, though. I realize that if I were to go back to Indonesia, it would not be as I knew it. I don't have family there anymore, I don't have a house, I don't have pets there, and all my friends (except for a select couple) are no longer there. I certainly want to go back someday, but I also realize it wouldn't feel the same way it did before - it's not home-y. My parents currently live in Peru, a country I have never even seen and with people I don't know. I could visit them - and want to - but it wouldn't be home. My siblings are in Wisconsin and Texas, two states very far away from Kentucky, and I don't feel at home there either. It's not what I know.

 The closest step I have to home is Asbury. Though it is temporary - and may not even be for four years - it is the only thing I can cling to on earth right now that I can call "home". Asbury is my community, and I am happy to call it home for as long as God puts me here. I am thankful that He gave me somewhere to be excited to return to, and the opportunity to love somewhere as wonderful as this place. It is changing me, and I am going through transition on so many different levels, but I know that having this Asbury community is helping me to glide through it with ease and a genuine smile on my face. Trials will come, home is only temporary, but God remains and He knows where I'm going to next. I'm just along for the ride that He is sending me on and trying to take in what He wants to show me. I only know that my last destination will be my permanent home in Heaven, and I am elated to call that my Home.