Make Yourself at Home
This painting was finished on September 24th, 2012. It shows a landscape of El Salvador’s mountainous and volcanic topography along its bare picturesque sky and nature. At the time, I was 13 years-old and I had a concrete notion of what home meant for me.
It’s been over two years since I first stepped foot on campus. This was my first time living by myself in a part of the country I’d only visited once during Jumbo Days. Though I felt out of place my first week, I found reassurance and comfort knowing that other first-year and transfer students were also experiencing similar situations coming to campus. However, it was still difficult to adjust to a completely new lifestyle!
My conception of home has changed a lot over the last few years. In fact, I remember writing an essay about this in my English class during my first semester of freshman year. I was to write an essay explaining what home meant to me (you know, your typical paper for English class). I had done well with other assignments, but this time, I had no idea about what on Earth I’d write about.
By this, I meant that I grew up my whole life in the outskirts of San Salvador, El Salvador, until I moved to Los Angeles at the age of fifteen to complete my high school education. I have family members living in both cities so it was relatively easy to adjust to a new life in Los Angeles. Since moving to the East Coast however, my perception of home jumped around between Central America, my family and friends in Los Angeles, or even my first-year dorm room in Hill Hall at Tufts.
During my admission process, I was given the option to define what home meant to me but I chose to write about something else for the reasons I mentioned above. I have written extensive research reports, book analyses, and primary source comparative essays, and they have all been works of writing I’ve been proud of! I actually really enjoy writing these. Yet, during this English class, I was tasked with writing about a subject that was difficult for me to write. I don’t recall what I said exactly, but I remember that it was my lowest essay score out of all six essays we submitted that semester. In writing this, I am making amends with my writing and this particular topic, as a way to concretely define this abstract concept, and for you, who is perhaps dabbling with this definition as you are choosing which college/university you want to attend.
Today, if you were to ask me what home meant to me. I’d tell you all about the different Salvadoran dishes I make, I would give you a complete list of music artists that make me feel at home, I would invite you to join me for a cup of coffee and pan dulce before sunset, I would talk your ear off about gardening and bird feeders, and I would certainly adorn our conversation with some Salvadoran caliche, or Spanish-Nawat dialect from El Salvador. Considering the great community of friends and colleagues I’ve created over the past few years, I can tell you that I no longer associate home with any particular location. I associate it with the food, music, and practices I am able to carry with me wherever I go. Now, if I were to paint a picture of home, I would describe way more aspects of it than I initially thought about when I made this painting nine years ago.