Tufts Blogs

Three years ago, I arrived on campus, lugging two large suitcases that felt heavier than they should. Inside them was my entire life. I had never considered clothing an anchor until I realized, after a very sad goodbye to my parents and sister, that from this point forward these belongings were the only comfort of home I had. Anxious, jet-lagged, and thousands of miles from familiarity, I wondered how I would ever belong in a place that felt so foreign to me.

At that moment, my most pressing concern was simple: Would I make friends?

Now, as I prepare for my final year, I find myself fearing the exact opposite: How will I ever leave them?

Over time, the strangers I met those first few weeks became my family. Together, we built a life out of late afternoons on Prez lawn during golden sunsets, study marathons in Tisch Library, chilly winter nights, and yes, and even the courses we felt challenged by. Each moment, mundane or memorable, has stitched itself into what has become my home.

Coming from London, after having spent a decade living in Qatar, I carried with me an excitement and a deep unease about leaving everyone behind. In the first few months, the homesickness was sharp and consuming. But eventually, Tufts became a community where I could reinvent myself and begin to imagine what “home” meant in an entirely new way. 

As an international student, the transition was not always seamless. This college has seen me at my loneliest and at my happiest, through moments of self-doubt and triumph. It has been my bridge into life in America, and a foundation I will carry with me long after I leave. I came here terrified of leaving my family behind, but now I fear leaving the family I’ve built here. 

To those of you reading this wondering whether you’ll belong, know this: you will. You’ll find your people, your spaces, your little rituals that make this campus yours. And one day, you may find yourself like me, looking back at how quickly it all passed, wishing you could relive it all once more.