On Fridays a group of grad students (usually 5 or 6 of us) go out for lunch. It is a weekly ritual and we end up talking about anything and everything. Most of the time it is stupid “grad student” chatter but yesterday something that we talked about got me thinking about what makes you feel like you are at home (see Question #3 from this weeks Friday Five.
One of the girls that we were lunching with is Persian. I believe she is Iranian and only moved to Canada a couple of years ago. She started talking about how the Persian New Years is on the 20th of March this year but t doesn’t mean as much to her when outside of Iran. It’s just another day to her while her mother, who still lives in Iran, is busy getting ready for all the dinners and parties they are going to have. This got me thinking. If I lived outside of Canada and was the only person to celebrate Canada Day then I would end up feeling homesick because I wasn’t immersed in the customs and culture that I grew up with.
I finally came to the conclusion that Canada is my home, specifically Southwestern Ontario. When I move somewhere that is different from where I grew up I will feel homesick. Not all the time but there will be certain times where I will miss something or someone. I remember that I felt this when I was travelling in Europe. I was only in Europe for 3 weeks but there was enough of a culture shock that I occasionally wished I could go home. It wasn’t overpowering but there were times where Canada made more sense to me than Europe.
So that is what makes some place home to me. It is a combination of the people and how comfortable it is.