, and Florida has been my one and only home ever since. Therefore, I have experienced approximately 83 hurricanes and tropical storms in my lifetime. Currently, I am a student at the University of Miami, so when Hurricane Irma was projected to hit south Florida in my first semester of college I wasn’t stupefied. As I packed away my clothes, flashlights and batteries to begin embarking on my journey home to Oviedo- where the eye would actually touch down instead- I found myself pondering about how this would impact the fall semester. As my roommate evacuated with me to central Florida, I spent the entirety of our bus ride stumbling between a limbo of anxiety and exhaustion.
Back in my tiny hometown Oviedo, I felt stranded. All of my friends had parted ways and moved on to colleges
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My whole life I have struggled with the concept of home and never quite found anywhere for myself to settle. When I was in the fourth grade, my parents separated, and the I’ve had to juggle my school supplies and toiletries between houses ever since. As a senior in high school, I came out to my parents, and when they rejected me, basketball became a home for me. When my season ended, my newfound basketball family drifted apart. So, it is now, sitting in my dimly lit dorm, on my metal-framed, twin XL bed that I realize that Coral Gables is also not my home.
A lot of places are not home for me. I have tried time and time again to make them home, but I often times have fallen short. Despite this, I have a dream of home. In my heart, I know that home is in the Northeast. I know that I belong in big cities (with real winters) and some of the best institutions for education in the world. I know that I want a humble and diverse atmosphere, that encourages learning through discussion and communication, and rejects a system of education that promotes superiority through