There have been many of them, but they all have remained one and the same. They are the rooms, apartments, basements, and houses of Athens that we have come to call home. They are the refuge we shuffle to after class, the bed we stumble toward after a night of partying, the warm escape we run into to get out of the rain.
As a student living in Athens, I have called many seemingly different places home: East Green, South Green, Mound Street and Smith Street. As I've moved furniture and addresses, so I've moved my heart as well. I've grown and changed in four different bedrooms while in Athens, and I am not the same person who lived on South Green or on Mound Street. I realize that I've loved and hated all of my homes for different reasons, but it was through those good and bad experiences that I've found a real home in Athens, a comfort that's evolved through four years of packing and unpacking.
I especially love the houses of Athens. From cozy to crappy, clean to quarantined, the housing in Athens is unlike many Ohio suburbs that are becoming congested with housing developments
a colloquial phrase for a collection of homes that all look relatively similar.
Athens County is empty of these housing developments, and I couldn't be more relieved. The old homes that make up this town add to the nostalgic atmosphere and help Athens retain that strange comfort that always has us longing to return.
Each home in Athens is unique because no house looks the same. They look as if a different person built each one of them, so maybe that is why each house seems as if it houses its own personality and history.
A house can shape and change you. A house can make you happy -or miserable. It might make you want to leave right now or stay forever. When we look back on our homes, we inevitably look back on ourselves and on the times we spent there.
I remember last fall going back to the place I lived my junior year. That was my favorite home, the first place that I'll remember when I think about my four years in Athens. Man, I loved 19 Mound. It's a boys' house now, and though the four guys that live there are very friendly and fun, I couldn't help but remember it as mine. The bricks leading up to an always-open door, where there resided four girls and a lot of music, partying and laughter, was a comfort I relied on. It was a part of who I was, and, as corny as it sounds, I feel like a better person for having lived there. I loved that house like I loved the people in it, and I often find myself missing it like a friend.
However, a home can only be as fabulous as the people living in it. Sometimes, best friends don't make the best roommates, so choose wisely. Live with someone you think you can't live without. No one wants to find herself in a situation where the only four walls she ever sees are those of her own bedroom.
To find a home that will shape you and your year positively, it is imperative that you pay attention to the details you would have previously scoffed at your father for suggesting. Carefully inspect the basics: carpets, the windows, the heating and cooling systems, the water fixtures, the ceilings and the appliances. Don't be afraid to ask the tenants and the landlord questions. Make sure you know what you're getting into when you sign on the dotted line.
It is during these nine-month to yearlong contracts that we learn what we want -and sometimes need -in a home. We realize what is important to us, so that when we do settle down somewhere, we'll know exactly what we want. Me? I want clean carpet, freshly-painted windowsills and a porch (preferably with a swing.) I want those little things I never thought I'd think of.
So take care of your home as if you'll be there forever, because it is those rooms and the people who fill them that will remain in your memories for your lifetime. Besides, you owe it to your home to treat is as well as it has treated you.
-Liza Martin is a senior journalism major. Send her an e-mail at lm258701@ohiou.edu. 17
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