Constructions of Home

I came into college equipped with posters, fairy lights, the DC flag, and pictures of friends and family. I had all the ingredients to construct my dorm room into a home, and yet that home evolved differently than I could have imagined—gradually, and also in leaps.

Each time I return to my dorm I bring a small part of Wash U with me: A domino’s coupon from the club fair, the smell of burnt popcorn on my sweatpants from the common room, muddy shoes from my first run in Forest Park. These are the physical and emotional tokens that transform my dorm into home.

Then there are the leaps. I remember the first time I walked to class and saw people I know. It was an improbable feat—seeing four out of the five friends I had made so far in a span of ten minutes—and yet campus felt transformed. Once a blank space occupied by foreign faces, campus was now alive with people moving in different directions, but working together like clockwork. And I contributed to that clockwork.

I remember when I discovered my regular meal at Bear’s Den. It was past midnight and I was craving something, something unidentifiable. Until [find his name!] at the Grizzly Grill suggested the fried egg sandwich—two fried eggs with perfectly melted cheese on sourdough bread—a masterpiece. “We make them all day,” he informed me proudly. At home, fried egg sandwiches are my go-to food. I have learned to love the tikka masala at WUrld Fusion and the pesto gnocchi at the DUC vegetarian station, but it’s the fried egg sandwich, available all day, that gives me comfort, bringing home to Wash U.

A month into school, my dorm is full of motion. Chaos. Late nights. Naps. Some homesickness. New friends. Where one might see disorganization, I see evidence of life, of making my way into the Wash U community. A towel on the ground because I came back from water polo practice at 11pm, and I was too tired to hang it up. Sticky notes covering my desk because I have plans in the making: join Green Action, order my textbooks! 5:30pm cycle, office hours for lit class?? Like entropy, the disorder of my room is always increasing. The more my dorm spirals out of control, allowing Wash U to reach in, the more I begin to join the community.

I cannot say that in just four weeks I am there, that I am ingrained in Wash U and Wash U is ingrained in me, but I am certainly on my way.

Elizabeth (Lulu) Feldman ‘21 studies in the College of Arts & Sciences. She can be reached at eafeldman@wustl.edu.