When I first approached Couch Center at 8:30 am on a Thursday in August of 2018 I felt a type of nervous anticipation. The almost industrially styled building reached an imposing twelve stories into the sky, and I was to live on the eleventh floor. The architectural style and the scale of the building reminded me that I was entering a whole new world. In the days after I moved in, met my roommate, and made my room my own, I was surprised by how used to this new building I had become. The building that at first reminded me more of barracks now felt more like home.

               Today when I enter Couch Center, I feel a wave of nostalgia for that first year of college. Couch became more than just a home. There I met lifelong friends, made unforgettable memories, and worked long hours as I began my undergraduate career. Couch Center reminds me that home does not have to be especially comfortable or beautiful; home is just a place where we live and grow.