The semester is almost over, and I still feel unfamiliar with living in a dorm. Before you dismiss this opinion article as insecure freshman whining, keep reading. It’s not that I’m not used to living away from home; it’s more that living in a cramped and cluttered triple dorm has helped me clearly see I’m a vagabond.

I moved three times last year because I left my dad’s unhappy house the first day I legally could. I took care of myself without much help. Then I moved again. Finally, I came up to Lumberjack Country, where I have found myself in a triple dorm. It seems every time I turn around, I’m packing.

Maybe you feel like a vagabond, too, in your own situation. Maybe you’re also a freshman who has never been far from home and misses your parents and siblings, or you’re a junior who just can’t tolerate raucous and irresponsible roommates — and their disgusting collections of rancid laundry and cigarette butt landscaping just outside the front door of the apartment you rent together. Maybe you’re just tired of hopping from dorm to dorm every year and keeping all of your possessions in boxes, only to take a road or plane trip home every summer and winter. All of my own moving around has helped me understand two important ideas about this elusive mystery of home — which I feel I’ve never had — and why college students, especially, need to have somewhere they call home.

First of all, when we spend most of the year in a crowd of more than 10,000 strangers, having someone to come home to must make us feel college is worth it. The visit feels meaningful for the first time in my life when I go home to my current residence — my mom’s rent-free extra room. I have never lived with my mom before this year, but now when I see her, I actually feel connected to her and that the time we spend together is special. My mom feels like a person when I talk to her, and not just the generic woman I’m related to who folds towels and occasionally tells me what to do. Having someone who is happy to see me when I go home makes me feel stable and not like the drifter I usually consider myself to be. Every college student should have people to anchor on to, whether it is family or a group of good friends.

Not having a permanent residence incentivizes the college student’s search for his or her own home, too. To me, it’s very important to have a place of my own, tailored to my likings and with myself in charge. College life comes to an end as we fulfill our credit hours and graduate. In other words, we won’t live in dorms forever. The transience of college domiciles can motivate us to save the money we usually waste to make an investment in a place where we can finally lay down permanent roots. I can assure you my apartment or house will be a hybrid between cozy Martha Stewart Living and the chic IKEA catalog. And having our own places means no more flip-flops in the showers!