Knowing a place

In some ways not knowing about a place can be a good thing. This provides an opportunity for a fresh start with a place and people who don’t yet know you; we don’t always like to be followed by our past and reputations from years past. On the other hand knowing about a place is important in order to feel at home. If you don’t know anything about a place, there is a natural tendency to keep everything inside and to yourself; to form a barrier between you and the world around you. Knowing your way around is also important in order to reach the resources you need.

 

In addition, knowing people in the place you are in can have an impact on how you feel about that location. In order to feel at home you need to have some sort of connection to people whether it is through school, church, job or other community involvement. After all, home is where your friends and family are. It is also important to be in an environment or culture that makes you happy. For example, some people desire to live in a more urban environment while others may like the small town feeling. Having a knowledge of current fashion trends, relevant issues, and current events also plays a role in feeling at home somewhere and bonding with people there. Communication, in addition, is necessary for feeling at home. Speaking the same language and knowing the slang can be crucial to communicating with people in that place. For instance, depending on where you are from just within Ohio there is a variation between whether people say “soda” or “pop” when referring to their carbonated beverage. All of these things are significant factors determining how at home a person will feel in a certain place. 

We believe that the question “what resources does a place need to have for you to be happy there” is completely subjective to change based on the individual answering the question. Because the answer to this would be different for each of our group members we will try to answer in as general a way as possible. Some things that most people like to have in a place where they are happy is food such as fast food, fancy restaurants, family owned businesses or delivery. Other factors that effect where a person choses to live include weather conditions (the seasons), entertainment available, size of city/location, and health and city services provided. Also forms of transportation and communication, such as cell phone reception, wireless internet, newspapers, magazines and tv/cable. Overall, there are many attributes to what makes a community feel like home to you.

~Da Fancy Pants