Creating a Cozy Home Away from Home
Memphis Can Feel More Like Home!
You’re in a country far away from home. You might be homesick. To cheer you up and make you more comfortable, it can really help create a cozy space inside your U.S. home, that reminds you of where you are from. Here are a few suggestions of things I did to make my home a better place.
Living on Two Times
Place two clocks inside your home. One for the current time zone, and one for your time zone at home. The time difference with the Netherlands is 7 hours, so having these clocks in my home really makes it easy to see when it is a convenient time to talk to my family during the day.
Photos of Home Country
Hang pictures from your home country in your house. There is an antique shop downtown, called South Front Antiques that has bins with old-style postcards from all over the world in their store. I happened to find an old postcard from my hometown there and some other images of areas in the Netherlands. I suggest stopping in there one day to see if they have any fun postcards from your hometown!
Post Important Birthdays
Use a perpetual birthday calendar. It is hard to keep up with birthdays from people back home, so it is easy to re-use a birthday calendar every year, so you can call people back home on their special day, or send them a fun card! This addition was especially important to my home because, in the Netherlands, it is a tradition that in every home, people have this in their bathroom. You can also hang postcards and pictures you receive from friends and family in your home, in a place you see them often. This can remind you of how much you are loved, even when you feel homesick and your loved ones are far away.
Decorate Similar to Home
LÖVBACKEN Coffee Table from IKEA
Lastly, I suggest having fun furniture that is in some way a style that reminds you of home. Many stores will have something that is somewhat like your familiar style. If you’re from Europe, like me, the best place to go is Ikea. It is a Swedish company that is located all over the world. Pretty much all of our furniture is from there. It is affordable, and their quality is great. I’m not sure exactly how you would describe the typical European style, but they have some unique pieces that you can’t find anywhere else (for example, this leaf coffee table).
I hope these ideas can help kickstart some ideas for making your home more cozy!
VIVIAN BRANDHOFF DANIS • THE NETHERLANDS
Vivian moved to Memphis from the Netherlands in 2011 to be a full-time student-athlete. She completed both her undergraduate degree in Sport & Leisure Management and her Master’s degree in Communication while throwing shot put and discus for the University of Memphis. VISA was the first organization that gave her many international friends, with most of whom she still enjoys hanging out with today. After meeting her American husband here, Vivian stayed in Memphis and now works part-time, while also being a full-time mom to her daughter Nora.