"Real Comfort" by MSIH first year blogger Flear Vaknin

It is not unnatural to seek ways to make your home more likehome. I think this holds true whether you recently moved abroad or not, but it is particularly relevant in the former. So much was new on my arrival to Beer Sheva, even the apartment I share with two roommates was literally brand new (we were the very first people to live in it).


In August, us three strangers in a very fresh, very bare apartment started on a task to make our apartment a more pleasant and inviting place to be. This was not an unimportant chore; after all, it is where we study, entertain, and, on occasion, relax. Piece-by-piece —a poster, then a decorative pillow— the space started to fill up, but it had not come together as fully as it did this past week.

This is the blog post about how 6 pallets (ethically obtained from a local construction site) and a lot plants made our Beer Sheva apartment a true desert home.  Consider this a cross between an instructable and a celebration of loving where you live, no matter where you happen to be.

It’s odd that the thing that solidified this space’s homestatus had nothing to do with the homes we left behind. There’s little to elucidate a sense of the northeastern United States, or Canada, but a lot that reflects the arid landscape and local enthusiasm for flower-spotted balconies. According to Jane Austen, “there is nothing like staying at home for real comfort.” In the case of the adventurous medical student, this couldn’t be farther from the truth. The comfort and familiarity we found here was borne from foreign influences, but the sense of warmth it has provided is as genuine as any.




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