On hosting

Ironically, I wrote last week’s piece on the merits of getting out and exploring spaces beyond Tufts, but this week I am all about the merits of bringing people to you and the weirdly satisfying joy of sharing your day-to-day experiences with another. Throughout the past two weeks, between hosting for Voices of Tufts Diversity Open House and the occasional visitor on fall break, I have shown five people around. While tiring, this has ultimately been so rewarding and has really opened my eyes. There is no better way to understand how you feel about a place until you welcome a stranger into that space and guide them yourself. In these experiences, I have come to understand my emotional relationship with Tufts better than I have in the past two semesters, and it would have been impossible without the impetus of hosting visitors.

After many calls articulating how to navigate from South Station to Winthrop, pictures of the Joey for reference and explaining how, “Yeah no, Tufts isn’t really in Boston," and "Yep, you're right, it is kind of far from Davis Square on this chilly evening,” all my guests, thankfully, arrived safely and down to sleep anywhere. No matter who, whether it be an old friend, arch nemesis, prospective student or Honk! band member, you will have an abundance to discuss and discover together as you roam a place that is so unfamiliar to your companion. Together, the two of you learn from each other, even if all that means is introducing them to Carm’s wings night because you’re too tied down to even think of leaving campus on a Monday. You feel? The point is having someone who cares to learn more about your day-to-day routine, like where your internship is, or how many minutes it takes to get from Wren to Tisch or even something as mundane as understanding the hills around campus. These are cool experiences to share in the sense that they make you feel more connected to both your visitor and your surroundings.

It is this combination of the lovely time spent with both friends and strangers -- and the discussions they bring you -- from challenging certain aspects of campus you may have ignored or thought commonplace to just wondering what the social life here is like, that really gives you a full-circle experience. Don’t get me wrong, hosting is not easy. You have to work around your work schedule, your homework schedule and your procrastination schedule while having an extra person in your cubicle of a dorm. So yes, it is a commitment. But heck, those problems are so mundane and add nuance to the experience. Drag them to your classes to keep them busy, show them every nook and cranny and secret short-cut of the campus, get their opinion on your favorite places to grub. Any minor connection you make is one less care you have about the accommodating aspects of the hosting process.

A cheesy-as-heck friend once told me, “Every person is a lesson.” With hosting you not only learn by listening to the lessons of your visitor but also from the lesson of processing your opinions in response to candid questions about your lifestyle. These are questions that are much more genuine than when your mom calls on the phone and berates you with a bunch of questions, to which the only response is, “Yeah mom, it’s alllll good.” Hosting a guest never feels like a jam-packed phone session with your mom and that should be reason alone to call someone up and get him or her over here.