HOME by Cat Stevens

Home on a kite we fly,

Home on a breeze we blow

Eyeing the folks below and

Watching everybody run,

Each one heading for a different place

Watching everybody hide,

Each behind a different face

Home where the days are long

Back where the people are free,

Home where all sides agree and,

Everybody has a friend, oh

And no one ever has to grab

Everybody shares the love,

Giving everything they have.

Forever forever your lamp will burn

Forever home forever would that you'd learn

That you came with nothing

So with nothing you'll return

You know you're not alone

It's only 'cause you're not at home

That you feel so out of place.

Home where all the mums can sing,

Back where the children don't cry,

Home where you never ask why and

Everybody has enough, and y'don't have to put on clothes

Nobody has to hide 'cause everyone already knows.

From Juno's Ost

“Home… hard to know what it is if you’ve never had one
Home… I can’t say where it is but I know I'm going home
That's where the hurt is”

By U2

Home is a small word but its meaning is not small at all!
It is often said that the two most important things in life are health and love. I dare to say that in fact, all we need is a home.

Our first home is, of course, our family. As we arrive, the blood connection is not only the cause of our existence, but it is also the first sight of love we get and therefore, we feel at home. This is why we frequently associate home with the house we live in because it is the environment which we know better and the place where safety and comfort is usually taken for granted, since family is “always there for you”.

Then, when we start to go to school, we find ourselves on our own for the very first time and, obviously, we feel the need to establish a second connection in this world. That happens every time we make a friend: the power and also the benefit of being able to choose whoever we like and include that person in our life. By doing so, we are expanding our “home”.

Later in life, while our personality is developing, a third and, perhaps, more magical connection takes place: the one we build without involving other people, a link that simply happens or appears. By that I mean, for example, the love for music, arts, literature, sports and the things that make you feel better as you get to know more and more about yourself and about the world that surrounds you.

As we grow older we become aware of other links that play a huge role within our character and in our place in society: how nature can by itself, be like a home to us. For instance, we all love the beach because while our body feels the sun, sand and water, we feel alive; even when we admire a landscape we feel we belong there, just like when we smell the pure and fresh air of the woods.
Another interesting connection is the bond we create with the culture of our country or region. Most of the time, we only notice that this link exists when we leave or move home, when we travel or live abroad. But it is there, even if we have the opportunity to be acquainted with other cultures that may as well turn into a piece of us.

Thus, besides realising that our home holds our life, we can also assume that our home gets bigger and fuller thanks to the many connections we set up as time goes by. Home is the result of a healthy and loving life: “A house is made of walls and beams; a home is built with love and dreams.”

The moment when I can touch the wind and taste the air
Everytime I recognize a sound
When I feel the full power of the colours and the intensity of the words
Where I take a picture on a sunny day with the ones I love
The night, the moon, the quiet and comforting darkness
A crowd singing and dancing on a rainy day
An empty canvas or piece of paper where my thoughts travel along with the pencil
When I dive and swim in the infinite sea...

MY TREE HOUSE

She was trying to keep her eyes open
But the cold wind heated now by the golden rays
Forced her to keep them closed
So they stood there holding
Their star’s gaze

And for the first time ever
I saw summer in her face.

What do you call home?

What exactly is home, is it a place? Home is a word we often use without thinking of its meaning. But it is more a feeling than a place; it is a sense of attachment to something. Home means to be welcome and to feel welcome and that is where you are loved and waited for. Home is an emotion we connect with experience we had. But it is at the same time a place where nothing can befall us, a feeling of security and satisfaction.
In our lives we can have more than one habitation but only a few places we can call home. Some people are fortunate and have more than one place to call home and others don’t even have one.
Till now, I have moved with my family about six times and I’m able to connect to each place several things like special events, friends, smells, colours and feelings. But there are just two I can call home. The house where my parents and sisters are living is the place which I connect more with, thus that is my home. Now that I have left it, I realised what it is that connects me to it. I miss above all the people, the quietness, our garden and the twittering of the birds.
Wandering through the streets we soon realise the number of homeless living rough. For those homeless people the concept of ´home` doesn’t mean anything else. Maybe they would describe a place under a bridge as home but the feelings they connect with it are the same. A homeless person, who maybe shares his place with others, has his own understanding of the concept. Nevertheless it represents protection and a sense of welcome. If a homeless person feels rejected by society in his everyday life, he will search protection and security in his home, whatever he understands by it.
I know that for many people in the world my definition of what a home is like or should be is completely strange. There are a lot of people who don’t even know what this is, for example in countries where there is a constant heat of death and therefore a feeling of security and protection is impossible.
Others maybe have a safe habitation but wouldn’t call that home because a special person like a mother or a partner is missing. If you have to work for example in another city or even country where you have everything you need except this special person you won’t sense it as home.
My parents have lived in Germany for more than 20 years and they have their own house, a working place and their friends, but they still call their home country ´home` and hope one day to return, although they have everything they need to live and to feel at home.
All things considered, I would say that we can understand the concept of ´home` in different ways, depending on the place in the world and the circumstances we are living in. My conclusion is now that home really is where the heart is.

Who is Catia?

This is a small introduction about me. I wrote it especially for those who don’t know me yet but also to remind the ones I’ve met last semester.

I’m 22 years old and even though I was born in Lisbon, I consider myself a girl from Stuttgart, Germany, where me and my family have lived most of my life.
I moved to Lisbon almost two years ago because of my boyfriend, with whom I’m currently living near Sintra.

This is my second year at FCSH-UNL, but it’s only my first one in the English course.
During my free time I enjoy drawing as you can see in some of the pictures I chose to illustrate these words. I used to give german lessons but for now I’m just babysitting a little boy, in order to save some money.

By the way, I just looooveee turtles; I’ve got two tiny turtles myself, they’re called “Rugas”. This is why last semester my link was “turtles”.

I hope you’re not bored yet because I would like very much to know you guys better in person.