Any college student knows the struggle of leaving the place you call home. Most times, we bring a little piece of it that reminds us of the place we grew up and, more importantly, the people we love whom we left behind.

 

My personal inventory starts with a sketchbook my twin sister made for me as a birthday present. She was never a builder/fabricator (that's more my department) so the fact that she pushed herself out of her comfort zone to make it for me means a lot.

Next is all the tools I couldn't live without: my digital calipers, compass, and Cooper Union ruler. I do a lot of 3D modeling and without an accurate measuring tool (like my digital calipers) I could never get by. I have been using my compass and ruler more the more I draw; I have never considered myself an artist because I can't draw a straight line or a decent circle for my life so these tools have helped me break the initial barrier keeping me from my true artistic potential. The Cooper Union ruler is especially special because that college doesn't have a merchandise store so everything I own that says "Cooper Union" on it is very rare (and not to flex or anything but I did get accepted to Cooper Union and turned them down for NYU :P).

After the tools comes an adjacent tool: the camera pencil sharpener. I found this pencil sharpener while looking for a present for my mom, who happens to be a photographer. After I gave it to her we were trying it out and found that this pencil sharpener made pencils even sharper than any normal pencil sharpener. When I went off to college my mom got me this camera pencil sharpener as a going-away present. I use it for all my pencils, especially when I need to draw super fine detail.

Finally, I have two pieces of jewelry I inherited from my Abuelita after she passed away. One is a ring with the word LOVE molded into the design and the other is a fish pendant that used to be on a necklace of hers. I plan on putting the fish pendant on an earring after I get my ear pierced, right now it is on a fake clip on earring.