Relandscaping

In Gregory Conniff's article, "Landscape Is a Point of View,"  he writes,
   Landscape is one source of our humanness. Despite television, culture still has its deepest roots in geography; place is still a shaper of the soul...Landscape is about something outside of us without which we would be lost in space...Recognizing this mystery makes me feel less easily at home in familiar surroundings, but the new light breaking through from another's viewpoint gives me both the comfort of not being alone and an odd delight in wondering how I got to wherever I am.  For some of us, the big question is, "Why are we here?" I have never gotten past thinking about what "here" is.
    What sticks out to me in this selection is "place is still a shaper of the soul".  Is place really what shapes us? Do we become different people after living in St. Olaf grounds for 4 years?  On the other hand, is a place shaped by our soul? Do we bring something different and change the landscape of the place in which we live?  I believe that both sides of this argument are right.  From living on this campus, we will become different people, we will learn the terrain and it will shape our actions and motives.  But, we will also change the place in which we inhabit. There is a reason they did not just let anyone into this college. The admissions people care about the "landscape" of St. Olaf.  New landscapes force us to not be at "home", so we have to "relandscape"our new surroundings in order to make it home again.