Ramblings of a sleep deprived girl on a train

Twenty four hours ago, I left home in Humboldt County to embark on a new adventure, living for a year in Germany. I did this before so I should be an old hat by now, but leaving this time was so much harder. In the past year I've grown so much as a person and made so many new friendships and the list of people I'm going to miss is a bajillion times longer than it was the last time. And I'm not leaving everyone behind while you go on with your normal lives, waiting for me to come back, you guys are all leaving on adventures of your own! It's crazy. Anyway, for anyone out there who's gonna miss me (I really hope some of you will miss me!), I'll miss you too.

So here I am, on the Amtrak from Washington D.C. To Charlotte North Carolina to visit the infamous Aunt Phyllis and Aunt Lora (This is really special for me, because I traveled to
Chile, and from Chile, and all over Chile, by myself, but I have never traveled around the U.S. on my own and it was actually really easy. I feel so grown up and competent!).

I have this weird mentality right now where I feel like I'm already in a different country. The scenery outside my window is so alien, people act differently and when I say I'm from California they treat it as a foreign land, a majority of the people have accents, and I am constantly surprised that everyone around me speaks English. I think I'm ready to be a foreigner again.

Anyway, I'm incredibly happy right now and I'm really going to enjoy this week of warm weather (it's supposed to be in the eighties all week! Hallelujah! Even better, there's a chance of summer thunderstorms tonight!) and family, and then off to Deutschland for Grace. Hooray!