Back at home

I'm back at home. And by "home" I mean "in the Wartburg in Heidelberg", which feels like home to me, even though I still also think of three other places (Linfield, Fayetteville and Folsom) as home. I think that's what happens when you live life, home comes to mean much more than one place. It represents a lot of things like family or comfort or a place where you have at least some space to yourself, where you know how it's arranged, or where you have your control (except for when you can't find your keys, and you find them, twenty minutes later, when you check the pockets of your coat again and find them patiently sitting there, waiting for you to figure it out yourself). All this to say, I was gone for two weeks with a host family, and now I am back.

Walking in the door of the Wartburg, the name of the building where I live was like walking in the first day I moved in. It had the same smell, which sounds strange, but it's true, outside was warm like it was last August, and I had been away for a while, so it was as if I were experiencing

it again for the first time.

I had a wonderful time with my host family, and I can't wait to regale you all with adorable pictures and stories about my time there, but right now I have two weeks of classes to make up, 3 hours of class videos to watch, a documentary on the falling of the Berlin Wall to watch, Faust to read, and a paper to write. And that's why the real stories will come in the following weeks, because I'm feeling a tad overwhelmed right now. Just know that all the stress I'm feeling is seriously outweighed by the two weeks I spent away. It was completely worth it.

To the right are 4 of the 7 people I spent the last two weeks living with. Just so you know, they're awesome.