College

Alright, so I'm traveling again and hence the blog must be a thing again!
What has happened since my return back home?
1. Graduated from high school while talking community college credits which sorta didn't at all transfer to my school now. And got heavily involved in theatre.
2. I went to Stanford for a debate tournament, and don't particularly think San Fran is all that jazz.
3. Kearney vistited right after Thanksgiving and it was just divine.
4. Sophie visited for two weeks where we went to Canada (oh I went to Canada a lot this year), Seattle, Mt. Rainier, and even down to Portland to visit Alex for a couple days.
5. My family hosted an exchange student from Italy named Francesca and we had a blast teaching her that you can't steal food out of the "serve yourself" organic bins at Fred Meyer.
6. Mariah, Tasha, Emma, and I officially created a title for out friendship called "The Circle of Trust." Yes, we are intimidating. Yes, we are incredibly silly. And no, you can not be in it.

And now I'm in college!
I currently am attending American University in Northwest DC and loving it, however the east coast is strange. A gap year was very very tempting however, 1. education is important, 2. I had no money to go abraod and frolic and backpack, and 3. the school gave me money to go here so, why not?

Classes are good, professors are good, I just got a job which is good.
However, just like I did in Thailand, I will probably mainly focus on cultural aspects of my life here at school instead of more scholarly content. And just like I did in Thailand, here are a list of things that are different over here in DC.

1. No hipsters or indie kids- everyone here looks like they can be pinned on a pintrest board rather than placed in a Nirvana concert.
2. Flat- no hills. I'm not sure how I feel about this yet.
3. New chain restaurants- there is a kid on my floor who goes to this Mediterranean restaurant called "Cava" all the time. It is set up subway style except with rice, pita, and felafel. I call him Cavakid, appropriately.
4. Iced black coffee- I mean, why?
5. Boating shoes- with no boats to be seen.
6. Monogramming- I previously just thought this could be found in Land's End catalogs until I realized that the east coast is just Land's End in real life. There is a brand called Vineyard Vines which is kinda a mix between Gap and American Apparel that is popular here?
7. No thrift stores- I honestly don't know what to do.
8. Grassy plains to relax upon- I miss the forests and rocky beaches but there is nothing like a good plain of green grass to stretch out upon.
9. Important people- I got lost in the International Service building during the first week of classes because I wrote my classroom down wrong and asked a man walking in the hall for some help. He helped me find my class but then I realized that I could've just met someone very important that works closely with I don't know the UN and they could've turned me into an ambassador and I totally missed that opportunity because I wrote down a three instead of a five on my schedule. Or it could've been the president of the school and I would have been equally oblivious. It pays to recognize people here and it is a bit stressful.
10. Business- one of the first things I noticed while in DC and the short half hour I spent in Philly with my sister, Anikka, is that people are not especially polite. They aren't rude. They just aren't gregarious. Which is kind of sad. But alas, business as usual.

And that has been kind of what is going on so far in DC but more updates will follow!