Fifteen Days It seems crazy that I'll be leaving England for who knows how long in only two weeks from tomorrow. I finally start to feel at home in this country, and then I have to get ready to leave it. I started sorting through papers today. They had grown from little stacks into mountains on my desk. I look around my room, and I wonder how I'm ever going to fit all of this into three suitcases. I was dreading living in a room by myself after two and a half years with roommates, but now I'm dreading going back to school in the fall and not having my own space. Fortunately, there will be that in-between time, the transition period where I readjust to my own culture. The image of my grandma's house sparks another set of thoughts. Questions about fitting in, about whether or not I will be different or the same, if I want to be the same. So much of this semester has altered the way I think about life, the way I see myself, the way I see others, the way I see my country, the way I see my family. How can I have these experiences and not be different? There have been people in my life this semester that have become a part of me, and inevitably, I'm not the same person as I was before I met them. They've influenced me, whether for good or for bad, and either way, even if it's a minute shift, there's a difference. The interesting thing will be to see how much others see it in me, if at all. I've warned my little sisters to keep an eye out for changes and to let me know. I'm sure my mom will notice if there's anything out of the ordinary. I'm trying to pin down the change here, and I think I probably won't be able to figure anything out until I get back to the States. I will still be learning from this experience years from now.