2 days! DUDE. very little to say other than dude, which, apparently, they don't say in england except when making fun of stupid americans. I've considered attempting to wipe the word from my vocabulary, but it's possible that my capacity for speech would become unhinged and shatter into a million nonsensical pieces. besides, I am a stupid american. no sense pretending otherwise.



tomorrow is my last day on this side of the pond. the day before I left for switzerland five years ago, I spent the evening playing roller hockey with a friend. later we climbed on top of the monkey bars at the half torn-down playground behind the elementary school and watched the sun set over the rows of clapboard houses. it felt like I was about to escape from a bubble, a cage-like bubble that warps minds and sucks people in until the rest of the world kind of fades out of view. they say once you've lived in western new york, even if you leave, you'll always come back. you're doomed to a life of chicken wings and lake-effect snow in october. I'm an exception, of course. I have an incurable case of the wanderlust.



this time around, leaving will be a bit sad. this has very little to do with the fact that I'm about to spend a year in europe and quite a bit to do with the fact that I'm utterly despondent to see my four-month summer vacation come to a close.



sister is home, so off to bed. the thought having my own room again in 3 days is not among those things that would ever cause me to feel despondent, or any other negative adjective in the english dictionary.