It’s nice to go home for Fall Break. Even if all I do is sleep and eat, I’m sleeping in a familiar bed and eating food I’m not paying for. Plus, it’s nice to see the changes around my house.

Such as how I think my family is trying to forget me. I didn’t bring home many clothes, because I have some there. Only I didn’t find them until the last night, when I was looking in the back of the basement for something else. My dad put them in storage up in the rafters of the room, impossible for me to access. Alongside them were the boxes of pictures I’ve accumulated over the years and all the schoolwork I’ve kept. Granted, I’m a pack-rat, but still, the rafters?

Another difference is the living situation. I wasn’t surprised when I came home and a German was there, because my family had warned me. I was surprised, though, that I came home and my house looked like Germany. German stuff everywhere, I could only half read most instructions. My mom organizes an exchange for my high school, and the most recent shipment came in around the end of September, and I suppose they brought a few things with them.

In addition to a German, I concluded that my sister’s friend is living with us; and I’m pretty sure I took her bed. This isn’t strange, because they’re best friends and she sleeps over most weekends. The night that the friend came home and my sister didn’t, though, that’s what made me think it wasn’t just a sleepover. But she didn’t complain about me sleeping in that bed, so I don’t care.

It’s cool to see what’s new when I go home. I’m still at the point where I like the idea of living away, so it’s not 100% upsetting. Maybe next time there will be some new foreigner rifling through the fridge or something.