5/3/24 I once read something[^1] about how lovely it was to visit a friend in their local environment. Getting to travel with someone was great, but seeing a little slice of their life was, in many ways, more fun. As I tried to learn as much as I can so that I could keep up, my friends demonstrated their contrasting fluency at every turn, which felt more conducive to seeing a place. Even if the place was as unremarkable as a dining hall that apparently I shouldn't have been able to enter, or a library that is spoken of like a nightclub, or a couch-lounge area that somehow doubles as a study and a bedroom (unfortunately, sometimes simultaneously). ~ The second time around (7/31/24), I've increasingly noticed that I feel more like a JHU student than an UNC one. Time goes by quickly — this time last year, I was still in Vermont, life touched with glimpses at college yet never going further. This time is another one of those glimpses, with whatever the official run will be coming up soon. [^1]: To be fully honest — this could have been an Instagram reel. I don't really remember how I encountered it