Coast hopping

So I'm in the 2nd to last week of this internship and while I can't wait to get back to LA, move in, see everyone again, get all my stuff unpacked and get ready for band camp (woo?/!), I'm gonna miss the time in DC. It wasn't one of those self-discovery journeys that inspire Oscar-winning films, but it gave me the chance to do things I wouldn't normally do elsewhere. Like get up at the crack of dawn to go to Gettysburg. Or camp out at 5pm to watch 9pm fireworks while being serenaded by the US Army band. Other things:

I still can't answer where exactly I come from (up to 3 different answers now), my hair is now a strange shade of brown/burgundy/orange, and I think my accent has taken on tones of the Mason-Dixon states as well as picking up certain military/nautical terms. I survived 2 months without murdering (or getting murdered by) the Notre Dame tuba or the UCLA alum officer. (Should I have? Most likely yes. But I'd rather not get in trouble with the US Navy, thank you very much.) I avoided getting questioned by the NCIS over classification issues. On a whim, I took the 6 hour Amtrak up to Providence, bruised my arse and killed my lower back on an hour of polo, watched a polo game, stayed up till 5 to go and have breakfast at a diner, and loved every moment because I did it with a friend. LA transportation seems even crappier than before after the lovely DC metro (minus the Red line crash). Shellbacking makes frat initiations seem like a welcome tea party. It's way easier to travel on the East coast than I realised. Thanks to the good ol' grid layout of DC, I visited most of the Smithsonian museums in a week by walking. There are people whom I would never have hung out with had we not ended up in the same internship, but I'm pretty sure I'm going to miss them. And while the reference letter is nice, I'm just glad I got to work with the people in the archives and hope I will see at least some of them again after all this.

Not a bad summer, by all accounts.

Still searching

I have the schedule time for a job next semester, but no job yet. Sadness.

Found this song by Mary Fahl, "Going Home", which is the opening song for Gods and Generals. It was a nice touch, but I think that if The Last Full Measure was made, it might have been more appropriate to use it then.

The point is that the song kind of got me thinking about what home really is for me. Not too clear cut for your average third-culture kid, unfortunately.
I guess by logic it would be either a) your birthplace, or b) the place where you spent most of your years.
a) is right out for me, since I haven't been back to my birthplace for 14 years (closest I got was probably Durham).
b)? Hong Kong? Possibly, considering my family is based here. But I don't know sometimes....I've been wanting to leave Hong Kong ever since we started applying to colleges, and now that I'm back here, I feel like I want to go back to the US soon. Hm.

My mum was asking me if I could come back to Hong Kong next summer. I told her I was going to try and find an internship in the US instead, and then she asked when she was going to see me again. I honestly don't know. That's the kicker. I will miss my family, and I feel a bit guilty that I might not see them for a while after Christmas, but I don't want to keep going back to Hong Kong every summer. I want to get away. Travel a little bit, work and live by myself in some place I haven't visited yet. Maybe I'll go back home after graduation. Wherever home is.