Really that long since I posted? Hm. Too much going on.

I've realized that in the time since I posted, lots of things have happened. I've even been in another country. But this is maybe not the time to really get into all of that. Pictures are up on my picture site, as usual, and most people already know about Prague anyway.

I've been studying too much and I think it has just magnified everything that isn't perfect. I feel like all of this studying and stressing about school has just made me scrutinize everything else. Relationships, the future, everything. I'm not sure if I want to be home right now, but I'm not sure I exactly want to stay here, either.

So many relationships are strained because of the isolation and the sheltered nature of this place. One loses perspective. Things that would be brushed off back home are exploded into the end-all, be-all of a friendship. Comments or criticisms mean exponentially more here. We forget to function in ways that our peers back home are. In a way, we grow up a lot here, but in another, we're stunted. Yes, maybe we are all exposed to more cultural understanding, maybe we all grow a lot in a practical sense in that we learn to be independent and to take care of ourselves, but at the same time we all seem to get left behind when it comes to maturity or interpersonal things. We forget how friendships and relationships "in the real world" work. We forget how to handle ourselves in ways that make sense to people outside of this bubble. I wish I could take the people I care about and go somewhere else, somewhere more normal, and just throw it all in perspective. But I can't, and so I fall victim, just as much as everyone else, to the strange workings on this campus.

I have a feeling that after exams are over that this place will become everything I want it to be again. It's just difficult to wait until then, but I'll get back to you next Wednesday after they're all done and update you on how it all turns out.