New story of my life.

It's been a while since my last blog post—some wise words I put together back then.

Now, since my last blog post, it's also been a whole new story of my life. 

I have moved from Boulder, Colorado to Terre Haute, Indiana, home to the Sycamores and Indiana State University. STATE University, the blue one with the leaf, more often than not mistaken with IU, the red one with the simple letter logo, which is Indiana University in Bloomington. About an hour and a bit from here, much bigger, much more pretentious and for good reasons at that. Not the worst institution to be mistaken with and a mistake quite unnecessary to correct when abroad, because really, who there can tell the difference? But Americans do know the difference.

And now, so do I. What I also know about now is the difference between the America I used to live in and the one I live in now. About leaving behind the responsibilities I had back then and taking on new ones. About being a carer for little humans now being an instructor for young adult humans (sometimes not that much different from the little ones). From working a lot and enjoying life at least the same to working a lot and studying at least the same. From being young and able to live like you are young to being young and being asked to live like you are really mature now. From really knowing how to do your job to encountering new challenges every day. From having found your place in life, quite literally and living a life you'd want to live, but knowing that it is an unrealistic one, not one you can have forever, to figuring out your place in life again, also quite literally and trying your best to make it the life you want to live, knowing that it could be a realistic one, one that you can have forever. 

But let me explain where all this comes from: America is not the same America depending where you go. "My" America is a "liberal" (for lack of better words here) America, and a progressive one at that. An America where you can feel a significant piece of European culture—and thinking in daily life. In that America, you can walk the streets, because there are sidewalks, and everybody walks, there is public transport, and it is normal to take it. You can ride your bike and get applauded for it, not stared at. It's an America, which looks critically at certain issues prominent in our contemporary world; one that cares, especially about environmental and human rights issues. An America which indeed exists. One may want to simply look at some big cities which are prime examples for this: Seattle, Washington; Portland, Oregon; San Francisco, California; Boulder, Colorado and, who would have thought maybe even Bloomington, Indiana. I am sure there are many more examples, but these are the ones I have been too or know enough about to make this judgment.