Hi everybody!

Today, the 16th of March I am exactly gone for half a year, 6 months or a 182 days! Therefore this special blog with how I spent my first few weeks in the States but also some travellers thoughts about how it feels to be gone from home for 6 months! 

At the moment I am staying at the University of Virginia with some lovely friends that I met in Guatemala, but my journey here in the States started more than two weeks ago in Atlanta. After I convinced the people of the border control that I really wasn't a dangerous terrorist (no kidding, they took me into a room for questioning for almost an hour!) I was free to go to my first stay with a couchsurfer. He was super nice and it felt great to be back in an actual apartment with central heating, a modern kitchen and a shower with hot water! The next day I got lost in Atlanta, took a stroll in Piedmont park and also went on to another couchsurfer for my first host had some trouble hosting me the other nights. Ahmed, my next host showed me around in the city the next day, we went out for a brunch and afterwards walked around in the Olympic park, visited the CNN headquarters and I planned my trip to the Aquarium for the next day. Atlanta is well known for this huge aquarium, were they have one of the biggest salt water aquariums in the world, in them there are all kinds of fish but what I was most looking forward to were the Whale sharks that they have there! The visit next day was as spectacular as I wished it would be, it was amazing to see the whale sharks, the biggest fish in the world, from up close. And furthermore there were all kinds of different amazing animals such as dolphins, whales, turtles and sea dragons!

After these political/ philosophical thoughts I continued my journey on to Charleston, a historical and cute harbor town in South Carolina. I spent my first afternoon there at the beach with my (again) great host, her friends, and two other couchsurfers. The weather was nice and springy and the beach beautiful but windy. We saw some dolphins just ten meters of the shore playing in the waves and that evening we went to a great couchsurfers meeting with local hosts and surfers. The next day I spent on exploring the city with its green parks, historical buildings and lively centre. There really was a great vibe in town and I would recommend it to anybody that passes South Carolina. But unfortunately that was my last day in Charleston because on Friday I went on by train to Richmond and from there by bus to Charlotsville, home to the University of Virginia. Michelle, my friend from Guatemala picked me up at the station and I could join right in at the St. Patrick's day party that some friends of hers were giving. After that nice night she showed me around in town a bit Saturday and we cooked a nice american dinner in the evening. On Sunday Michelle unfortunately fell sick, but her lovely roommates showed me around some more in her place. I ate lunch with them at this amazing bagel place and spent the whole afternoon enjoying the great weather in the beautiful gardens. This week I will continue travelling up north passing Washington DC, Philadelphia and New York before arriving in Vermont!

However much I am enjoying travelling here and seeing all these amazing things, meeting these great people, I have to admit that home and the people there have been in my mind a great deal more lately. I wouldn't call it homesickness but it is wondering what people are doing ans how things are. I calculate what the time in the Netherlands is and think about my friends who are probably sitting in their universities, my dad who is probably walking the dog and my sister who is probably typing some essay. I also catch myself looking for Dutch music on my iPod, just to hear a little bit of my own language. Again, that is not out of sadness, it actually feels great to know that there is that place where I will always fit in again, that culture that is naturally mine. I feel enriched by it, for I do feel very at home with the people I stay with and in this odd and sometimes stupid country. But my hosts only have this, this place that they call theirs, while I have this other country I feel at home in, that secret language I can speak and that great, liberal and tolerant Dutch system that I can brag about! Cause somehow being away for so long has made me discover this proudness of my country I never knew I had! Maybe it is because I haven't heard or seen Dutch news in quiet some time, or because it is human to always forget the bad things, or I might have just idealised things. But whatever the reason is I ended up loving to tell about that Dutch system, telling everybody how we have a government that actually does care about that split between rich and poor. And how we were the first to legalise gay marriages, marijuana, abortions and euthanasia, making us that tolerant  and open country I like to think of. And how our many party system allows everybody to have a voice, to feel connected and welcome. In order for that to happen people actually have to go vote obviously, so in fact this is just another reminder that there are elections coming up on Wednesday and I happen to know a party that will keep the Netherlands just as it is in my imagination: PVDA! But really, this election is just one of those things I would love to have experienced myself, it being the first time I am allowed to vote. Other things are for example birthdays and important exams of my friends and family. Luckily I am very sure that I will be able to catch up with all those things when I am back and so I will make sure I'll enjoy the last month and a half!

Even though I said I wouldn't I want to conclude this blog with some summarising/concluding sentences. Because I would love to say another thanks to all the people that have made this last half year the best one of my life. As I saw the lush Costa Rican rain forests change into Nicaragua's gorgeous lakes and then into Guatemala's dry highlands, and more recently into the white beaches of Florida, the swampy, with Spanish moss covered forests of the Carolina's and than into pine trees in Virginia, I changed with it, and that feels great! 

Lots of love and see you all soon,

Kerime