The Modern Day Nomad.

"Nomad" - a person who has no fixed residence but moves from place to place (usually seasonally) and within a defined territory. I think I qualify for this description. Over the last year and a half I have not lived in one place for longer than three months. Tomorrow marks my seventh move in eighteen months - back to Philadelphia, back to school, back to the dorms.

Penn Housing must have a cruel sense of humor. I applied for on-campus housing, looking for a roommate-free safe pace to live. They assigned me a spot in the freshman dorms. A quick snapshot of my freshman year housing situation: it was common to wake up on a Saturday or Sunday morning to find the hallway covered in technicolor vomit that made interesting splatter patterns up the walls. It smelled like a combination of vomit, fruity bar drinks, McDonalds - a common drunk food of choice for Penn students, and Febreeze (to try and cover up the stench.) I am not looking forward to it. Honestly though, in Philadelphia it's a choice between living on-campus with alcohol-intolerant freshmen or living off-campus and walking past drug dealers on your way home at night. I'll choose the dorms.

My frequent moves have made me a minimalist of sorts. My life fits neatly into two suitcases that I have carried with me halfway across the world and back. Unfortunately not all of my German souvenirs will be accompanying me to school; the wooden swords my sister and I bought at Neuschwanstein are rather large and won't in my luggage, which is a shame because they're fun. The scarf I bought at the first soccer game is coming with me though. I spent almost an hour in line to buy it so I am determined to wear it as much as possible.

One downside of the nomadic lifestyle is that I constantly feel like I am camping. I used to feel like I was camping out at school, just waiting it out until I could return home. Now, everywhere feels like camping - I'm just waiting out the next year and a half until I can go back to Germany. Three weeks from tomorrow I go back to Munich for Oktoberfest, and there are tentative visits planned for winter break and spring break. We'll see how Oktoberfest goes and take it from there. Mal sehen.

Tomorrow- another move, another culture. The USA is technically one country, but the Midwest, south, west coast, and east coast have their own distinct cultures that don't necessarily mix with one another. It's interesting - stay tuned.


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