V. The prime age

   I am officially sixteen years old now, and I have been only since the 26th. This is the age that every child wants to reach, when Americans can begin to drive, and when originally I would have been allowed to date. Well, I don't really feel much different, I won't get my permit until I come back, and I'm still not allowed to date either, but I don't really care that much because I am going on an adventure for the best year of my life, and it is going to be amazing. It practically ensures that I will never forget my sixteenth year, and it will be something special.
   Yesterday I had my birthday and goodbye party. It wasn't really much of a goodbye because several of my friends couldn't make it, and I still have three weeks before I go. As much as I wanted July to disappear
and dissolve in thin air so that I could reach August, now that it is nearly gone, I just can't believe it. The 4th of July wasn't that long ago, was it? Suddenly my countdown went from like 52 days to 22 days, and I wonder where all that time went.
   Just a week ago actually, I was in Washington D.C. I figured that it would be a good place to visit before I leave the country just in case anybody asks me about what it is like. My last trip to the city was when I was in 6th grade, and I had never even visited the White House, so I made it a point to visit it along with most of the monuments and memorials.
   My visa application was finally sent to the consulate on the 27th, and I felt hugely relieved. It was like a book of papers and forms all related to me, and I can only imagine how exhausting it would be to have to look through all of that, almost as much as it was to put together. Originally I thought that it would probably take weeks for all of this to go through and for me to finally get my passport back, but yesterday I learned that Hannah, another girl who lives relatively near me and is also going to Switzerland, received her visa already, and she had mailed hers only two days before mine. So, it took a grand total of five days for her application to reach the consulate in New York, be processed and everything, and mailed back. I hope that I can expect something close to the same.
   Now that all that paperwork is done anyway, I am confronted with the chore of packing and preparations. I try not to think of what I need to pack because then I'll probably worry about what will fit in one suitcase. There's also lots of stuff that I could take but I don't need to take and stuff that I might need but I might not, and there's also stuff that I don't even own that I should probably buy before I leave. Clothes will be the main issue for me I think. It will be mostly winter while I live in Switzerland, but when I arrive, it will be warm. And what kind of shoes should I bring? I need to have nice shoes for school, but I also have to bike; I need shoes for hiking (but would I use them for anything else?); I need shoes for winter, but they take up a lot of space. At least my host family will let me borrow some of Tamara's clothes. And this is only the beginning of the packing dilemma. 

All the papers on the desk were what I needed to send as the visa application. And that's me looking extremely tired.

My party!

My friends!

The cake!

Blowing out the candles.

The Washington Monument

Me at the World War II Memorial

The Lincoln Memorial

And... the White House!

   Again, back to the whole sixteen thing, I feel that this year will really test me. This was the same age that my two oldest siblings went to Europe for their first times. I believe that I am going to be a completely different person when I come back, and I will be all grown up, so, yeah. This is kind of the prime age.