Tonight's flight.

8:05pm is the time of my departing flight to the Oakland International Airport. It has been exactly 9 months and 10 days since I've been home. I've often found myself referring to going home as "going up north," or "going to Northern California." Odd enough, the past four years I've considered Irvine as my home, and I would rarely go up north. My infrequent visits to home were primarily due to my restraints of working and student organizing. With my new job starting on the 21st, I know it will be even rarer for me to visit.

In the past, I actually resented going home for awhile. I found that every time I was up there, I just wanted to be back down in Irvine. A lot of  it has to do with how much I have changed as a person these past four years. I feel the ways I have progressed in my mindset and the social consciousness I hold as a person, defers me from a lot of my former high school friendships. Home should be a place where you feel most comfortable with friends and family. Over the years, I have definitely found a lot more of these two things down here, in Irvine. Although I cherish those memories I had with former high school friends, I found it hard for me to continue with them. I also sometimes felt like I was wasting my time at home, and not being productive. Now that my undergraduate career is complete, and my longest absence from home is nearing an end, I finally feel like it will be a worthwhile, relaxing time.

Despite all of this, I believe it is the most excited I've ever been to visit home.

I wonder how foreign it will actually feel.