Sometimes I can't believe that things actually happened to me

Like... was I really a TA at G2? I'm still a pretty quiet and introverted person who gets a few nerves when thinking about physically leading a group of people several years younger than me. Now that I'm a freshman in college, I've gotten used to following leaders again, and can't really imagine myself as *that leader*.

Did I really go to all those places during the summer before college, traveling around the world alone? Here I am taking the 28X (Pittsburgh airport bus) for the 100th time, as if I've always been surrounded by the familiarity of this city.

Did I really compete in international math competitions in high school? I don't think there's anything particularly unique about me anymore; I'm just another college student with normal college student abilities. I'm slowly losing the ability to solve hard problems quickly like few people in the world could. I'm no longer flying in a spaceship, and it's crazy to think that I once was.

Did I really experience that first trimester of college, meet all those people and call that different place home and have my own routine that I decided completely myself? I'm sitting at my desk in a room with my mom, brother, and sister, like I always have; it's like I never left.

I thought about these things just before leaving home for my second trimester of college (class starts in a few minutes). But I didn't have time to write this down because I was also brainstorming CMM problems.

Was it all just a fever dream? I feel like I've lived 3 different lives already. I wouldn't go back and relive any of them, because I want to see what this one will unfold into. And some things are best kept as memories. But sometimes you don't realize how crazy/special things are until they're over. In the moment, they're just the way life is.