>>1259620After all that, what made the most sense was switch to a community college and live with my parents for a while back in the Chicago area. I thought about going back to my old school or finding another place outside of Illinois, but I ended up deciding not to because logistics were easier, and I just didn't feel safe going far away on my parents' dime again.
I did get /out/ for a bit last summer, I saved my money and did this trip around Europe to visit some pen pals who I had been talking to for years. It wasn't anything huge, just climbing a mountain in the Pyrenees (I was going through that part of the world so I thought it made sense to stop by).
I'm looking for some part time work to do while taking classes this summer, hopefully I can go somewhere /out/ during the fall/winter if I save up my money.
What really sucks about the whole thing is that it's been my dream since I was 10 years old to live this ocean of corn known as the midwest and get away to a mountainous state like Colorado, and when I finally did reach it, it just didn't work.