"There are places I remember/All my life/Though some have changed..."

I have had the very disconcerting experience of seeing two pictures in the past two days of places where I spent a lot of my time years and years ago. Places that I haven't seen since then.

One was of the door of my apartment in Barcelona. Tim and Alecia were recently there, and I very nicely asked them to stop by and take a pic for me. They were more than happy to trade my Barcelona knowledge for this request. I could see in the door, into the vestibule/foyer/lobby part. I could see the mailboxes on the table that I walked past every day for 9 months. I could see the three stairs that you have to go up before turning right to get into the elevator. The very tiny elevator that has a door you have to close yourself. I remember being there, but I hadn't retraced my steps this way in a long time. I was shocked at how much I remembered, and how clear it all was.

Earlier today, I was MySpace stalking someone (I know, I know, I can't help it.). They happened to have gone to Dickinson College, where I spent two summers at CTY (smart kid camp). CTY was actually an experience that hugely defined who I am now. It was the first place where being smart and not being preppy was cool. Pretty eye-opening to a 14 year old. It was the inspiration for all of my future nonconformity. Being that I was only 14, I don't have many specific memories of CTY or my summers there. I don't talk to anyone who was there with me. Yet, I found this picture of a girl in front of a building on Dickinson's campus, and I felt like I had been punched in the stomach. I REMEMBER that place. The porch in front, the stairs where we would hang out, and the trees that we sat under. I know what the staircases look like inside, know where my class was in there. I remember old pictures that I have of people whose names I don't know anymore from outside that building.

If you had ever asked me if I remembered this, I would have denied it. How can one picture unlock all that? What else is stored in my head that is inaccessible now, but could, at any moment, be thrust to the forefront and make me feel this vaguely uncomfortable longing for the days of yore?