Here in America, we Speak American

So, I'm back home. I'm not sure what I'm supposed to say, but I'll try to come up with some words.

I made it. I'm actually fairly impressed at my luck too because Heathrow is freaking massive and my flight from Manchester was an hour delayed. I landed at Heathrow at 1015 in terminal 1 and had to get to terminal 3 by 1035... yeah right. I had to jog a mile with my forty-eight pound backpack and duffle to get to some kind of shuttle just to jog another mile just to see the departures screen. I started bawling when I was on the shuttle because I just knew I had missed my flight and here I was hoping to have time to stroll through the Heathrow mall and shop at Harrod's for old times sake. I prayed that God would have compassion on me and either delay my flight or have one that I could catch close behind it. Finally when I found the departure screen the only flight to "Washington" said it was leaving at 1150. I teared up again from sweet, sweet joy. I get a little emotional when I'm travelling on my alone and have had little or no sleep, I guess. So, after an 8 hour flight across the pond, I made it. Let me tell you it's kind of surreal. Obviously, I know what America looks alike, but it was still unusual stepping off the plane and seeing Americans for the first time after 5 months. Despite my annoyance at carrying zillion pound bags, I still managed to chuckle to myself over how American everyone looked. My parents and bro were there to greet me at the airport and they had a balloon that read, "To Cheer You" because it was the closest thing to "Cheers" that they could find and really embarrassing posters that said things like "Welcome Home, Miss International" and "Number 1 NC Tar Heel." Yeah, you know how that goes. Oh, the affirmation. But, they brought me flowers and that was cute. I'm not going to lie, I cried again when I saw them, but what the frick else is new.

From there, we stepped outside the Dulles International Baggage Claim into the 90 degree F heat and I felt like death had come early. Then, I realized I had forgotten how huge American cars were... not that I miss small Euro cars at all, but it was still unusual seeing all of the Yukons, Tahoes, Suburbans, and Silverados/F150s everywhere. My pops piled all my crap up and I retrieved my gargantuan Uni of Sheffield robe and some jelly babies to wear and eat in the Durango, so I could maintain a connection to my abroad time while making the 7 hour drive back to Charlotte. To my surprise, we drove an hour and a half north to meet Melissa, Alyssa, and Karys and my cousin, Melody, who loves me at Outback in Bowie, Maryland. Karys is beautiful and I love, love, love her, and she is even more adorable in person. We enjoyed a good dinner, despite my lack of appetite, and it was pretty chaotic because everyone was talking over each other and I realized that nothing had changed at all since I left five months ago. After awhile, I just wanted to go to sleep, and then Melissa surprised me by telling me that her, Alyssa, and Karys would be coming back to Charlotte with us until we drive back up to move me into GW on Friday. That was sweet. We're making a detour 3 hours into the drive to visit my house in Chapel Hill and eat on Franklin. I'm excited for that.

Other than that, I haven't done much except try to get re-acclamated to the time change and be an insomniac who strolls around the house with Mildred (my cat) following close behind all the while. I finally slept through the night last night from midnight to 8:40. I was pretty pumped about that. I spent Friday driving alone from 12 pm to 11 pm. It was nice to be behind the wheel again, plus my mom let me drive her Lexus because my dad is currently installing a new radiator and hood on Princess Blue, so that was nice. Today I got to go to Elevation (www.elevationchurch.org) for the first time in 7 months and it was awesome, but of course Pastor had his week off the one time that I am there, so naturally, I was bummed. Perry Noble spoke in his place, and he was good, but definitely no Steven Furtick. Alyssa came with us and got a free Elevation Church t-shirt. Then, we proceeded to eat at On the Border while everyone cooed at Karys for an hour and a half and planned my fam's trip to the beach for the week starting 4 July. I will go just for the weekends, probably, unless there is too much going on, in which case, I'll probably be just chilling with Alex and Kate.

Tomorrow I have to go to the dentist. I hate the dentist, but I love the dental hygenist lady that I get everytime. It will probably be the last time I go there because Mindy and Tim are packing up and moving to Knoxville, Tennessee since my momma got a new job with TVA. My mom and I both start work on June 22. How precious is that? It's good to be home, but at the same time, it's wierd to be back and be so full of life and bursting with new information, but having no one to really share it with, except Monique, Chelsea, Alexandra, Lindsay, and Genna on skype. I never expected my study abroad experience to be so awesome, so it's a little more difficult to adjust than I thought-- more than just time changes. The six of us are planning a reunion soon, though, because I'm pretty sure they are near and dear to my heart now, so we're going to make these trips happen. Anyway, I'm excited to start work because I think I'll be doing some pretty interesting things this summer and I'll be with Xandra and Kate all summer. So, we'll tear up DC. I just hope some campus police people don't recognize me on the GW campus...

I plan on keeping up with my blog because I like doing it, but I doubt I'll have as exciting stories to tell. They will probably be a little less frequent, but I will still keep it up. Until my next blog, thanks for reading and I look forward to seeing y'all again really soon!

PS- Where the frick did TWITTER come from? Will someone please take the time to explain it to me?

Ish

I know, I know... I suck. I haven't update in awhile, but I have been so negligent to sit around on my computer when I have so little time left here in England. According to the Virgin Atlantic website, I'm down to 2 days, 16 hours to be exact. It's a little bittersweet, I'm not going to lie. I'd say I'm 2/3 nerves, 1/3 excitement to board a plane back to America. It's going to be weird, that's for sure.

I want to go into more details and put up pictures of Barcelona with Ana and her family, but I don't really have the time right now because I'm studying for my B.Shake's exam (William Shakespeare for those who lack the ability to read between the lines on that one) and saying goodbye to my other half, Lindsay Saladino. Thank God she's my fellow Tarheel, or I'm not sure how I'd be able to function. Anyway, just to give you an idea about B'Cona... it was gorgeous. Right up there with Venizia. Beautiful and wonderful and artistic and Picasso everywhere. You'll like it... go. It was the first time I've travelled by myself since being in England (obviously, I've flown by myself, but not to entirely different countries) and was a little nervous about managing to get around in Spain, but my speaking abilities proved helpful. I took two buses to get to the airport and then got on a bus in Barcelona-Girona to get to the B'Cona City Centre than I took a metro to a tram-- from there, I walked to the hotel. My favorite line was, "Donde esta la linea verde o amarilla?" These spanish guys came up to me and were seriously trying to determine whether I was English or Spanish, so I decided to keep the mystery alive and just smile at them and walk away. Plus, I was alone and being cornered by two older men in the evening would not fly.

Faces of Barcelona by Pablo Picasso

After I finally got to the hotel (about 2 hours late), Ana, her dad, and I went and got some paella at like 10:30 pm... you know, the Spaniards celebrate the siesta, so restaurants don't really open until after 9. It was fabulous. I never realized how much I hated English food until I went to Spain and ate things with flavor and spice again. Their hotel was tight, so I got a greattttt night of sleep and then woke up the next morning and went on a private tour of Barcelona with Ana and Tiffany (Ana's step-mom). The best cathedral I have ever seen is in Barcelona. I was enthralled by its uniqueness and by the fact that Gaudi (the original architect/sculpturist of the cathedral) was never able to see it completed... it is the only cathedral in the world to be restored and built at the same time. It's been in the works since the mid to late 1800s and isn't expected to be completed until somewhere around 2021 or something like that. Insane, ay? Anyway, if you find yourself in Spain, please go to La Sagrada Familia (literally, the Sacred Family) because it is magnificent... it represents the three most important events of Jesus' life-- birth, death, and resurrection, and it is a masterpiece of detail.

La Sagrada Familia... notice the construction!

A little bit closer now...

Even closer... note the detail.

After our tour, we grabbed some salads... which I have not had since being in the UK as well and they were DELICIOUS. The sun was out by this time, so Ana and I called it a day and tanned by the pool. I was ecstatic because I haven't seen the sun in so long. The next day we woke up and tanned some more, and I swam some laps, before heading back to the city to do some shopping and post card finding (for me). Of course this all took place in Las Ramblas, another culturally awesome area of Barcelona. We ate some tapas, and I basically drank a jug of Sangria because Ana hasn't acquired the taste yet (I guess that's what Europe does to you), then went home and passed out. The next day we woke up pretty early and I headed back al aeropuerto (back to the airport). It was a wonderful journey and Mr. Moorefield paid for me to take a taxi back to the first bus because he was horrified by how many transportation transfers I made on the way there. But, I would do anything to get to Ana. I'd walk a 1000 miles, or tell a guy to do that for you at least. ;) Ana and I had a great time together and it was a blast reuniting with the Moorefields on vacation once again.

Apart from that, I've gone out a few times with my buds to get our dance on and we also enjoyed a girls night out on June 1 because my Chelsea and Monique left us for Austria and then Rome. I'm so jealous, but also very appreciative for the travelling that I have been able to experience since getting here. It's given me an even bigger bug than before, so we'll see what's next on the list. I'm thinking after we graduate-- a longer trip thru Italia and Greece are in order. I'd really like to wave to Benedict if given the chance. Then, eventually, I'll get my butt back to Spain and onto Morocco (but Tiffany wants me to meet someone from there first, so that I'm able to get around okay), so that I can get into Africa. I have a lot of ideas up my sleeve, so we'll see how successful I am at putting them in motion. On our girls night out (sorry for that long tangent), Chels, Mon-Mon, Genevieve, Alexandra, Lindsay, and I took loads of group photos around the University of Sheffield campus. We wore white shirts and jeans and looked like morons, but I promised it would look good on camera and it did... even though I'm sure we screamed Americans. I've included one such picture. Know that there are plenty more where that came from if you feel like being entertained on facebook.


I apologize again for neglecting my audience, but my blog made it to google, so I'm pretty pumped about that. I may fit in another blog before I roll out Tuesday night to stay at a hotel at Manchester airport because of my early flight on Wednesday, but no promises. I think that I will keep this up even after getting back to the states because it has become a catharsis of sorts for me and a way to refresh my memories. Although, my life will probably not be nearly as entertaining and exciting as it has been over the past five months, but you never know. You might be entertained by all of the weddings taking place this summer... it's wierd. I'll let you know what happens when I meet Karys Jane for the first time. :)

My sweet ol' Tapton Room. I'll miss you, Tapton...

Until next time, hasta luego.