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?