the great adventure called returning home...

Hello everyone.

I am home safe! I've actually been state-side for well over 24 hours but it's been rather busy... Let me explain...

SO... we left our hotel in Madrid for the airport at 6:30am Monday morning... this was after an 8 hour bus ride from Sevilla the day before AND staying up to watch Spain beat Italy in the Eurocup for the FIRST TIME IN 88 YEARS! That was pretty amazing... I have a newspaper to keep as proof of being there. Anyway, got to the airport, said our tearful goodbyes to the TAs (who would NOT be accompanying us on the way home) and got on our plane. Got to Paris on time... though we still had to rush because there was only an hour layover, and in case you don't know, Charles De Gaul airport SUCKS. We followed signs to our gate... which led us to a bus that took us to a platform where we had to wait for a train that would then take us to our gate. Guh. We got to the train platform to find MASSIVE amounts of people just waiting around... no trains coming or going. After asking around, we found out that there had been a security breach and the trains were shut down. Crap. We waited and waited and got rather antsy as our departure time neared... FINALLY the trains came. It turns out someone left their luggage on the train and it became a suspicious, unclaimed package... bomb squads had been called. Anyway, we're jockeying to get on the trains so we can get to our plane that leaves in about 30 minutes but of course, EVERYone and the grandmother was trying to get on them... we finally get through only to arrive at an even greater bottleneck: this hellish place called a security checkpoint. It was terrible. The one upside: it seemed like our entire flight was stuck in this mess. We were running into Atlanta bound travelers everywhere. Surely the plane wouldn't leave without the majority of its passengers... (this calmed me down a little bit... I refused to think of any other alternative). After getting through security, we busted it��to get to our gate, boarded and could finally take a breath.... although there was still a lot to be worried about... we were the first ones to make it from our group, and we had seen how far behind some of the others were. We had made it with five minutes to spare, but there was no telling how long the flight would wait...

An hour and a half after our scheduled departure time, our plane was finally airborne. We waited for every passenger, and for that I think everyone was grateful. I ended up sitting next to this guy from Turkey who was going to Minneapolis to work for three months at the Rent-a-Car in the airport there. He spoke NO English, but he had his Turkish-English dictionary, a grammar book, and a common phrases book complete with phonetic spellings... communicating was a bit difficult... Lots of gestures and looking up of words by me in his dictionary... I would point to the word I was trying to get across. It was a very interesting experience. But he was nice, and I managed to help him with filling out some of the forms. :) Good times. We watched Mulan together too. It was pretty entertaining. I am now convinced that Disney movies are a type of universal language :)��

Anyway, 9 hours later (three of which were spent unconscious), we landed in Atlanta. My favorite moment was getting to turn on my cell phone that DID have service! That was nice. I don't remember exactly what time we landed, but I do know that it was a good 45 minutes to an hour before I was actually out of the airport... customs, claiming and then rechecking luggage, more security, etc. I finally made it out, met my Dad-- BIG hugs-- and then headed home. We pulled up to a house with a "Welcome Back" balloon on the mailbox (Big smiles) and walked in for more hugs, of the Mom variety. Flowers on the table, more balloons and another lovely welcome sign :) I love my parents SO much! This was in my bathroom --->

Then, DINNER!!!! Delicious, American, homemade food. Oh, how I missed you! I also talked with Drew, who I would be meeting the next day to send him off to Austria... and then I crashed.��

The next day (yesterday), I woke up took a shower, and got ready to meet Drew and his family in Buckhead for lunch before heading over to the airport. I got into my car to pull out, turned the key in the ignition and... nothing. I tried again. It just made this anticlimactic clicking noise. The battery wasn't even trying��to start the car. Crap again. I almost cried. 6 weeks without seeing him, and I was about to have to endure another 5 and now I wasn't even going to get a few hours to say hello and goodbye. My Dad, whom I love SO much, came all the way home from work and gave me a ride to the meeting place. I missed lunch, but all was well. I got my few hours before I entered the airport for the second time in 24 hours.

Let me tell you, that was a strange feeling. ��But anyway, I gave a few good long hugs, a kiss or two, and off he went to Austria for 5 weeks to study. The timing of all of this was certainly not the greatest, but what can you do. At least we had our one day. I took MARTA��to Dad's office and we went home around 6. More delicious home-cooked food for dinner (YUM!) and then early to bed.��

<-- Me with my man before he headed out... I miss you!

Today, after waking up at 5:30 or so from a pretty scary nightmare, going back to sleep and waking up again by 8:30, I got my car jumped, drove it around for an hour or so to get the battery working again and returned home. I stopped at a Starbucks drive-thru on my trip and experienced a lovely act of kindness... the person in front of me paid for my drink! How awesome is that?! I felt loved... and it was a nice little "welcome back to the South" kind of thing. :)��

Now, I am simply procrastinating the whole unpacking mess that plagues my room. But I better get to it. Tomorrow or the next day, Mom and I will be headed down to Amelia Island where I will get some time to relax, reflect on the trip, and just hang out before the rest of the summer ensues. Keep checking back here. I will continue to update :)

I love you all!