So I've been itching to post about this for a good 3 weeks now and finally I get to. It was my mom's idea to fly me home for 3 weeks instead of them coming to visit me in Germany since it would cost way less and since it afforded the wonderful opportunity to go down to ASU and surprise all my friends.
And let me tell you, it was worth it. The sheer shock on everyone's faces upon seeing me has been PRICELESS and it was totally worth the Delta Airlines Flight From Hell that brought me across the Atlantic on February 16th. To describe the flight, let me just say that it involved a plane not meant for international journeys, two chick flicks, and worse, broken headphones. Oh, that and a pit stop in Maine to refuel our miniscule little aircraft. I arrived in Seattle sleep-deprived and groggy. My mom, my sisters, and my stepdad greeted me at the arrival area, and my mother predictably burst into tears the moment she saw me.
48 hours later we jumped in the car and headed for Arizona. Yes, we drove all the way to Arizona. Again. I am reminded of how much I love road trips and also of why my mother, my sisters and I have not taken such a road trip in so long. Course, there were some funny moments, such as the time when mom had to pee really bad as we were crossing the border into California and there wasn't a rest stop for miles.
Mom: Drive faster, son, I really have to go!
Me: I'm already doing 85!
Mom: Wait! Wait! There's a sign up there! Is that a rest stop?? What does it say??
Me: "Northern California Reservoir, 5 miles."
Mom: AAAAAAAAGGHHHHHHHH!!!
Stepping onto ASU's campus again for the first time in over 9 months was a weird feeling. I feel like I don't really belong there anymore, or at least like I'm a foreigner of sorts. But it was so refreshing to see it again and see all my friends and enjoy the Arizona sunshine (it's pushing 80 degrees F here). I have the best friends in the world and they have been awesome these past 5 days. It's good to know that they haven't forgotten about me and do actually miss me when I'm gone.
It's been bittersweet though. Seeing all this reminds me of just what I'm missing out on while I'm in Germany, even though I've known from the start that that was the trade off. I'm glad I'm doing what I'm doing -- living abroad for a year has caused me to really grow up -- but I think that what's really sad about it is the realization that when I get back to ASU I have only one year left with all my awesome friends. I wish I could just stay there forever, that we could just freeze time and never graduate and just have this carefree college life with each other forever. But time goes on and life marches on with or without us, and I guess it's just part of growing up.
Man, it sucks though.
We leave Arizona on Monday and fly (not drive, thank God) back to Seattle. I fly back to Germany on March 9th to start my term paper and enjoy the remaining 5 months of my stay. Being back home has really made me excited to get back to Germany and make the most of the time I have left as well as get me pumped about getting home again at the end of the year and starting my senior year at ASU.
For now, I've got one more day with my friends and then it's family time for the weekend. This will be spent planning my grandparents' visit to Germany, laying by the pool in the warm sun, and reading. Aaaah the good life.
Oh and another announcement that I've been dying to post about: I finally took the plunge and got an Apple iBook. Let me say that I am euphoric to be free of the prison we all know as Windows and that I will never go back. This thing rocks my socks off.
And that's it!
P.S. No one gets 10 cool points because none of you guessed correctly (many of you didn't even guess at all). Sad.
Posts
9 comments:
OH MY GOSH!!!!!!!!
You should see my face! My jaw literally dropped! Hey can you stop in PA on your way back home??? That would be too cool for words. What a cool thing! And you got an iBook on top of that?!!! I am SO JEALOUS. I was on the cusp of buying a new computer when I left the doctor's office, and now it's killing me not to have my own laptop. Yayyy so exciting!!
Oh, and what's going on in Tubingen? Some kind of market setting up in the square?
I would have guessed Arizona! But I thought you had stopped posting since you're in the US, so I stopped checking your blog. Also, I thought for sure that someone else would guess Arizona before me.
Hey, when you come back, do you want to bring me some brown sugar and some baking soda? I'll pay you.
OH! And a cheap set of measuring cups. You know, like from the dollar store.
You know, I just read this again and I can't believe that the fact that you finally got an iBook didn't get it's own post. It's quite shocking really. ;-) How'd you get it? Was it a gift from your folks or did you just bite the bullet and sell your old puter and put up the moulah to make up the difference?
glad you got an iBook. sad you didn't wait a week until the new ones probably come out: http://www.appleinsider.com/article.php?id=1555
that's like the Bible of mac rumor websites.
very true. but i like shiny new things. mine's pretty new and i'll be waiting a while until getting anything intel-based as well.
i have a question to ask you. it's nothing embarrassing, but just small-worldy and i'm curious to see if i'm right.
alright. so, long story. several months back my friend beth and i stumbled across your xanga as we were both feeling frustrated with our lives in Germany, and as a result we perused the blogrings and stumbled across yours. so we had been reading your blog off and on. a couple weeks ago my friend beth was undecided as to whether or not she was able to go to the Death Cab concert in Munich. turns out your friend kyla went to the concert with my friend beth and some of her friends. the only reason why beth got to go was because one of kyla's friends from tübingen decided not to go and as a result beth got the ticket. beth deduced that kyla was a friend of yours. now i'm curious (and beth is furious for me asking you this question) whether or not that ticket was meant for you. because that would be a really small world. get what i'm sayin'?
i got all excited when i saw that i had three comments about my grey's anatomy post. (although, i should have half-expected it seeing it's a great show and all.) but i guess hearing back from you once, albeit the same thing multiple times, was still nice. anyway... yes, beth met kyla. i thought it was amazingly cool. beth still hates me for talking to you about this. but really, i think that's partially why blogs were invented— to meet people and figure out that their friends went to concerts with your friends. i hope you're enjoying being back home for now. i left berlin a couple weeks ago and i still really miss it. i wish i could go back.
Post a Comment