It's good to be home!

After 20 hours in trans-Atlantic transit, I felt like my whole body sighed a great sigh of relief as I walked through the exit doors of Dulles. It was so good to be home. And then when I spotted my Mom, and then Dad, and Steven, and the puppies, all waiting for me, I think my whole body smiled so much that a few salty, exhausted tears squeezed themselves out too. My day had started at 2:15 AM, when I woke up for my 3 AM airport transfer. I was in the Madrid Airport by 4 AM, flew in to Amsterdam around 9 AM, and then amused myself in the duty-free shops and an airport cafe until 12:30 PM. My 8 hour flight would've been great, except the petite college girl sitting next to me traded seats with one of the biggest men I've ever seen in my life- 6'4 and 350lbs. He took up his seat, and half of mine.

Without the time zone change, I landed around 9:40 PM, but then spent the next hour standing in line for Customs. It took another 5 frantic minutes to locate my luggage as I'd been waiting in line so long that they had pulled everything off of the carousel and scattered them all about. By 11:30 PM I was finally home, although now it was 5:30 PM. It really wasn't that bad, but I was physically and mentally exhausted.

I can't even begin to say how nice it is to be home. I am so utterly content to sit on our couch and do absolutely nothing but think about how happy I am. I've had a wonderful Christmas, and in the next day or two I'll add a few stories and pictures from my last leg in Madrid. More importantly though, I want to thank each and every one of you for reading and humoring the last four months of my life. You (all) have been the motivation behind every time I've sat down and written a blog. Of course I've written it for myself as well, but I've written it well for you. And I appreciate that, because now I've got this fantastic collection of memories and stories that I will be forever thankful for composing. I would also like to add that despite my many references to alcoholic beverages, late nights out, and weekends spent gallivanting across Europe, I still managed to pull a 4.0 GPA for the semester. Yes, I did have a great time, but I also worked hard and studied. It's just that that sort of stuff is rather dry and boring compared to the Eiffel tower or the Austrian Alps, as you can imagine.

Now, I shall resume my Unpacking regime. Merry Christmas!