Back in the States

I am back home, I have been for a few days. I have been washing the entire contents of my suitcase. You apparently get really dirty after three weeks in Europe. I stunk, my clothes stunk, my backpack stunk. It was all kind of gross. And dont even get me started my European Injury list. My feet have taken a beating. They have finally returned to their normal size. I don't know how many times I fell in the shower and going up hills, and crossing the street...well to be fair that was when Sam almost died so my injury then wasn't as severe.

It is so weird being home. It is almost like Europe was a dream. I was so ready to come back home. I couldn't wait to sleep not only in my own bed, but the same bed for more than two nights....to have the same shower everyday, to be able to go to the bathroom without having to pay...to be able to walk in on a hot day to a blast of cold air. It is so nice.

But on the other hand I am bored. I knew I would be. I just didn't think it would be this fast. I get up way to early and then wonder what I am going to do. "Walking Tour around town?" I have tons to do. I just don't want to make myself do it. That is really the blessing and the curse of these guided tours. It is really nice to have someone else plan and do everything for you, to drag you around and tell you when to get up and where to go. It makes things so much simpler...especially for your first trip. But the moment your Tour Director leaves, you panic. You are lost, you don't know what to do. Jonny (our TD) had everything so planned out for us that I even heard him planning out how I was going to pack and get ready in the morning in my head. It was like he became the voice in my head.

You should have seen us when we got the airport the day we left. Jonny stayed behind with the other group that would be leaving later and we had a bus take us to the airport. John and the rest of my group needed to be let off a different gate and there seemed to be mass confusion on what to do about that. And then once inside the airport even the group leaders had trouble taking charge of getting everyone to the right place. We all felt so lost without our Jonny. And now I feel lost at home without him as well. It is nice sleeping as late as I want to and eating and going to the bathroom when I want to, but it is hard to go back to being independent again. The tour made it so easy to just coast along.

I kept a good journal while I was gone. I was very faithful. I thought it would be filled with hopes and dreams and some clue to what I want to do with my post-Europe life, but I was lucky to get down what we did each day or exactly what city we were in. I can't even remember half of what I saw. It was like I was drunk or something. It is so funny to look at my pictures now. I kind of have to think a minute to figure out the city and I can't even guess at the name of the building. We saw some many cathedrals, museums, old buildings, etc that I sort of got this glazed looked on my face by the end. "Oh wow, another beautiful, old palace. Who lived here again? Why was this important? When can we sit down?"

I don't know where I got off thinking I could really analyze and think about things on this trip. It was all I could do to just try and enjoy what I could. I sort of found pockets of fun and just tried to really enjoy those and try not to get to down the other times.

More later...