The Journey Home

I love traveling, I really do. Its time you get to do whatever the heck you want. You can think, read, listen to music, sing, annoy your neighbor, make a friend, the opportunities are endless.

I had a layover in Amsterdam (no I didn’t go explore, it was only an hour and a half) and on the way over there I made friends with a nice couple from North Carolina. The husband is a professor and the wife is a family physician. Their daughter is in the Peace Corps in France right now and she showed them around while they visited her (this was their first time to France.) I loved sharing travel experiences and hearing all of their opinions – I need to start making the initiative to talk to strangers more often (sorry mom and dad, I know that’s not quite what you taught me)! Their second flight was from Amsterdam to Detroit like me, so we found our way to the airplane and sat down together at the gate to continue sharing stories. Somehow, despite our paying attention to the monitor and the announcements, we missed our call! When we realized the monitor said that our gate was closing, we rushed up explaining who we were and the workers were like “Where have you been?! We’ve been waiting for you!” We really were trying to pay attention and the workers were a little meaner than necessary, but that’s ok because we still got on the plane! I just really hope my luggage makes it with me! One guy mentioned something about them thinking we weren’t coming so they had taken our bags off?! I'm hoping that they didn't!

I feel like some airline god has been setting up all of my seating arrangements, because on the long ride over the Atlantic, I made another friend. She studied abroad just like myself, only she was in a French city near Germany studying with her college professor. It was neat comparing/contrasting experiences. We’ve both decided we can’t wait to eat pizza without forks!

So I’ve watched two movies: Just Go With It and The Dilemma, worked on my art paper, and finished a great deal of this blog (that’s why there all here now!) There’s still a few hours left, and I am very eager to be back in the US, using my cell phone, and seeing my friends and family.

I will definitely miss the French, the great friends I’ve made, and the ancient architecture (you can’t go two feet without finding a building at least 2 centuries old.) I won’t miss the crowded metro, or the smell of smoke everywhere (I know I wrote about it not being as bad as it appear, but I’m still really sensitive to the smoke) however.

I didn’t get to go up the Eiffel Tower at night, or go up the stairs of Notre-Dame or ride a bike through the city, but Stephanie helped me out a lot by telling me what her professor told here – those things aren’t what I didn’t get to do, they’re just the things I’m saving until next time!

Until next time!