Being Home (but not really home)

Arriving in the Kansas City Airport on December 16^th was really surreal. The last time I flew in was mid-July. Emily Evans had picked me up to surprise my parents who thought I was still at a music festival in Spain when in reality I had been in D.C. for the past few days.

This time, the weather was colder and my parents were the ones picking me up from the airport. I was welcomed with big hugs, which I needed. It felt really weird to be home, but still it was good to be in a familiar place.

I had just spent the last three months in the Southern Hemisphere and now here I was in Kansas in 30 degrees weather (and that’s Fahrenheit). Brrr. Keep in mind where I was in Australia was nearly 30 degrees Celsius, so switching to 30 Fahrenheit was a little unpleasant.

First thing I did when I got home was threw my rucksack (aka my backpack) on the ground for the last time and I unpacked—unpacked for good. Well until it’s time to pack again that is, which for me is always sooner rather than later. So anyway, I unpacked. I threw every article of clothing in the washing machine. It was amazing. I didn’t have to put quarters in the wash or stay in the laundry room all day. I don’t have to worry about strategically packing my top-loader backpack any time soon. I can put things in their place. Although unfortunately, I don’t even know what that means really anymore. Truly I don’t feel as though things have a place, but I guess now is as good as time as any to put things away.

Seven nearly eight months is a long time to be gone. Plus right before I started traveling I had just moved home from university. Basically my life has been about packing up and unpacking for the past year and a half. Good thing I don’t mind packing all the time. So, for now, I will be putting things away and packing to move into Theta in a few weeks.

I typed this entry into Word shortly after arriving home from Sydney via L.A.. I planned on wrapping up the rest of New Zealand and Australia by blogging like a mad women over break while stationary in Kansas. Well if anyone knows anything about me, they know I am never stationary. Now I may have changed a bit while abroad, but one thing is for sure, that hasn’t changed.

Since leaving Australia on December 11th, I have traveled L.A. until the 16th, returned to Kansas just to leave three days later for the weekend to celebrate Christmas in Iowa on the 19th and 20th. After a weekend in Griswold and Oakland, Iowa, I was in Kansas for a record four consecutive nights at my parents’ house. On Christmas Eve my family including my Grandparents spent the night at a hotel near the KC airport to insure we flew out on time early Christmas morning to Miami, Florida. I spent Christmas Day until the 29th in Key West, FL. After a crazy day in the Atlanta airport trying to get home, I booked a spontaneous flight to Grand Rapids, Michigan where I would spend New Years Eve with some dear friends. On New Years Day I drove to Chicago for two nights. Then I spontaneously bought a train ticket to Buffalo, NY, which is where I am right now as I type the ending to this entry. Currently, I am waiting in the Buffalo Niagara International Airport for my flight to KCI via Baltimore, which will be my first flight of 2010. I wonder if I’ll manage to bet my record of 18 flights for 2009 (that’s not even counting all the connecting flights I took. Meaning in 2009 I took off over 30 times—nuts).

Yes, I have an addiction to being on the move. We will talk about this later. For now, I want to get this posted, so that I can write about my experience with Delta airlines in Atlanta on December 29^th.