Home, except my Mind, heart, and soul are still 31, 000 feet in the air…..

Well my journey home was something to go down into the crazy book. It started with an early morning taxi ride to the train station then a train ride to the airport.  While juggling my 3 suitcases and personal bag.  It was a struggle.  I also bumped into a fellow UCSC international student that was on the same plane as me back to New Jersey/New York airport.  We finally made it through the bag check in section and were headed to the gates where we ran into another UCSC international student heading to the same area we were.  We decided to find a café since we were a tad bit early to even think about waiting at the gate. We sat in a café and decide to spend the last of our euros on some breakfast treats and snacks. We sat down and ate and talked about coming home and

 
reminisced about the semester abroad.  It was a good way to keep ourselves from crying or not going home.  When it came close to our time to go me and my flight buddy went to wait at our gate so we could begin our long journey home.  After boarding the plane with little hope of sleeping on the approximately 9 hour flight I sat out to watch movies and stare out the window when we were over land.  About halfway into the flight they served lunch I guess you would say since we were used to the other time zone.  Surprisingly it was actually quite good.  We had chicken with risotto and greens. It was quite tasty. After a while they brought out desert which was ice cream and was delicious and so needed.  After another 4 hours we were nearing the U.S. and I was more than ready to be off the cramped plane. After meeting up with my friend who was a row and a few seats away we walked out to go thru customs and then to get our bags and recheck them. Why hasn’t there been a device that can scan and then send the bags to the connecting flight if needed for passengers? Seriously we need this. After rechecking our bags and finding a bathroom we set out to find our next gates since we would part ways at this airport to go

our separate ways. We decided to go ahead and switch terminals so we would be semi close to our gates. After taking the terminal train to terminal “A” we went to find snacks and food.  We settled on Dunkin’ Donuts which we found out it was National Free doughnut day! Who doesn’t like free doughnuts? We ate and sat for a while before heading back thru security to reach our gates. Once we made it through we went to find a place to sit and people watch and wait for our flights.  Which mine plane would come into gate first, though arriving late.  Which irked me because I was tired and ready to get home.  Even though we left approximately 35 minutes late our pilot booked it because

we arrived only 3 minutes after our original arrival time.  After getting off the plane and working our way around the gates and down to where people were waiting. Which my family was there with my second favorite flowers, a sign, and a cherry vanilla Dr. Pepper from Sonic. I love my family sometimes! After our hug fest and 5 million questions we headed to Baggage claim so I could get my luggage and get home.   We finally got my luggage which I did not have to carry any of it out to the car (thank God)! We decided to stop at Wendy’s (one of my favorite fast food places) for a snack before going home.  I missed frosties.  After a little more time to visit we left with my sister returning home to Kentucky and me home to Rockwood.  So much has changed too.  Saturday brought me to going to get my nails and toes done and pampering myself in the morning and unpacking and cleaning in the afternoon.  It is crazy how much stuff I actually brought back and how much I actually still had here. Oh well, it will be a fun time to organize it all

again soon.  Plus my Granny brought me my favorite pie (Sweet potato) homemade too. I missed her desserts so much.  Now Sunday brings me up and spending time with my dog this morning (he laid on my foot so I couldn’t leave and a family picnic in a few hours with half of my family. It all seems like a great and fun time, but somehow I’m not that excited or ready for it. I am not ready for all the questions “How was it, How was Italy, What was your favorite part, Are you glad to be back, Where all did you go, etc.” I don’t want to answer these questions, I don’t want to be asked questions I just want to be alone. I just want to sleep and not be in this world yet. Everything is so different and I can’t handle it all yet.  I’m not ready to jump. On the outside I look fine, but on the inside I am a swirling mass of emotions and struggles with coming home and leaving. I hope I can pull through and be me again.