Home Sweet Home

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Well, 101 days later, I've returned from Europe. I must say, the past 3 months have been amazing but it is great to be home. Let's just recap the end of Oxford and the journey home...

Friday morning, after I said the difficult goodbyes to Liz and Cate, I ran some errands around town to get my mind off leaving. I grabbed some lunch, some coffee, and finished reading my library book. Afterwards, I returned the books to the library and headed back to St Michael's Hall to begin the packing adventure.

Packing didn't take as long as I thought it would. It was actually surprisingly easy. I managed to fit almost all of my clothing in my smaller red suitcase and then I put all of the souvenirs and random "stuff" I had in the large black one. Neither suitcase was unbearabley heavy and both turned out to be about the right weight for the airport as well. I stuff my carry on with books and breakables. Gosh, THAT felt so heavy on my shoulders. Geez...

Friday evening Ashley's parents (Marie and Tony Berkant) took some of us (Katie, Lindsay, Casey, Mandy, and I) out to dinner at Beefeaters. It was a delicious meal and they paid for us. I was not expecting that because Ash had told us all to bring money. But, Tony joked and said he just wanted the points on his American Express card. Haha. Anyways, it was great to get to meet "Mom and Dad," who Ashley mentions all the time. Oh those Berkants, they are great people. After dinner we went back to St Michael's Hall to hang out one last time. We ended up raiding the kitchen, finishing off whatever we could find that we wanted. It was lots of fun...and very messy. In the midst of our "feast," some of the guys came into the kitchen asking for a lighter to set off fireworks in the street. The fireworks were left over from Guy Fawkes weekend, so the guys decided to light them for our last night. A huge group of us decided to go and watch, and we started setting them off in the alley between the Claredon Center and St Michael's Hall. It seemed like a good idea at the time, but then the cops came by and told us to move. Where should we go? The cops suggested we go by the ice arena, and we happily obliged. When we got there, we realized that they told us to set off fireworks on the grass. Ordinarily, that's not safe. But, it's Oxford so the grass was super wet and nothing caught on fire. Besides being exceptionally cold, it was still a lot of fun and I have many pictures for memories.

After fireworks, we returned the building and continued bumming around. Around midnight, Ashley, Mandy, and I decided to go out for one last drink in Oxford. So, we headed to O'Neill's for a pint. I'm really going to miss that aspect of studying abroad...

Then we went home to finish packing and get things in order. I said some goodbyes, which were not as hard as I expected because I know I'll see the kids from St Mary's Maryland and Catholic sometime in the future. Why? Because I intend on visiting the east coast in the spring! Yay...more planes! 😊

Speaking of planes, we had the journey to California. After about 3 hours of sleep, I woke up on Saturday morning to zip up my suitcases and check out. Around 8am, we headed over to Gloucester Green, the bus station, and waited for our bus to Heathrow. Fortunately, we all made it on to the 8:30am bus, with all of our stuff and someof use even got a seat to ourselves. It was very nice last bus ride to Oxford. Once at the airport, we managed to find a few luggage carts to help us with our stuff. Eventualyl we even figured out how to walk to Terminal 3 and find the United desks. Checking in took a while, but security moved pretty quickly. Somewhere between 10:30 and 11:00, I was wandering around the duty free shop with Casey, Nora, and Janie.

Oh, Janie. Janie is from St. Cloud State University in Minnesota. For the past 3 months she and MIke from St Mary's have been...an item, I guess you would say. She came with us to the airport because her flight was about 45 minutes prior to our's, but also on United. It was heartwrenching to watch Mike and Janie say goodbye, and I would have given anything for the two of them not to have to say goodbye at all. It was probably the saddest moment of the past 3 months. I'm really going to miss Janie because I didn't get to know her well until the end of the trip. I hate how I met the best people at the end...

Anyways, after hanging around the airport for a while, they eventually posted our gate so we headed down there. One I got on the plane (seat 32J...a window seat), I did not leave until the plane landed. I sat for 11 hours and 26 minutes. For the first 7 hours of the flight, I read my 512 page book and slept for about 2 hours. Then I was at a loss for what to do. Some of my friends were walking around and came to talk to me. Oh, and I watched some Disney Channel. I didn't watch a single movie, and spent the most time watching the map to see where we were and when we'd land. At 4:46pm, we landed in San Francisco and I was finally home.

I booked it off the plane and through immigration. Then, I just had to wait for my luggage. As soon as I got it, I said a quick goodbye to the St. Mary's kids and then flew through customs. I literally ran out of there and meet my family. Mom, Dad, and Erin were waiting for me with balloons and as soon as Mom saw me, she was crying. It was such a happy reunion. I then looked to my left and saw the lovely Eileen and I ran towards her. YAY! FRIENDS! As I was walking with my family, I saw Alex (Colin's girlfriend) too. Then we started home. Of course, it was raining in San Francisco, but what's new? As soon as we got home, I got a little tour of the house to see our new downstairs bathroom and how Mom rearranged the sewing room. Then I went to my room to see how it's "clean" (ie all of my stuff is in the garage) and lie on my new mattress. I think the mattress is okay, but I do miss my old one. It was nicely worn in. I then brought out all the souvenirs I bought for them. They seemed to like what I got them, so that's always good. Erin and I went out to dinner at Chili's so I could have chicken caesar salad and ice water, while Mom and Dad went to the Waite's Christmas party. Erin explained the importance of this party, so I didn't mind them going to it. After dinner, Erin and I came back and hung out. I had a great shower and then pretty much went to bed.

It is great to be home. Today we're making a big breakfast, decorating the Christmas tree, and having pot roast for dinner. Mmm. So excited. And, I get to see Lauren since she had to go to and work her Christmas party for work last night. I'm excited. My first full day back in the states...it should be great!

Thanks for keeping up with and keeping in touch with me while I studied abroad this semester. I hope you've enjoyed reading about my adventures as much as I enjoyed experiencing them!

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