HOME.

I'm home!
In fact I've been home long enough that the family is making me do chores again AND I've had my wisdom teeth out.
But on with the end of the story! The finale!



So four thirty in the morning rolls around and we are all awake and ready to go on the seventh of December.. travel day! Mostly awake anyway... Abigail got us oranges and cereal bars for breakfast which was nice even though it was early. I saved mine. The first plane ride was short, three hours and the layover in Heathrow was just long enough to say goodbye to Bruce and Sheryl who were flying straight home. It was the first goodbyes. The ten hour flight found me stuck between two middle aged women who apparently had desk jobs based on the amount of times they needed to get up ((none)). I felt like a little soccer playing boy as much as I fidgeted. Luckily I watched a couple movies ((Last King of Scotland and Death at a Funeral being the two worth mentioning)) and journaled to pass the time.

Customs at O'Hare. Back in America.
I got in the shortest line and of course, the short line curse hit me and I get stuck behind a Mexican man who is flying to Houston and driving to Mexico ((which, in the customs officer's defense does sound suspicious...)). But I ended up switching lines and still getting through faster! I was nervous so when the officer asked me the purpose of my visit to Austria I said,
"School... Learning.... Education!" He just laughed at me and said.
"Whoa. Okay." Could I look any more foolish? Any toilet paper stuck to my shoe? Also he was the cutest guy! Then he winked at me and I was transported back to the fourties. Weird. So I kept going.

There was dirty snow at the airport, but the quantity made up for the quality. We said goodbye to the OC kids quickly because of their flight and the number of them, then more slowly to the Rochester group, then finally Danelle and I were left, the Northwest kids. By this time it is sevenish at the O'Hare airport but in Vienna it is two am or some ridiculous time. We had been awake for hours upon hours, days upon days. I flew to Portland by myself ((Danelle flew right back to Seattle)) so the end of the day found me alone on a plane looking crazy. How do I know? Because the old women across the aisle from me asked me if I was okay SEVEN times. I guess I should explain a little. The plane was freezing so I was shivering and my eyes were glassy cause my contacts were still in after all the flying, and I was trying not to fall asleep so I could sleep when I got to Portland which meant I was half asleep the whole flight. Plus the women on the inside of me had soccer playing boy syndrome and made me get up half a dozen times. It was a very surreal plane trip. But then I was home! Kinda.

Because of the weather in the Northwest the roads to Seattle were closed so I stayed with the Shoemaker's. Lovely family. After two nights I got on a plane that seated 39 ((including pilot, co pilot, and one flight attendant)) and landed at Sea-Tac. REALLY HOME! Then I waited for forty five minutes because my family and I just missed each other. The trip home was a mini version of the entire trip: being together and splitting apart, long trips, laughter, embarrassing moments, and nothing going as smoothly as planned. It was fantastic.


my mom and i.