Home at last!!!

I am now home for the holidays. It took a while to get back though. I was planning on traveling for almost 24 hours, but was pleasantly surprised when I arrived at O'Hare. My flight to Kansas City was canceled. I had already been on a plane from Milan for 10 hours so I was extremely tired. I then waited in about 1000 lines before I found out that the next flight home was full and I would be put on the flight in the morning. They did give me a shimmer of hope, and gave me a stand by ticket for the later flight that was supposed to leave at 8:45pm. But when I went to wait for the plane to come, I noticed that I was number 15 on the list. I knew I wouldn't make it. So then at that point I went and slept on some cots American Airlines had set up for all those who would be stuck in the airport. I think I woke up every hour until 4am when they decided that it was a good time to pick up the cots. At that point I went to my gate and made myself a bed on the floor. I think I might have gotten another hour of sleep. My plane finally took off at 7:50am and I made it home a little after 9.

When I was getting off the plane I was anticipating what my greeting from my parents was going to be like, and then as I walked out of the gate, no one was to be found. It was quite a disappointing moment. As I was walking around, thinking where are they, I turned and my dad was walking down the hall. I ran up to him and gave him a hug and asked where everyone was. I guess my mom and sister thought I might be coming out of another gate, and when I didn't show up, they came back to the area where I was. I was so happy to see them.

Now it is 6am and I am trying to fight jet lag. I woke up about an hour ago and couldn't go back to sleep so I figured I would just get up for a while.

It's so close now!!!

I leave Berlin in less then 12 hours now, which will be 6:30 in the morning, but that doesn't keep me from being excited. I have had one of the most busy and stressful weeks and I am exhausted, but I don't know if I will be able to sleep tonight. I should really be packing and finishing cleaning my apartment right now, but I am just so excited to be home, I had to write about it.

I know it has been 4 months to the day that I have been in Berlin, but I'll tell you the time has flown by. I just can't believe that I have been here that long. I guess that is a good thing though, it means I am enjoying my time here. I have made so many friends and met so many great people and had so many crazy-wonderful experiences. I do not regret this decision at all. That doesn't mean I will not be sad to leave Kansas City, but at least now I will know what to expect when I return to Berlin.

I really have to go now and finish getting packed and such, but I will be home soon. See you all then.

Random

I am just sitting here in bed, and should be in bed, but I have too many things on my mind. I last posted all the things I had going on this week. Little did I know this week was going to turn out even more busy. Only if I could tell the story, but this is public information and it could come back and haunt me.

But now it is Wednesday night and there are basically two more days until I leave and come home. I just can't describe how I feel right now. On one hand I am so excited to see my family and friends and my cat Lucy. But on the other hand, for some strange reason, I am already thinking about how I will feel when I have to leave. I just don't feel like two weeks is long enough, but that is all the time I get to take off.

To switch the subject: On Monday I was suppose to start cleaning my apartment. Instead I went craft shopping (for the students) then to my favorite restaurant/bar in Berlin: "The Bird". This place is amazing, I should probably donate an entire post for it. It is owned by a couple of guys from New York City. Here they have the best hamburgers and steaks. Now your probably thinking that doesn't sound so special, but it is. The beef here in Berlin is not very good and so this restaurant imports the meat from an Iowa meat company. To make the bar even better, one of my friends works there and so she hooks us up all the time. Almost every time we go in there we get free booze, but this last time we went in I mentioned how I really would like to try the steaks, but they are so expensive. Well my friend went back to the kitchen and got the cooks to make us a few samples. Oh man they were so delicious. If you ever go to Berlin you have to visit "The Bird".

USA here I come

6 days now until I step on US soil again. When I come home it will have been exactly 4 months since I have been home and I am so excited to see everyone. There are many things that still need to be done this week before I leave. I need to clean the apartment, my roommate is out of town and she left the place a mess (dog hair and all). So I need to clean the place. You might be asking yourself, why clean if she left it a mess, why not just leave it. That would be simple, but my friend Amy's birthday is on Thursday and I offered to have a taco night when some of our friends, so I have to clean really good before that night. Then I leave Berlin at 6:30am on Saturday, so I will not have a lot of time to clean up on Friday. So I have made a schedule for myself this week.

Monday - Begin packing and clean the kitchen and dining area (they are used the least by me in the house, and for those of you who know me understand why - I don't really cook).

Tuesday - I am meeting with a friend and we are "shopping" on a very exclusive street here in Berlin. The reason I put shopping in quotes is because it will be more window shopping (too expensive) and enjoying each others company and the Christmas lights. Before I meet her, I also think I am going to finish up my last minute shopping.

Wednesday - Grocery shopping for Taco Night. Cleaning my room and the bathroom. Also last loads of laundry before I come home. Also doing all possible prep for the party that can be done the day before.

Thursday - First I have our class Christmas Party at 4pm, then immediately following this I have to rush home to begin cooking and getting the apartment set up for the Taco Night.

Friday - Last day of work before the holiday. Finish packing for Kansas City. Finish any last minute cleaning and cleaning from the night before. Then heading to Amy's house, where I will stay and we will go to the airport together. She is from Iowa and we are traveling together all the way to Chicago so that is nice.

Saturday - Wake up by 4am so I can get to the airport in time for my flight at 6:30. Then travel for at least 22 hours before landing safely in Kansas City. Totally worth it though.

So this week is going to be extremely packed, but that means it will go by fast and I will be home faster, or at least it will feel that way.

The Puffy Shirt

So I was doing a little Weihnachts-word for Christmas in German-shopping today and was in a store that I like to shop more for myself, Zara. Sometimes even when you are shopping for others you have to sneak a few things in for yourself. Here I saw it... the white puffy shirt. I just couldn't believe it. Then I turned around to look at other clothing and there was another puffy shirt this time in stripes. Now, don't get me wrong, I have become a fan of European fashion, but I am just not ok with a puffy shirt. I don't know why this store thinks it looks good. If I had a camera, I would have taken multiple pictures to show everyone. Oh well.

I did get some gifts today which is nice, but to be honest, I have done most of my shopping online. It has been a lifesaver. There was no way I could have brought home all the stuff I wanted to buy people for Christmas.

10 days till I am state side!!!! I'm pretty excited.

Busy, Christmas Filled, Weekend

Ok so the last time I posted I said I was feeling homesick. I don't want everyone to think I am still feeling that way, so I wanted to go on record saying I am good now. I am still very excited to come home, and it is only 15 days away!!!

Now I have a very busy weekend coming up, and it is mostly filled with Christmas type activities. Tomorrow night (Friday), our school is having there staff Christmas party. It will be held at the school in our lovely new cafeteria. The school is providing pizza and we bring side items to go with the pizza. Now here is the best part, keep in mind it is at the school, the school is also providing all the booze for the party. You heard me correctly, they are providing booze and it is at the school. I just can't believe this, but I am not unhappy about it. I heard last year it got a little crazy, so I'm excited to see where the night leads us.

Then on Saturday, I will get up, probably early afternoon, and I want to do a little shopping. In the evening I have dinner plans at a friends house.

Sunday I am attending a proper German Brunch with some people from work. I am very interested to see what this will be like considering I've never been to a brunch like this. I also know that brunch in Germany tents to last most of the day, so that will probably be the end of me for Sunday.

I'll let you know how everything goes and post some pictures if I can. Well it is late here and I am off to bed. Night