Oh, did I say Amsterdam? I meant Amurrica.

Having surprised everyone I wanted to surprise, I can officially say: yeah, Amsterdam was total bullshit, I'm in America!

I left March 5th, and, due to some discrepancies between the bus schedule on the internet, and the bus schedule in real life, I wound up having to book it to the the train station on foot, dragging my giant bookbag and suitcase, barely making it onto the train in time.  I slept in the airport, which I swore I'd never do again after Portugal, but I didn't have much of an option.  This time I discovered that I could sort of lie down, as long as I slept on my left side, spooned the armrests, and didn't mind a deep armrest massage to the appendix.  I think I slept an hour, maybe, which is approximately a forty-five minute improvement over the last time I slept in Hannover International.

From there, it was off to Brussels, then Newark.  I sat behind a Swedish couple that kept making out and then turning around to stare at me, so I watched Sleepers and Real Steel while I was attempting to ignore them.  The flight was very long, I helped a Belgian guy fill out his passport control papers, and I learned that planes are a terrible place to try Indian food for the first time.  But after many long hours, we eventually touched down in Newark, and the Swedes in front of me had total freak-outs when they saw the Ikea.  I imagine the conversation went something like, "Darling, did you see that?  Our quest for Swedish world domination has borne smoggy fruit right off the Jersey Turnpike."  "That's wonderful news, crumpet.  Stellan Skarsgård for President. Now kiss me so we can stare at the American behind us again, it's funny how uncomfortable it makes her."  

America, America!  How I have missed certain parts of thee!  Seeing my friends and family again has been absolutely amazing, and it's wonderful to be back in a house where adults drink milk, and coats only go in the closet when we run out of chairs to put them on.  I also totally forgot how cool my room is here, between the bright yellow walls and the decorating scheme my sister fondly refers to as "murdered clown colors.".  Little things, however, keep throwing me for a loop, and I'm finding those things particularly fascinating: sorting my trash only to get to the trashcan and realize I don't have to, giant dishwashers, people that smile at you when you walk into stores. And my left foot keeps twitching for wont of something to do when I drive.

So, that's all I've got.  Seeing as how I'm officially in America, I can skip posting my stupid stories to the blog, and just tell you all in person.  I guess this means the blog is officially going on hiatus until I get back to Europe, also known as March 28th.  In the meantime, I've got to hang out with everyone I love and celebrate my birthday.  And don't forget to ask me for stupid stories, because I have them!

Adios!