Back in DC

Saturday came all to fast and I found myself packed and ready to leave. By that, I mean that the day had come for my return flight to DC, but I didn't actually want to leave... Ok so we woke at the bright and early hour of 5 O'Clock, stumbled around a bit, and headed to Belgrade to go to the airport. I left my family once again, and cried a little to myself, but I knew that it would be OK in the end! I really do like American University as a matter of fact, but it was greatly clouded by my less than eagerness to leave my family once again. I made it through security without incident, so my family left the airport to do some shopping. Erica, Mom, and Dad had come to the airport with me, but Darcy had a basketball game that evening, so she didn't want to be too tired. My flight was very choppy for the first 10 or 15 minutes of the 57 we were airborn on the flight to Salt Lake City. While unloading the plane, I wasn't in a hurry, because I had an hour and a half until my final flight to Reagan National. As I arrived in the terminal however, I looked at the board, and my flight, 1950, had been delayed due to a late plane arriving. This was fine with me, since I had grown to like this airport since my cancellations on the way home. I waited, but since my flight had been delayed, I thought that the lunch my mother had lovingly packed for me would be insufficient, therefore, I bought one of the best cinnamon rolls in existence! Cinnabon!!!!!! :D After I had finished the cinnamon roll, the lady at the gate at which I was waiting announced that all of the people on my flight would be awarded meal vouchers for 6 dollars to be spent at any place offering food... So, had I waited just 30 minutes, I could have had my Cinnamon roll for free, but alas... I needed to spend 6 dollars More on food:) So, I bought some delicious tortilla soup at the closest restaurant to my gate. I then saved my moms lunch until later:) Anyway, my plane left at 11:55 am instead of 10:30, but I still arrived at Reagan by 6 pm:)

On the flight, they served us food and beverages twice, and I had Biscoff cookies and Sprite each time. They also had screens in the back of the seats, so each person could watch TV or play purchased games. I played the only free game, which was a trivia game played between the members of the plane. Gail, who was sitting 3 rows back and in the right window seat won each time, but I was never last and usually got 3rd out of 5 or so people. I also read some more of my Etiquette for Dummies which I started in the SLC airport. After a fairly long flight, it seemed as though we would land right in the potomac river, but we flew a little further and landed on the runway, just as it should have been.

I carried my backpack and carry-on and then waited for my large bag on the baggage claim. I them made my way outside to the Metro stop. There was a train waiting there, but I had forgotten which station was at the end of the line in the direction I needed to go, so I missed the train. Then I waited 10 minutes in the chilly weather and caught the next one. Travel travel, blah blah... Bam! I made it back to my room while dragging all of my belongings in my 90 pounds of baggage. I then paused a moment in my nice clean room before I began to unpack and dirty it once again. I unpacked everything and put them in their proper places and then decided I would go for a run. I jogged over to the fitness center only to discover that it was closed... OK, so I then ran around the perimeter of campus and went back to my dorm to get my books.

Well, as it often happens, I forgot to tell you about my attempts at getting my books. I had received an email notifying me of my mail, so I went to the front desk to pick up the books I had ordered for my Spring classes. I noticed an error message on the card-swiper, but I still told her my room number and that I had 6 packages. She retrieved them and then scanned them in, but I couldn't swipe my card, so I couldn't receive them. She told me to come back later in 5 or 10 minutes while she restarted the computer to see if that would help. It didn't. I came back, and she told me that it would be a while more. I THEN went for my little run and then picked them up on the way back.

I watched a SNL episode and got game updates from Amy of the Basketball game in Whitehall. I then went to bed. (They switched the bathrooms back to how they had been originally, by the way.)

Today, I woke up, got ready, and went to church. It was somewhat nice to be back, and I especially enjoyed the brisk 20 minute walk! I would have rather had one more Sunday at Home, but anyway, that wasn't possible. After Church, I stayed around and talked, which wasn't usual, because I normally have tons of work to do, but it worked out this time. Then, Brett, this Medical student that is now going to Cambridge (in England), and I went to Lilian and Warren's house for lunch. I'm not exactly sure how he came to be at the church, but I think he lived in DC before College (he knew all the good places to eat on the drive to their house through Bethesda) and had come back to church while he was here for his research. We talked a while and watched an amazing play in the Seahawk's victory over the Saints. This guy ran a 70 yard touchdown by breaking 6 tackles and nearly stumbling once or twice!! We had vegetarian lasagna and some black-eyed pea salad. For desert we had some pumpkin tea bread:) It was really good!

After lunch, I got a ride to the Bethesda Metro Station and then rode it to Columbia Heights to go shopping! I went to Target, and it was packed by the way. I wondered around for quite a while to find the random things I needed and then stumbled upon the Christmas Sale items... Not a good Idea. Anyway, I was forced into buying a lot of candy, because I simply couldn't afford not to get it. I got 5 large Dots boxes and 5 Gobstoppers boxes all for ............................. $.90! I also got a chocolate advent calender for only $.30:) Anyway, I found lots of deals and had a good time shopping. I was out of there in about 2.5 hours and made it back to my room by 7! That was basically my whole day. Now, I'm sitting at my computer and I'm looking up my class information for Tuesday. I have to sign up for my audition tomorrow as well... It will be sometime Tuesday evening.

I'm sorry I haven't written in nearly a month, but here was my vacation for the most part. I went to some Whitehall Basketball games. I went out to eat with Amy and her dad several times. I opened presents at my house and got some cool gifts. (A super adjustable wireless computer mouse, a great duffel bag for coming back to DC, some money, some gift cards to Subway and Hastings:P, a tie, some socks, gummy bears, a nice sweater, a recycled hat made from plastic yarn, some ritz crackers and sausage that are really compact for my dorm, a Daily Bread Book from my church, a book about Jesus's time from the perspective of a follower, some sweet zen magnets, 216 magnets that can be shaped in many ways) I'm sure I'm forgetting something, but that is all I can think of at the moment. I apologize to those whose gifts weren't mentioned, but I really did appreciate them! I went skiing, and helped my dad shovel snow. I also input some patient data for the medical clinic. I helped my family put up some shelves/clean the garage, cut and stack wood, build some DVD cases for our basement, replace some bike tires and move the unneeded ones out of the warehouse. I also went to some hot springs, once with Amy to Norris, and another time to Fairmont with Amy, Marina and her boyfriend Jordan, and Kayla and Carl. It was a good vacation, but it didn't seem quite long enough to me.