Farewell

I’m currently sitting in the Holiday Inn in DC and thought what better time to update my blog.  The past couple of weeks really flew by.  I’m not really sure how because I feel like I had a lot of days where I didn’t really do much of anything…surprise, surprise.

Anyways, I went to visit the good ole IC one more time before I left.  I was there almost a week and managed to say goodbye to most all the friends, family, and places that I wanted to say goodbye to.  I went to my last country night and mug night for a long time.  I ate my last Oasis falafel, Short’s burger, Oyama sushi, and Hot’ n’ Ready that I’ll have in a while.  And I spent my last afternoon in the Seaman’s Center…I seriously will miss that building and my fellow enginerds.  And to top the week, my friends threw me a lovely surprise going away party!  It was a blast and I thank you all so much.  I will miss late night engineering parties in the computer lab, Saucy practices, spraying Fritter with a spray bottle, lounging on the purple couch, and so many other things….Iowa City you have been good to me!

I was back in the burbs for a few more days and then traveled to Ohio to say bye to my grandparents and a few other relatives on my mom’s side.  It was great to see all those relatives that I don’t get to see very often!  When we got back, I ran and lot of errands, got some more last minute things, turned 23, and before I knew it, it was my last weekend in the States.  On Saturday I thought that I was going to dinner with a few friends from home and then going out in downtown Chicago…but I was surprised again with an awesome going away party!  It was great seeing everyone and a special shout out goes to the people that drove hours to be home for it….thanks Lauren, Eric, Erika, and Jeremy!  And thank you so much Kallen for putting the whole thing together, I have a great time and it was a great send off!

I packed up most of my stuff on Monday…a large ordeal.  And, I definitely over packed.  Monday night a few friends came over to say their final goodbyes and a little bit after they left I received a call from United saying that my Wednesday morning flight was canceled because Chicago was going to get hit by the Snowpocolypse/Snowmageddon/Flurricane/a TON of snow.  United automatically re-booked my flight to 8 am on Thursday morning to arrive in DC at 1030ish…two hours after my flight to Ecuador was supposed to leave.  I called SATO (the travel agency) early in the morning to see what they wanted me to do.  The lady I talked to apparently had no idea of the Flurricane that was brewing and did not believe that O’Hare would be closed all day Wednesday.  She told me she had to talk to some other people to figure out what to do and that she’d call me back.  Well, after a two hour nap I still hadn’t heard from her so I called again at 11:30 am.  She told me that I needed to get on a flight that left at 3:05 pm.  Hmm, a three and a half hour warning…and there I was unshowered in my pjs...ah!  I rushed around for the next hour and got everything ready and was at the airport by 1 pm.  I checked my two bags (50.5 lbs woo just at the limit, and 35 lbs) and headed to security where I experienced my first full body scan…awkward.  The airport boards flashed mostly canceled flights and the airport was virtually empty, but there my flight was...still on that board.  I was literally one of the last flights to leave O’Hare.  I boarded the plane with about 25 other passengers (capacity of 120) and anxiously waited to see if we’d still be able to leave.  After a thorough de-icing with lots of orange and green goop we were ready to take off.  The take-off and flight wasn’t actually too bad despite the windy blizzard outside and I made it to DC safe and sound.  And here I am sitting in my hotel room waiting for tomorrow and my staging to begin.

I’m not sure when I’ll be able to update again/when I’ll have internet again but I’ll try to as frequently as possible.  Until then….enjoy all the snow!