chicago

So I may have to upload this post after I will have left Chicago and moved on to Amsterdam, but I figured I had a couple hours to kill before I leave the country for good so I’d go ahead and write an entry for my loyal followers. If you’re new to my blog and just finding the link to this wonderful piece of online literature for the first time, welcome! If you’re an old friend/regular reader, I miss you already!

The long and arduous trip to Chicago was uneventful for the most part. We boarded the bus after a leisurely breakfast with four people who I have lived with (an observation that I made promptly upon sitting down). When the time came, saying goodbye to my mother was hard. I know I won’t see her for a long time and I worry. I feel like she may or may not depend upon me and I just worry that she’ll miss me a lot in our first long term separation since birth. She’ll make it. (Friends in Madison, please hang out with her if you can! She’s punny like her daughter, promise.) So I cried, like I knew I would. I cried not only because of my mom, but also because I was leaving my hometown! I have these memories about how hard it was when I went to Africa in those last few days, and I just hope that that homesickness was due more to the fact that Kenya is so completely different from what I’m used to that it started to be taxing towards the end.

So, now, we’re sitting in the terminal, waiting to board. We’re here really early due to the inconvenient Van Galder bus times, but that gives us a largely open window for me to catch up on the blog, the diary, the reading and the calling loved ones. I had some issues getting into the terminal; they weren’t thrilled with my choice of a one-way ticket and warned me that the Netherlands authorities will probably give me a little grief when we land. I’m hoping it won’t be a big deal. We had a slight change of plans, Shaina and I: my father (harmless and unprotective as he may seem) thought that couch surfing was a poor choice of living arrangements whilst we stay in Belgium, so he booked us a really nice hotel in Paris for 6 days in between Amsterdam and Köln. Thank-you, Dad! Needless to say, Shaina and I are pretty excited. We’re going to struggle through French together, see the Parisian sights and yes, you guessed it, Becca will be making a pilgrimage to Disneyland Paris. Yep. Yes, and she will love it as she loves the Disney Parks in her own country.

I think it’s that time…I’m going to wrap this up. I may be able to put this onto my phone and upload it onto blogger, but no promises. Time for me to hit the skies, try to sleep, and write obnoxious and strange observations in my diary that would make everyone hate me if they read them. Just kidding. But really, there are some strange things one thinks while traveling…

On to Amsterdam! Ooot yehayy (sounds Dutch, right?)