Stow your seats and tray tables in the overhead compartments.

Here's a lowdown on the last few days of my travels...I left off my last blog in Athens during an extremely long layover that may or may not have caused a brief state of delirium (more on that later). We finally boarded our plane to Paris around 7 am in which I got to close my eyes for about three hours. I had gone so long without sleep that I was feeling sick so it was great to finally be able to sleep a little. I was stuck between two long-legged people and apparently I woke up mid-flight, announced that I was going to petition to outlaw middle seats, started laughing hysterically, covered my entire head with a sweatshirt and went back to sleep. This is probably why I have friends. I'm not ashamed to be a strange weirdo, and neither should you. After arriving in the Paris airport, we found that an escort was waiting to show us to our next gate. Pierre let us use the priority line at passport control and bypass pretty much any unnecessary waiting. I even had time to use some of my lofty French words before it was time to board for Minneapolis.

The flight to Minneapolis seemed surprisingly short probably because I'd slept a total of 6 in the past 48 hours. I only remember waking up to eat...and even when I was eating I was still half asleep. We arrived in Minneapolis with not a second to spare. Three international flights landed at the same time backing up customs to timbuktu. After clearing customs, rechecking luggage, and security, we RAN to our final plane. And by run, I clearly meant a very light jog, with assistance from both the moving sidewalk and a tram. They were out of Wheaties in Paris so I had no NRG to run fullspeed.

The flight to Fargo felt more like a rollercoaster than an airplane. First off, the flight attendant told us to stow our seats and tray tables in the overhead compartments which caused a riot of laughter from our sleep deprived group and then we were subjected to countless bouts of turbulence. Upon deboarding, I noticed that the pilot was at the ripe age of 7 and must have just earned his wings... A few people's bags were lost from Paris to Minneapolis, while mine was lost from Minneapolis to Fargo. Nothing makes you feel more helpless then when the baggage carousel brings you no luck. Luckily my bag was delivered today...and hopefully my friends will receive their bags soon as well. 

Being back in America has brought a bittersweet feeling. I love that I am finally home, seeing the people and familiar things I was missing, but I haven't seen my second "family" in 24 hours and I'm feeling kind of homesick for the way things were in Greece. Saying goodbye at the airport caused a brief stint of tears before I decided I better clean up my act. But knowing that we all may never be in the same place at the same time again was very saddening...Although I've only been here for 24 hours, here are some of the things I've notice about home.

1. We were always driven or flown to new locations and napping during those times was much appreciated... but here....Napping while driving is utmostly frowned upon.

2. Everyone here speaks English therefore public conversations should be appropriate at all times.

3. Nobody accepts Euros. 

4. I'm expected to tip at restaurants and leave before the three hour mark... did I ask you for my bill yet? Then I'm not ready to leave.

5. Where "Πού είναι η τουαλέτα" means nothing.

Stay tuned for more bloggerings about what it feels like to be American again and other smatterings of my everyday life. 

Love.