"Welcome home!"

Hey guys! I'm currently writing from my bed in Massachusetts - that may not be as weird to you all as it is to me, but personally it blows my mind! The past few days have been such a blur, but I wrote the following while taking a few minutes to reflect in the airport earlier:

"As I sit at my gate at LAX listening to Christmas music and American-accented airport employees alternating over the intercom and watching the heaps of travelers heading home for Thanksgiving, I can't help but wonder - were the past four and a half months real? The bag full of Australian novels I'm carrying and the stamps on my passport tell me they were...maybe it's just because my head is still spinning from the almost 48 hours of travelling I've done, along with the ridiculous time difference - was I at the Brisbane International Airport this morning? Or was it yesterday...? - but I'm having to much trouble wrapping my head around the past few days!

The closer I get to home the more excited I'm feeling, but at the same time I'm freaking out a little about the new life I've just left behind. For the last hour or so of the flight from Brisbane I just sat and watched our progress on the map, and let myself be amazed at how far I'd travelled. In the end it will be about 10,000 miles, or 18.5 hours on planes; a half a world away from everything and everyone I've known for almost five months. I've never left a place with the very real possibility of of it being forever, so I'm still working out what that means in my head. Honestly I think half of the learning process of this semester abroad will happen once I'm back home and re-adjusting there, which is sort of daunting because I feel like I've already learned so much!

Anyway, I love aiports. I love thinking about where people are coming and going, what kind of adventures they're involved in. I also love watching greetings and goodbyes at the airport - there's something about getting on a plane that makes parting and reuniting unusually intense, and I think it's so beautiful! This particular airport experience has been especially interesting, though, as I've gotten used to Aussie airports since July. Some differences worth noting:

1. Tighter security - I had to take off my shoes, take out my liquids, and they actually wanted to see my ID!
2. More security personnel, with huge guns - so disconcerting! I much prefer sweet Aussie employees to intimidating US customs officers, though I will say I was quite touched when one of them said, "Welcome home!" after I handed him my passport!
3. Toilets - not only do I have to get used to calling them "bathrooms" again, but the actual toilets are automatic! AND there's only one button for manual flushing! (Aussie toilets have two - half flush and full flush to save water, brilliant!)
4. As I left the toilet I instinctively veered to my left to pass a woman coming in, only to remember I am now in America, where we pass by moving right!
5. American money - so much more lame than the beautiful Aussie money! My first purchase? A blueberry scone and Thanksgiving blend coffee at Starbucks - SO pumped to be able to get drip coffee again!
6. Seeing/hearing things in Spanish - I'll have to brush up on this language before next semester!

So it's about 12:15 on November 24 here, and it's weird to think that it's the middle of the night back in Brisbane (because of the time change, this day will last almost 40 hours for me!). Not gonna lie, I cried a little as I watched the coast of Australia, the country I have grown to love in a very real way, fade into the clouds. But, as I caught the first glimpse of LA's city streets and buildings beneath the wing, I must say I felt a sense of home and belonging. It's funny how being away makes you realize how much you love and miss where you came from, even if that realization doesn't come until you return. While all of these emotions are flying around inside me, I also feel sort of removed from it all; like I said, it's almost as if none of it is real. For now, though, I'm just savoring my unlimited texting (a much anticipated luxury - they're like $0.15 each in Oz!) and being thankful for my incredible homes - both the one I've left in Australia, and the ones to which I'm returning in Massachusetts and Tennessee.

Happy Thanksgiving! (Aussies, it's already started for you - have a turkey sandwich for me!)"

"It doesn't matter where you are, it doesn't matter where you go
If it's a million miles away or just a mile up the road
Take it in, take it with you when you go
Who says you can't go home?"
-Bon Jovi feat. Sugarland