Sorry for not posting this sooner. After returning home, I just got swept away with hanging out with friends, Christmas, spending time with my family, and visiting my Grandparents in Arizona for New Years.
My final few days and hours in Norway were spent sending other friends off on their buses and to the airport, cleaning, and packing. :( I was the last to leave between Frieda, Lotte, and I and so returning home after seeing them off made everything seem very empty and lonely. My alarm on my phone (which I use to wake up) had been acting up the last few days (either that or I kept sleeping through them) and it made me miss saying goodbye to Franzi and Zita. :( Not wanting to risk sleeping through my alarms again, I didn't sleep at all the night before I left. Instead, I spent the night cleaning, packing, and tying up loose ends on various things and projects.
Around 7 a.m. I said goodbye to my home for the last 5 months and dragged my humongous suitcase, my slightly smaller humongous suitcase, my backpack, my purse, and a miscellaneous shopping bag all the way to the metro, up the hill to campus to drop off my keys, back to the metro, and then finally through Oslo S to the airport train and to the airport. This journey would have been difficult on its own, but it was also met with many different obstacles... First, they use gravel instead of salt on the walking paths, which was just a joy to drag my heavy luggage through. Second, it was a Sunday and so the metro was not running that often and so I was getting very nervous about the time, even though I set off pretty early for my 11 o'clock flight. And finally, I have no idea how I accumulated so much stuff and how I managed to fit everything into my suitcases, but i did and it was HEAVY! I was sweating and had shin splints from rushing everything all over town! What was supposed to be a relaxing final journey to the airport, turned into a race against time with me dragging along Steve and Jerry (my suitcases- I started talking to them in my exhausted, sleep-deprived state and decided to name them). Once I arrived at the airport, I anxiously stood in the bag check line (Jerry was less than 1 kg under the limit!) and then in the security line as I watched the time go by quickly... I am one of those people who love to be insanely early, especially to the airport, and so getting to my gate 10 minutes before boarding was cutting it very close for me.
The eight and a half hour flight back to Newark went by surprisingly quickly and although I couldn't fall asleep, I entertained myself by watching If I Stay, Guardians of the Galaxy, and Maze Runner. Before I knew it, I was back in the USA and looking out from the plane the first thing I saw was....an IKEA. Not even joking. :) We were a bit late getting into Newark and I only had 50 minutes to get to my next flight to Cleveland. I had to get my bag and re-check it, but my flight number was no longer valid, so I had to sort that out, and then take the shuttle to another terminal, and then came security.... I think everyone around me was running late and the security people were very grumpy with not nearly enough stations open. I finally got through and then they pulled my suitcase aside to go through it... They took their time, but once they were certain I was not carrying any bombs, I seriously sprinted to my gate and made it to the plane within 5 minutes of takeoff. Phew!!! After that, everything went smoothly and Mom and Jim met me at the airport to take me home. It was great to see them and as soon as I got to baggage, I gave them each a huge hug! :) We got home and had Frankie's Pizza for dinner, and then I CRASHED. I have been up for over 48 hours went 6 hours in the past and have MAJOR jet lag. This journey home was VERY stressful, but I guess one good thing that came out of it was that I did not have the chance to really feel sad about leaving Oslo and Norway while I was doing it. Instead, I had other things to focus on. Norway will always have a special place in my heart and this has been an incredible journey, but it feels nice to be home and celebrate the holidays with family.
Christmas was great and I also got to go with my brother to visit our Grandparents for a week in Arizona for New Years. The rest of break was filled with catching up with friends, adjusting to life back in America, and getting ready for School!
I have already tried to show my family my (over 8,000) pictures, and so far my Mom is the only one who has stuck it out to the end, although she did leave for the last 100 or so... I should probably go through and weed those out before I show anyone else...
This has been an incredible journey and I have had so many fun adventures with different people. I have met people who will hopefully be friends for life and I know that, at least in Germany, I will probably know someone wherever I go. ;) Returning home will take some getting used to... I am already experiencing some reverse culture shock! The jet lag was very bad and I practically lived off of coffee for the first two weeks. At one point, I thought my family switched everything to decaf because it seemed like it wasn't even working. There were also a few things that kind of threw me off guard right away when I was returning home... The people in the Newark airport (other than security) were so nice when I asked them stupid questions, everyone is speaking English (Eavesdropping-how I've missed you!), people look you in the eye and smile when they pass, and in the mornings there are times where I forget where I am for a minute.
I am so grateful to all of the people who have supported me throughout this journey and for those of you who have been following along with my blog. Jess and I came up with the idea to do an end of study abroad Q&A post and while we thought of a few questions, I would love it if other people sent me their questions or anything they wanted to know or ask me about studying abroad and my travels! Don't be shy and I would love to hear from you! If you leave something on my contact page, I will see it in an email and include it with my Q&A questions in my next blog post.
This has been an incredible journey and thank you so much for following along!
My final few days and hours in Norway were spent sending other friends off on their buses and to the airport, cleaning, and packing. :( I was the last to leave between Frieda, Lotte, and I and so returning home after seeing them off made everything seem very empty and lonely. My alarm on my phone (which I use to wake up) had been acting up the last few days (either that or I kept sleeping through them) and it made me miss saying goodbye to Franzi and Zita. :( Not wanting to risk sleeping through my alarms again, I didn't sleep at all the night before I left. Instead, I spent the night cleaning, packing, and tying up loose ends on various things and projects.
Around 7 a.m. I said goodbye to my home for the last 5 months and dragged my humongous suitcase, my slightly smaller humongous suitcase, my backpack, my purse, and a miscellaneous shopping bag all the way to the metro, up the hill to campus to drop off my keys, back to the metro, and then finally through Oslo S to the airport train and to the airport. This journey would have been difficult on its own, but it was also met with many different obstacles... First, they use gravel instead of salt on the walking paths, which was just a joy to drag my heavy luggage through. Second, it was a Sunday and so the metro was not running that often and so I was getting very nervous about the time, even though I set off pretty early for my 11 o'clock flight. And finally, I have no idea how I accumulated so much stuff and how I managed to fit everything into my suitcases, but i did and it was HEAVY! I was sweating and had shin splints from rushing everything all over town! What was supposed to be a relaxing final journey to the airport, turned into a race against time with me dragging along Steve and Jerry (my suitcases- I started talking to them in my exhausted, sleep-deprived state and decided to name them). Once I arrived at the airport, I anxiously stood in the bag check line (Jerry was less than 1 kg under the limit!) and then in the security line as I watched the time go by quickly... I am one of those people who love to be insanely early, especially to the airport, and so getting to my gate 10 minutes before boarding was cutting it very close for me.
The eight and a half hour flight back to Newark went by surprisingly quickly and although I couldn't fall asleep, I entertained myself by watching If I Stay, Guardians of the Galaxy, and Maze Runner. Before I knew it, I was back in the USA and looking out from the plane the first thing I saw was....an IKEA. Not even joking. :) We were a bit late getting into Newark and I only had 50 minutes to get to my next flight to Cleveland. I had to get my bag and re-check it, but my flight number was no longer valid, so I had to sort that out, and then take the shuttle to another terminal, and then came security.... I think everyone around me was running late and the security people were very grumpy with not nearly enough stations open. I finally got through and then they pulled my suitcase aside to go through it... They took their time, but once they were certain I was not carrying any bombs, I seriously sprinted to my gate and made it to the plane within 5 minutes of takeoff. Phew!!! After that, everything went smoothly and Mom and Jim met me at the airport to take me home. It was great to see them and as soon as I got to baggage, I gave them each a huge hug! :) We got home and had Frankie's Pizza for dinner, and then I CRASHED. I have been up for over 48 hours went 6 hours in the past and have MAJOR jet lag. This journey home was VERY stressful, but I guess one good thing that came out of it was that I did not have the chance to really feel sad about leaving Oslo and Norway while I was doing it. Instead, I had other things to focus on. Norway will always have a special place in my heart and this has been an incredible journey, but it feels nice to be home and celebrate the holidays with family.
Christmas was great and I also got to go with my brother to visit our Grandparents for a week in Arizona for New Years. The rest of break was filled with catching up with friends, adjusting to life back in America, and getting ready for School!
I have already tried to show my family my (over 8,000) pictures, and so far my Mom is the only one who has stuck it out to the end, although she did leave for the last 100 or so... I should probably go through and weed those out before I show anyone else...
This has been an incredible journey and I have had so many fun adventures with different people. I have met people who will hopefully be friends for life and I know that, at least in Germany, I will probably know someone wherever I go. ;) Returning home will take some getting used to... I am already experiencing some reverse culture shock! The jet lag was very bad and I practically lived off of coffee for the first two weeks. At one point, I thought my family switched everything to decaf because it seemed like it wasn't even working. There were also a few things that kind of threw me off guard right away when I was returning home... The people in the Newark airport (other than security) were so nice when I asked them stupid questions, everyone is speaking English (Eavesdropping-how I've missed you!), people look you in the eye and smile when they pass, and in the mornings there are times where I forget where I am for a minute.
I am so grateful to all of the people who have supported me throughout this journey and for those of you who have been following along with my blog. Jess and I came up with the idea to do an end of study abroad Q&A post and while we thought of a few questions, I would love it if other people sent me their questions or anything they wanted to know or ask me about studying abroad and my travels! Don't be shy and I would love to hear from you! If you leave something on my contact page, I will see it in an email and include it with my Q&A questions in my next blog post.
This has been an incredible journey and thank you so much for following along!