Life marches on

I'm home.

Jet lag was no fun. But that's over now.

...I'm broke.

Mission accomplished :)

I didn't have as easy of a day as I thought coming home, but I made it. I got up and went jogging (I figured I had to at least try it once. Noah did it, and so I couldn't wimp out and be the only one not to). I went down a ways, turned left, and found the Thames. I went jogging along the embankment of the Thames. If I could do that every day, I might actually consistently start jogging :)
I packed everything back in to my suitcase, which was a total surprise to me. I thought I'd have to buy a box or something. To be fair, I didn't buy many souvenirs (I'm too broke, lol) but it was still a victory in my book. I was planning on going and visiting the National Gallery and then coming back and checking out. I happened to ask about check-out times before I left, and found out that I had 5 minutes to check out. Whoops! Entire day = re-planned.
So I checked out and had either enough time to store my bags, take the Tube somewhere, turn around and come straight back to pick up said bags and head to the airport; or I could take my bags with me and try to visit one last site. I chose Harrod's. I got there, and the doorman (that's right, a mall with a doorman. Very cool) told me I'd have to store my luggage before I'd be allowed in. I went and found the storage- £7. Not worth a 45 minute shopping trip. I left and grabbed some lunch, and then I went to a touristy shop down the road. I found this awesome shirt that just screamed "English" to me. It's got Hitler "heil"-ing in front of a map of Europe, and then it says "European tour dates" with the dates that he invaded each of the European countries. Next to England and Russia, it says "Cancelled" and his final show was "Berlin Bunker". I laughed out loud when I saw that. All of the English people I know well have no problem rubbing it in Germany's face that they produced Hitler, and that (about 70 years ago now!) they were part of the force that beat Germany. Alexander Klein would do that all the time.
I headed off to Heathrow at that point. It was really no problem getting through checking my suitcase and security, so I had plenty of time to look around the airport shops waiting for my flight out. I had an aisle seat for the flight (sweet!) next to a nice old couple from Minnesota who had spent the last several weeks touring Scotland (cool!). We took off from London at 2:30 pm and landed just over 8 hours later at 5:45 pm. Time zones are crazy. So they served us dinner, and then later, they served pizza and ice cream. And then we got in to Minnesota right at what should have been dinner time there. My body was SO confused. So I had McDonald's there.
We took off from Minnesota at 9:55 and 3 hours later landed in Phoenix at 10:30. I slept for a chunk of that flight, and then when I woke up, I heard the people behind me talking about how there was supposed to be a meteor shower that night. So I looked out my window for a minute, and I saw a shooting star. I had enough mental capacity to think "hey, that's cool!" before I fell asleep again.
After a couple of mix-ups, I found the truck my parents had so nicely left for me that evening in the parking lot, and I headed home. Traveling 16 hours, but only having 8 elapse messed me up. I came home and dropped my stuff and crawled in to bed. I had to wake up at 4 that morning. "Welcome home"- now get to work with the Institute council :)
To be completely honest, Europe lost some of it's glamor for me with this trip. I still think it's incredible, and I'm still in awe of its age and wealth of history and culture, but it doesn't hold quite the same position up on a pedestal that I had given it while on my mission. This really was a once in a lifetime experience, and I've loved it from beginning to end (and I hope you did to!).

In the words of a random song that I googled by the group, Chicago: "The world's a funny place, you know?"