Home-ish.

So my sense of time and place are all screwed up due to travelling through the space time continuum yesterday.  Here's a riddle for ya.  How does one get on a plane at 5:10 PM July 2nd, fly for 24 hours, and then arrive at the destination 1:30 AM July 3rd.  I don't know but I'll just say that July 2nd was the longest day of my life.

Frost on the ground morning of July 2nd.  So chilly!

Before flying there was a lot to do.  I had to drop off my bedding at the recycling center, finish packing and weighing everything, close the bank account... somehow I got all these things done so that we could go out to eat at Parnell's Cafe for one last lunch and gelato session.  'Twas delicious.  I got the Caesar salad.  After lunch all of us (Me, Liz, Beth, Jackie, & Anant) just kind of hung out at the flat on Liz's balcony, taking photos, reminiscing, screaming obscenities, ya know, the usual.  (uuuugggghhhhhh I miss you guys SO MUCH ALREADY.)

If we had a band this would be our album cover.

Anant and Beth....cuties!

"My shoes are covered in adventure!"

Jackie, don't jump!

Alas, but when the time came we rolled our suitcases outside and stuffed them into Anant's car, Shaniqua, in which somehow Liz and I, plus 4 suitcases, 2 backpacks, and 2 purses were able to fit.

Drinking a Mochaccino while waiting in Wanganui Airport.

Sitting in the airport wasn't so bad.  I think it was taking off and looking down at little wanganui all lit up in the night that is what did it for me.  Don't cry, Leah, not now.  At the Auckland airport I spent my last $10 cash on BK and then Liz and I took some time to get last minute souvenirs.  Then we were off on the 12 hour flight to LA.

Which fortunately wasn't as bad as last time.  I was lucky enough to get a window seat, and also the guy sitting next to me happened to be going home too after studying for a semester at Canterbury.  We had a couple good chats and it made the time seem like it was going by faster.  On this plane there is an individual tv screen for each person with lots of movies and tv shows to choose from.  It's really nice, but I don't like watching it for too long because it makes my eyes hurt being so close to my face.  I watched the new Footloose, which was pretty dang good if you don't mind me saying, or maybe I just have a thing for dancing.  I also watched some Parks & Rec, and The Office, of course.

Also, if you'd like to be entertained, watch this safety video that Air New Zealand shows on every flight.  It has Richard Simmons!

Arriving in LA was a hoot.  Talk about a confusing airport!  Getting from the international part to the domestic part was real struggle, thankfully Liz asked a worker walking by us for directions and he basically walked us the whole way to our next check-in.  What a sweetie!  We did some more shopping, found some funny purchases at a store called Kitson (muahahahahaha) and called our parental units to let them know we made it back into the country.

Customs was pretty easy.  Here was the conversation that took place:
*hands guy customs form*
Guy: "Oh so you've been studying abroad, eh?"
Me: "Yep."
Guy: "Ok, you can go."
Me; "k, thanks?"
And that was customs for me in a nutshell.  No one even searched my bag.

So yeah, flying to Chicago felt like forever because it was the last leg of our journey, and the plane was delayed 45 minutes, maybe due to a storm somewhere.  But we made it!  And we didn't lose our luggage, so everything worked out.

Our mommies came to pick us up at 2AM :)

Our luggage...

I'm at my G'pa's now, my mom is baking because my aunt, uncle, and cousins are coming over for dinner tonight.  So that should be lovely.

Tomorrow we'll be driving out to the cottage for the 4th of July.  Should be a good day for swimming as it is very hot and humid here!  I love it!  A different uncle will be there as well as my brother and his fiance (I think?).

The day after that it's off to Stout to run a few errands, and then back up to Ashland we'll go.  I can't wait to give everyone their gifts!  Woot!