Home Sweet-and-Mellow Home

Me and two of my favorite ladies from the program
(Julia Ji on the left and Priyanka Ji on the right).

Getting home was an adventure in itself ...

We got back to Delhi from Mussorie (after taking an overnight train that I didn't sleep on at all) at 5am. We then made our way to our hotel and crashed until we had to go (for our last time) to the program center a few blocks away. There we had a reentry session (talking about culture shock ect.) and some cute closing things like awards and a slide show.

We had lunch and then I went back to the boiling hot hotel where I posted my last blog entry, met with a family friend, and dripping in sweat packed up all of the stuff I had accumulated over the past semester.

I also was able to write some final thank you notes, chat with friends and get help tying my sari.

In the evening the entire group loaded into a big bus and we made our way to the final banquet. Technically this was a time to say final good byes and thank yous, eat and enjoy the last evening in India. Well, my flight was at 12:30am which meant that I spent the first 10 minutes taking pictures, the next 25 minutes being forced to eat as quickly as possible by all of the professors, and the last 5 minutes saying quick good byes to everyone. I then rushed to the taxi (car changed into my traveling attire) and made it to the airport.

Me coming home! As you can see, I brought a little bit
more back home than what I went to India with ...
Eye-spy: PDX carpet! I'm home home home!

After refusing to pay $75 for an extra checked bag, getting my once-used pocket knife confiscated and buying my first Starbucks in 4 months, I was on my first plane home.

After almost 10 hours, I made it to Paris. I made it through the maze that is Charles DeGaulle Airport, through security and customs (while chatting with very cute Parisian TSA workers/guards) and made it to my next gate right as my next plane was boarding ... I didn't even sit down.

It was a quick and enjoyable commuter flight to Amsterdam where I then had to walk through the immaculate airport full of tulip stands, through extensive security that included not only the typical passport check, but also more bag screenings, full body scans and pat-downs and then an interrogation (questions about India, what I had packed, what I was doing, ect.). I sat down in the "holding area" for about 5 minutes, and then boarded my final 10 hour plane to PDX!!!

After traveling for more than 24 hours, I walked out of security and customs to see my adorable parents waiting for me (Jess was at school but I got the sweetest welcome-home-hug from him in the afternoon).

Coming home felt so ... normal. It was strange on the drive home to not hear any honking, for there to be space between cars, to not fear any truck screaming down the road towards me in my lane, and to be driving on the right again ... but besides those small initial shocks, its has all seemed relatively normal. Portland definitely feels like home, but a small part of me is back in India.

I keep comparing things (especially prices!) back to India and my life there. I absolutely fell in love with the country, the culture, and the people. It's crazy that my 3.5 month adventure has come to a close, but I am already thinking about my next trip!