Home Sweet.. Wait where's my room?

Mom picking me up from the airport from Australia 

Soo the road to recovery and re-adjustment after returning home from Australia was quite the tough one. While it was so amazing to see my mom at the airport, it doesn't completely counteract the trauma suffered from leaving such an amazing place. Over the course of the 31 hour flight, I cried for about 3 of them, slept for a whopping total of 6 hours, and then drank through the rest (open bar on international flights!). I was also fortunate to be surrounded by the Australian youth boy's basketball team for two out of my three flights which only contributed to my drinking tendencies more as they insisted on asking to me the whoooole flight asking if they could pass as 21 year olds in Vegas and not just a prepubescent 9 year old.. I sadly broke the news to them that not only did they not have a chance in hell, but also that their prized TimTams were unavailable in the States so they might as well save their new winter coats and head home for next 11 years. But other than that my flights were pretty decent apart from missing one of them and then sitting behind a foul smelling guy wearing a tshirt and shorts to Chicago that took up two seats. The first thing that I did upon arriving at O'Hare was get a big ol' Peppermint Mocha Latte from Starbucks. After being Starbucks-deprived for the past 5 months it was just the pick-me-up I needed before beginning the search for mi madre and Rheanna. It was so good to finally see them and I was very glad when they didn't find offense in my sleeping the whole way home after being awake for a full 25 hours. The night only got better when my mom surprised me by taking me to Monicals when we finally got back to Rantoul and had my whole family waiting there. It's the small things in life like Monicals, Starbucks, and family that mean the most :)

Christmas 2011 we the whole gang

 While I was only home for 3 weeks, I was able to see a lot of my friends and family and was able to recover from the crippling jetlag after about 2 weeks and even went to see Jordan in Missouri for a week. But while it was good to be seeing everyone that I'd missed so much.. it was definitely different being home and even now a full two months later it still doesn't feel like the past 6 months were real. I am so envious of my friends that were able to stay in Australia for a full year and have lived vicariously through them as they backpack the East Coast and go everywhere from Bali to Tasmania. I know that one day I'll be able to go back though and experience everything that I missed and so much more. I think the only thing that kept me from having a complete breakdown those long three weeks was the promise of India and new adventure it would surely bring with. I also was able to see my family and friends that I had missed so much and things began to slowly feel like home again. With me leaving Christmas Eve, Jordan living in Missouri, and Ryan living in Canada, we decided to have Nygaard Christmas early to appease all the schedules. Apparently I missed the whole "bring your significant other to Christmas" memo and felt like the tides had finally turned as Ryan and Jordan (yes, Jordan!) brought their lady friends along and it was so great to get to spend the holiday with them as well. But as can be expected, the weeks whirled by and it was time to go again with me doing my traditional pack-the-day-of technique that has worked so well in the past. So with my mom dropping me off at the bus stop I said goodbye to her and Champaign/Urbana yet again (and definitely not for the last time) to begin a whole new life journey.