I haven’t written in a while, and that’s because I’m finally home!

Home for me is Southeastern Ohio, so a traded granite Scottish buildings for cornfields and green pastures. It’s exciting to be in America again, weird but exciting, and my adrenaline was high the whole day that I was flying home.

My day started at 5 a.m. U.K. time (midnight Ohio time), and I frantically finished emptying my room before my taxi arrived. This was perhaps the most stressful part of my whole day. There was only so much packing I could do the night before; I’d still need sheets to sleep on, face wash to use in the morning, and clothes to wear the next day. I spent an hour making treks to the recycling bins in the parking lot outside my dorm. It was also still dark out, so it made the adventure that much weirder.

The actual flying part of my journey was long, but it went as well as it could have gone. I took three flights from Aberdeen to London to Philadelphia and then to Columbus. And guess what? I didn’t sleep on any of them. Yep. That’s right! Like I said, my adrenaline was high, and I was nervous to fly so far by myself, so I didn’t really relax at all. Not even when I realized that I had the whole entire row to myself on my 8 hour flight back to the States. Instead of sleeping like a normal person, I watched reruns of Friends and enjoyed Pixar’s Monsters University. Another thing that made me laugh was the fact that I thought the plane’s meal was tastier than Aberdeen’s cafeteria food. British Airways served me tasty chicken and mashed potatoes along with a cup of salted caramel and chocolate mousse for dessert.

When I finally arrived in Columbus, my mother and stepfather were waiting at the gate to greet me with decorated signs. I was also surprised to see my two best friends Hunter and Megan eating Panera at the airport’s food court, and later my sister surprised me at the baggage claim. Megan also passed along a care package from my boyfriend who couldn’t be there when I landed. After this, I suggested we do what anyone would want to do once returning home to the States: eat at Olive Garden. There, I met my brother and his new girlfriend. Adrenaline definitely kept me up this long, but it didn’t stop me from being loopy. I didn’t even recognize my sister when she surprised me.

I went to bed that night at midnight Ohio time, which means I stayed awake for a full 24 hours! It was definitely worth it, though. Studying abroad changed me forever, and one of the biggest changes I see myself is how much appreciate and love my home and family. I attend an out-of-state school, but I still had never been away from my family as long as I did while studying in Aberdeen. It was so good to see them again.

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