Finding my routine... back to work!

I made it back safely from the Netherlands... whether I wanted to come back or not!

It was really sad leaving on Monday morning. My room looked so empty, and I almost cried when I had to lock my door and leave.

My last view of my room... #65

Allison and I walked to the train station with our bags, and it was SOOO hard! The cobblestones are not easy on suitcase rollers - it took us 45+ minutes, when it usually takes 15!! The suitcases felt like they weighed 200 pounds, and we had to make a few pit stops to rest. Our last views of the canals were bittersweet...

I was worried that my bags would be too heavy, but the total was 38.2 kg. I thought that meant that I was underweight, but when I looked at the guidelines just now, I found that the maximum was 36 kg... I guess they decided to be nice, because they didn't charge me!!

The flights went really well. On the one from Amsterdam to Dublin, I fell asleep before we took off, and it felt like we were on a train, not an airplane. Even the trans-Atlantic flight went smoothly. We did a pre-customs thing in Dublin, so we got to breeze through in Chicago. And we were home!!

Chris picked me up, and we drove back to Des Moines. I spent the next day with my mom in Des Moines, and then Dad came up for dinner at HuHot... YUM!!

I started back to work on Thursday, and now I'm just getting back into a routine... When I got to work, I had a note sitting on my desk that said:

"Dear Emilee- Here are the things you missed while you were gone...

• "I left - and came back. -Alex
• "We started having snack day EVERY DAY! -Jenna
• "We take ocasional yoga breaks! -Jess
• "Nannerpuss!!! -Kim
• "Michael Jackson died
• "The map is filling up with kids
• "We missed you.
• "I am excited to meet you!
• "We've been admiring your stapler.
• "Patience called, she said she wanted to host a student. Then she called and said she didn't want to host. Then she called and said she wanted to host, and then she called and I said, 'She can't host.' -Christelle"

Then, at lunch, they asked us to come out to the main room for a surprise...

It was a huge monster cookie to welcome me back and celebrate Christelle's 5-year anniversary of being in the U.S.

It's good to be back, but I miss Leiden terribly... My friend Molly and I made a 5-year plan in which we're going to move to Leiden, I'm going to get my masters and teach the photography class and she's going to work at a park. It would be amazing!