Stateside

I am currently sitting at home with my cat eating Ramen and breathing American air, which I seem to be allergic to.

But I'm home!

The second part of the KLM flight wasn't awful.  I had a nice person sitting next to me, and I had a window seat which allowed me some scattered winks of sleep because I was able to lean on something.  The whole waiting process to get on the plane was miserable, though.  I used my remaining Euros for an overpriced apple and some coke.  Instead of doing all security checks before entering the terminals, Schipol airport made us do them at each terminal, so I waited in a really long line to be body scanned AND patted down. Not fun.  And after that, we waited some more for our boarding time. Once I got on the plane, though, things were looking up.  I probably got a total of 3 hours of sleep, which was awesome because I hadn't gone to bed the night before.  And the flight attendants were really nice.  I couldn't eat the plane food because I felt sick so I just kept drinking orange juice.  And I watched "Black Swan" and "No Strings Attached" and an episode of Family Guy and an episode of The Big Bang Theory, courtesy of the plane's entertainment system built into each seat.  And I read the entirety of "The Legend of Sleepy Hollow," which wasn't that impressive, and I started reading Bram Stoker's "Dracula," which was awesome because I went to Bran Castle in Romania, which was allegedly Dracula's.

And then we arrived so many hours later, and customs didn't take forever, although I did learn that Kinder eggs are illegal in the U.S.  And after struggling to get my baggage and stack it on a cart, I found my dad and he bought me a chocolate chip cookie and I finally got to leave the airport!

First meal in America? Taco Bell.  It was awesome.  Second meal in America? Velveeta Mac&Cheese.  It was also awesome.

The best part about coming home was getting to give souvenirs to my family, which I had fun doing and I think they enjoyed the stuff I got them.  They really liked seeing all of the different currencies I brought back.  I wish I'd saved money for myself as souvenirs, but Emma had specifically requested that as her souvenir from me so it all went to her.  That's okay, though. I have some duplicates I get to keep after also giving some to my dad.

I've started doing laundry and it's amazing how much stuff can fit into the washing machine. That sounds silly, but it's significant after 4 months of tiny loads of laundry.  Lots of things are different, actually.  Stairs in the US are higher, and American airports are crummier, and roads are worse, for example, but that's all I can think of right now.  It was also strange being able to understand what people were saying around me, and it was embarrassing to find myself saying "Bocsi" when I accidentally ran into people with my luggage instead of "Excuse me."  I need to get out of the habit of using my limited Hungarian vocabulary.

Well, I've got lots to do today, but I'll keep posting here over the next few weeks with reflections of the trip as well as videos and photos when I have them ready.