August 20 - Back in the States

My trip back to the US was great – I had been upgraded to Business/First, and despite the fact that the trip was 15 hours long, I was sad to see it end. Flying first class internationally is an unbelievable experience. I slept great, and could even sleep on my side in the 180 degree recline seats. We even flew over the North Pole, and I was able to take some video of the Arctic, which was pretty cool. When I landed in Atlanta, I met up with Jonathan and Amit from India, and caught up on stories from their time since CO. After a presentation on Friday, I caught an earlier flight back to Wichita and landed in time for dinner.

On Saturday, my mom threw a surprise party for my sister, who was leaving the next week for a year abroad in Spain for her masters program through NYU. Little did I know that the surprise was also for Melinda and me. That morning, Victoria, Jon, Erica, and Dereck stopped by for breakfast because they were supposedly in town for a party on Friday. They left our house after breakfast, but then when we got to Di’s party, there they were again, along with several of our other friends and family. It was great to see so many people in such a short time before leaving again for London. My mother is quite the trickster, and she did a great job planning the perfect event.

After a short 1.5 days in Wichita, it was time to leave for LA on Sunday. In case you haven’t been keeping track, that’s HKG on Thurs, ATL on Fri, ICT on Sat, and LAX on Sun. Followed up by LON on Thurs. Understandably, my body was a little confused. In LA, we met up with our friends Priya and Vinny for a fun dinner on Sunday, and our neighbors Tom and Catherine hosted us for dinner on Monday. On Tuesday, we saw several friends from school at a going away party for another friend who was heading to HK for the semester. Just like in Wichita, it was great to see so many people in such a short time. It was also great to be back in LA and in our apartment. We love our place and the Brentwood/Santa Monica neighborhood so much. Sadly, after only a few short days, it was time to pack up and leave again.