Home Sweet Home

I was thinking that I should take the time to let everyone know that I made it home safe and sound to Mason, MI on Aug 14th. I had a 24-hour delay in NYC, but I kept calm and polite and got a voucher for a good, free hotel as well as dinner and breakfast from Royal Air Maroc . After all, it was their fault I was going to have to stay overnight in NYC. I did not mind the giant, down pillow-top bed, flatscreen tv and free wireless internet at the hotel for my first night back in the US! I was even honestly surprised to see they had shampoo and conditioner in the bathroom waiting for me... I had forgotten all about service like that.

I will be living at my parents' house for a while, because I am not planning to start graduate school until next fall. I'm not sure where I'm going yet, and I haven't even taken the GRE. I believe I will be applying to Masters in Public Health (MPH) programs. I know, I need to get on it NOW. But I will say that I am incredibly happy spending the days out in the gorgeous countryside of Michigan this summer. If I hadn't done Peace Corps, I think I would have been disappointed in myself or bored to live here, but now I am enjoying the peace and sunshine and having my friends only a free phone call away.

A few highlights of the last couple weeks:

Riding 4-wheelers and talking for hours with Ashley Dalman, who came out from DC
Spending time in East Lansing with Lia, including drinking intriguiging new beer and going to a PlayMakers run clinic
More 4-wheelers, and kayaking on the Grand River, with Ashley McNamara and Lia
Making/eating delicious Indian food and going to a baseball game with Jason
Biking and running along the gorgeous stretches of country roads around my house
Going to Ryan and Whitney's gorgeous wedding outside of Ft. Wayne, IN (I only hope mine is someday as fun as theirs was!)

There are still lots of people I want to see and spend time with, so a trip to Grand Rapids is in order soon. Denver hopefully sometime this fall, as well... I'm excited to see my cousin Nathan and his fiancee Noel very soon and go on some adventures around Michigan with them. I'm also very happy to have the luck that one of my oldest/best friends, Lia, is almost as free as I am right now, and lives nearby :)

Life is kind of up in the air for a while, but I'm confident that I'll find a soft spot to land.

Best of luck to all my fellow Peace Corps Volunteers who are going through the same transitions I am right now, and to all of you who aren't finished yet. I'm honestly thinking about you constantly.