Suddenly American, Suddenly 2009

1-2-2008

The holidays have their way of erasing time. Two weeks of my life seem like an utter blur. Then all of the sudden it's 2009 and I'm struggling to keep up.

Here's a quick recap of what my life as of recent has entailed. I finished up in the canary islands on Friday, Dec. 19th with a day of chilling in the sun at our sweet Americanized resort.

The next day we awoke early to get to the airport for our 11:05AM flight, which didn't take off until 6:30PM. If I ever get back to the Reina Sofa Airport, it will be too soon.

The next day back in the UK I caught a train out to Oxford where I caught up with long time

friend from high school Joseph Smeall. He's studying music composition and conducting at this prestigious university. We had a splendid day of walking about Oxford and catching up.

Later that evening, we went to a 9 Lessons Church Service where the choir sang many familiar classical pieces. It would have been a beautiful concert service were it not for the crying babies which parents didn't have the decency to remove from the church.

My last full day in London consisted of me finishing up my holiday shopping around London, mostly in Camden.

Then on the 23rd, I flew into a snow covered Chicago O'Hare Airport, got in just in time as well. An hour after I got in they began canceling flights arriving and departing.

I made it home in time for Christmas. From the moment I arrived in Wisconsin, I was taken over by day after day of family get-togethers. It was great catching up with everyone, but I was jet-legged as all hell and those first 72 hours back in the states was non-stop holiday brunches, dinners, and falling asleep on couches.

Now, it's 2009. I'm attempting to figure out exactly what is going to be happening with the rest of my life, and as soon as I know, I'll post it here. Until then, there will not be the day by day updates that my European adventure warranted. Just some random thoughts thrown down which will be hopefully better written and less journal-like.

I hope these entries about my travels have been entertaining and perhaps even a little bit informative. Once I have a bit more of my life in place, I'll be taking some time to reflect more on the past four fantastic months of my life...until then, Happy New Year!