Living Surrealism

Written 9:00 PM 8/17/09:

I made it. I’m finally sitting on the plane in 19 C – it’s the seat in the middle section, but on the left aisle! I’m not even sure what emotion I’m feeing right now, this day has been surreal.

I woke up this morning, packed the car, and left my house with my mom to drive to Minnesota. I said goodbye to my brothers, which almost made me cry, and then my mom and I stopped by Barriques to get coffee for the road. Outside it was pouring rain; how appropriate for the day I leave for all the countries known for their rainy weather!

My mom and I had a wonderful drive up to the Twin Cities. The sun finally came out and we talked the whole way! Around 4:00 PM we arrived at Hannah Carlson’s apartment where I said goodbye to my mom. We made it quick and did very well, I think. I tear-ed up some, but quickly started talking to Hannah in order to get leaving off my mind.

Hannah and I went to Chipotle for dinner – the last Mexican meal I’ll have in a whole, she warned me! – and picked up Starbucks on the way to the airport. Then, we pulled out some all-American country music to belt out as we drove down 35W; we even sang “The Star Spangle Banner” – corny, I know, but it was hilariously fun. Plus, I won’t be singing that for at least another 4 months.

Nothing had hit me that hard until I got to the airport. I said goodbye to Hannah, we hugged – twice, and I wandered on into the Lindbergh Terminal. I immediately walked over to a chair, staring blankly at the departure screens; out of no where a man walked up to me asking if I was looking for NWA because it had moved down the terminal a ways. I must have looked lost, haha. I said yes I was, but that I was waiting for a group. Soon after this I ended up finding my professor along with another student.

Up until this point I was holding it together, but then my dad called and I started to choke up hearing his voice. I’m glad he called though so we got to talk one last time, but my eyes were pretty teary-eyed for a while. As we were waiting for all the other students my mom called and I was happy to talk to her and that she was doing well, but her voice made me cry too. To be honest, it was rather awkward because most students were driving and waiting with their parents, while I was just sitting by myself with a red, wet face, haha. But I know I could never have had my mom drop me off at the airport; I would have been balling.

Now, I am on the plane and we have been in flight for about 15 min. now. It feels like 4:00 PM in the afternoon for some reason, or like it’s been two days since I left my house. I’ll be posting this as soon as I get free Wi-Fi access. Right now I’m going to just try and relax; there are tons of movies on this flight, too! (Alex: they even have “Hotel for Dogs”! And Mom: they even have “New in Town”!) Howver, I do want to get some sleep too…we’ll see.