Coming Home

Ok. It's been awhile, but things have been crazy. The night we got back from Edinburgh we went out for dinner at a cozy little pub then to another comedy club. The pub was called the Imperial and it was actually really good English food. After the pub we went to the Texas Embassy for dessert where my friend Kat donated a "texas item" for them to add on display in the restaurant. It was just a little glass knick knack that said don't mess with Texas, she had to do it for a class, but it is now on permanent display above their bar and that's pretty cool if you ask me. The comedy club was jam packed and the people were rowdy. It was fun, there was a really good bit about the winking and smiling emoticon ;( it's rare but it does have its occasions. For example: "Sorry about your great aunt :("... "But good news about the inheritance ;)" We've been coming up with new situations to use it in ever since.
The next day I got up and and went to the Victoria and Albert Museum to see their sculptures of Roman and Greek myth then spent most of the day preparing for Finals.
Monday I took my final. I think I did alright... but we'll see. Once finals were done we headed over to Buckingham Palace for the changing of the guard. It was crazy. Honestly, I couldn't see anything. The crowds were huge and I couldn't see over anyone. Next we went to see Number Ten Downing Place. That's the Prime Minister's House. I suppose It's kinda like going to see the White House... Once we finished up there we had lunch in Trafalgar Square then headed over to the Cabinet War Rooms. Those were really cool! I've enjoyed learning so much about the British perspective on WWII. We took a packing break after we finished up the museum. For the evening went out for dinner again then to another (better) comedy club. Comedy Clubs were defiantly my favorite form of night life in England. After we left the club we stopped for one last ice cream at our favorite place in South Ken. The staff knew it was our last night in town (that proves how often we've dropped in there) so they presented us with a huge tub of our very favorite Ferro Rocher ice cream. We had a good time splitting it and spending our last hours together laughing about the night's comedy routine and just soaking up our last night in London.
On Tuesday I was up at 4:45am to finish packing and catch my bus to Heathrow. We flew out at 11:40am. It was a really long travel day. We landed in Dallas at about 3:40pm, it was fun to come out of the international arrivals doors and see my mom's face (I think she missed me haha).
It's been good to be back in Texas for the last 23 hours. We had dinner at a truck stop (far cry from London) and I drank almost a full pitcher of tea (Londoners don't do cold tea and I reallllly missed it). We made it back to the house at almost 11:00pm Texas time but to me it felt like 5:00am (see what I mean about a long day).
It felt weird to wake up in West Texas, good, but still weird. I'm kinda surprised at how much I fell in love with England and with living in London. I hope that I'll go back someday... someday kinda soon actually. I know it won't be the same without all of the wonderful people that I first experienced it with but I have a feeling that I'd still feel at home there. I learned a lot on this trip. A lot about memory and medicine and how to travel yeah, but more about life and people. I learned how the world we live in is simultaneously big and small. I learned to be grateful. I learned when to take my time and when to hurry. I learned to trust myself. I finally learned how to relax. I learned so much, more than I can list, but most importantly I learned that life just keeps moving, whether you want it to or not. This past month has been one of the most important and wonderful months of my life so far. I know I'll always look back on it fondly.
If you've been following my blog I should note that this will be the last one about the trip and that I'm about to upload the last round of pictures. I hope that it's been a decent read and (since I have a good sense of who all is reading this) I can't wait to see you all again, finally face to face.