After being away from America for more than two years and after having traveled through 8 other countries during that time I have finally arrived back in the United States of America. Interestingly because I visited my friend in Japan on the way home I ended up going back the other way around which means that I have officially circumvented the globe...and even though I took a two year break in Moldova before continuing my journey I still was able to do it quicker than the Magellan voyage which is said to be the first and took more than three years by boat.
I had a whirlwind schedule of flights to get back traveling from Osaka, Japan to Seoul, South Korea to Guangzhou, China to Los Angeles before finally landing at Dulles airport. Miraculously my luggage made it all the way to Dulles with me and the jet lag from my 13 hour flight from China to LAX didn't leave me as fatigued as I thought it would. However, all of my excitement about returning to America was quickly drained away as LAX turned out to be the worst place in the world in every respect you can think of. The old, dirty, unimpressive airport with impolite, rude, and unhelpful workers really made it hard to appreciate the fact that I had made it back to America. In addition to the fact that the airport was poorly designed and the United Airlines flight I was taking not only required that I check in using a electronic system that takes twice as long to do as it would if it would have been operated by an actual United employee but the airline also required that I pay 25 dollars for me to check a bag which no other airline has ever asked for me to pay for just one checked bag. I couldn't even pay the machine with paper money so I had to leave the line and go to another machine to get a prepaid card and then start over in order to get my baggage checked. The airline also didn't serve any food or drinks other than water which I was aware of ahead of time so I decided to use the money left over on the prepaid card I was required to get in order to buy myself a lunch. In case you were looking to buy food at LAX I would recommend you just don't since a ham and cheese sandwich and an apple juice cost me 17 dollars. Welcome home.
As bitter as I might have been from such an awful homecoming in LA, when I finally did make it to Dulles everything brightened up... well everything but the weather. I met my family and drove myself straight to Ihop which happened to be the last meal I had with my family before I left to go to Moldova so it was fitting that it was my first meal when I came home. Surprisingly not having slept in a bed in over 36 hours and not having driven in over 2 years I made it all the way home without a single incident.
Now that I made it home I don't really know what to do with myself. I have started putting things in motion as far as setting up interviews but until I have a job I don't really know where to begin with the long list of things I have to do. But at least being back in America isn't as disorienting as many people told me it would be, in fact it was almost like Moldova was only a dream since nothing seemed to have changed while I was gone. It's like I only left yesterday or even like I never really left at all. I haven't decided if that is a good thing or a bad thing yet.
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