I began my last weekend home with (1) fitting my life into two suitcases and a duffel bag, and (2) dinner at Giordano's in downtown Chicago and pictures in Millennium Park with friends. In true Chicago-style, we had a stuffed pizza with sausage and pepperoni and were greeted by a parking ticket :]. Yes, yes we felt like tourists taking pictures at Millennium Park at the Bean but we really didn't care. Oh and after a semi-classy dinner, we decided to go to a 24-hour WalMart in Addison, just because we could. :]
*Note: The fact that I was leaving has barely started to hit me at this point*
Saturday, I had dinner with my family at Nagoya in Naperville (complete with lobster and crab legs) and it was absolutely de-lish. Because Josh was leaving for school Sunday afternoon, this was our last family dinner. Of course, we spent the majority of the meal making fun of each other and laughing and it was wonderful.
Sunday, we went to church and I joined the YW/YM during the first two blocks, where I got to spend time with my brothers, Karla and the other youth. Sacrament and Testimony meeting reaffirmed why I love my ward family and the gospel as a whole. While yes, I'll miss attending with my family or at my ward in Normal, I know that the gospel is true and strong no matter where I am in the world.
*Note: I was checking my flight status online where the O'Hare website said that my flight was already 1 1/2 hours delayed. This was veryyy bad for me because my layover in Tokyo only lasted 1 hour 25 minutes and thus, I had a minor panic attack because I was afraid of getting stranded at either Tokyo or Taipei with no idea where to go. After frantically calling Travelocity and trying to book an earlier flight, we decided to get to the airport around 8 AM and try to rebook there if my flight indeed was delayed. Thankfully, it was not and my flight left on time for the most part.*
That evening, after dropping Josh off at O'Hare, my BFF KFoley treated me to Steak and Shake where we had burgers and yummy shakes. Gosh I miss American food already! After a tearful "see you later" my mom helped me finish packing and making sure I stayed under the 50 pound limit.
Monday morning, I took Jeremy to school and my parents took me out to breakfast. We arrived at the airport and checked in and then said our good-byes. This was probably my hardest goodbye because my parents have been soo incredibly supportive of my studies and were very comforting whenever I had anxieties about leaving.
The flights were pretty smooth, very long but fine nonetheless. I was able to watch the first half of the Footloose remake, the last half of The Big Year, some House, HIMYM, and the Big Bang Theory, Real Steel and half of One Day. In between movies and shows, I slept. The meals were actually pretty decent; although I wasn't feeling well and therefore didn't eat much, what I did eat wasn't as bad as I had anticipated.
After arriving about 20 mins late in Tokyo, I had to make the tight connection to my next flight which basically consisted of me power walking through the terminal. (I would say sprint but that would be an overstatement seeing as how I was carrying a 30 pound duffel bag...). I did make the connection with some time to spare and ended up spending the majority of the 4 hour flight alternating between napping and flipping through the TV channels.
I arrived in Taipei at around 8:50 PM local time and rushed to customs and baggage claim as not to keep my driver waiting. Of course my bags were some of the last to come out and I ended up passing customs at approximately 9:20, but all was well because my driver was there with my name on a piece of paper like you see in the movies (yes, I felt sooo cool :]).
The drive from Taipei Taoyuan Airport to I-House was about 45 minutes where I was greeted by some very friendly people at the desk. I was checked in and escorted to my room (pics below). Because I couldn't sleep, I started unpacking some things and ended up Skyping with my parents.
This morning, I woke up at around 8 and got dressed to go eat because I was STARVING! I had my first breakfast downstairs at the I-House Cafe where I had a "French Breakfast" complete with eggs, a hash brown, French toast and some sort of burger meat. Yum! I came back to my room and unpacked the rest of my belongings and am now waiting to meet one of my two NCCU buddies, Bekah!
At this time, I would just like to thank a few people who have really helped make this experience a reality: my Heavenly Father who has given me this opportunity to grow spiritually and share the gospel to those I encounter, my parents, who have and continue to support and encourage me to pursue my dreams and ambitions, my brothers who are also soo supportive and continue to pick on me 7500 miles away *cough JEREMY cough*, my very best friends who continue to make me smile on the other side of the world and who give me "safety tips" on how not to die while I'm out here, my ward families in both Westchester and Normal who have given me the reassurance of the truthfulness and power of the gospel no matter where you are, and my contacts and buddies at ISU and NCCU who have made the transition here very smooth and comfortable.
Now that I'm here, posts will definitely be more frequent and include tons of pictures, I promise! :]
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love hearing all about your journey; look forward to reading all about your adventure. Enjoy!
ReplyDeleteWow...what a good read. You are a good writer Abby. So excited about all your adventures! You are awesome!
ReplyDeleteThanks you guys! Your support really means a lot to me :]
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