The Flight and Later That Night

Ok, so my timing may have been a little off, but if you had any idea of how hectic everything has been then you would understand!

Flight to and from Amsterdam was great. Delta are a really great airline, we were constantly fed and watered. Bit of drama happened on the flight when a woman collapsed and had to be hooked up to a saline drip, but when we were going through customs she was fine. My first look at an American paramedic though! Seconds after we landed! :)

Mine and Jas's host friends picked us up at the airport and we drove to Mall of America which was immense!! it has a theme park in it!! I was wandering around wondering why the air smelt like chlorine, I turn a corner and there is a log flume! I kid you not! Ah America :D

We went for dinner where I found myself quietly crying into my cheeseburger. A combination of no sleep, a lot of stress and my first bout of homesickness really got to me. I was on the phone to my parents in tears telling them I couldn't do it, but after talking to them and having a good cry I must have got it out of my system because I've been fine ever since. The lesson? Sarah no function well without sleep.

We drove back to Eau Claire with each of our host friends which was about an hour from Minneapolis. My host friends, Suzie, is a truly lovely girl. She came to Winchester on an exchange when she was in college (at Eau Claire) and loves England, so she can appreciate the difference in culture. After being here a few days, I found that there is quite a vast difference in culture which I had never noticed before on previous trips to the US. Then again, I was in Florida which is the home of Disney and is often referred to as 'God's waiting room'. Nice.

When we checked into the Days Inn we were beyond tired. And then we figured out that Dann was checked in down the corridor, so we all met up and went across the street to Walgreen's (a pharmacy....but it's more like a convenience store, bigger than any Tesco Express I've ever seen!).I bought some necessities like shampoo and body wash and some not so necessary items like a packet of Flipz chocolate covered pretzels and a Baby Ruth. The most pleasing thing? A normal box of Lucky Charms for $3.99 instead of £8 back in England.

All three of us headed back to the hotel and hung out watching Fox News (Dann's fault) and hilarious commercials before me and Jas headed to bed. We'd been up for 24 hours straight and it was stating to hit hard. My back was killing me and the minute my head hit the pillow, I was out like a light....which is pretty much what is going to happen now with an even longer day tomorrow so, dear readers, this blog is to be continued...

Wow. That couldn't have been more pretentious if I tried!

The Night Before

It's technically 6 hours and 39 minutes before we fly but I didn't want to be that anal with the title! My bags are packed (well my suitcase is, my hand luggage is currently all over my bed), Jas is in the room next to me and I am having a small panic attack. I wish I had time to write a blog but I don't so it'll be at Amsterdam the next time I blog....scary thought.

One Week To Go

My last Sunday night in England until Boxing Day! Now that's a scary thought! Am I panicking? Nah! Ok, that's a lie. I'm unprepared, have waaaay too much to do this week and am slightly freaked out about the transfer at Amsterdam. Oh and apart from that, I'm pretty sure than I'm going to have to find a Physiotherapist in Eau Claire to fix my still messed up back after that jerk crashed into the back of my car last month. I'm almost tempted to learn how to use a gun out there and come back for that prick. I won't, of course! :)

So things this week include: changing my money into dollars, sorting out bank accounts, setting my Mom up with Skype, saying goodbye to my friends and then packing and picking up Jas at the train station and then it's the big day! 7.45am flight and then we get into Minneapolis at 4.35pm (their time). That's gonna be one painful day! I don't actually know how I'm getting from the airport to Eau Claire yet, but watch this space!

No point updating mid-week so the next entry will be Saturday night. By which point I will probably need some sort of sedative!