home!

I'll be heading home in just two weeks!!! Really excited...pretty stressed, too, about trying to wrap up work stuff, school stuff, wedding-ish stuff, gift stuff...all in a matter of a few days (I have a bunch of 9-5 classes inbetween now and Sept 8th).

Part of me is nervous, too, about feeling homesick? I haven't felt homesick at all since I've been here, though D kind of contested that when I told her it over the phone. I have cried to her at least twice, but tried to explain that was different - it was more about missing things I didn't want to miss, wishing I could be in two places at once, but not a longing to actually be back in Chicago or Minneapolis. The only time I've felt REALLY homesick was when I went to Pratt for a 5 week summer intensive the summer between my junior and senior year in high school. Oh baby! I literally was thinking about faking an illness to go home. [Didn't hurt that I had a hot boyfriend back home writing me love letters, either!] Everyone there was SO different - SO East Coast, SO into art school. But by the end I didn't want to leave.

Anyway, even though I've lived away from 'home' (MN let's say) most of my life, I've always been close enough and fortunate enough to visit quite often. By September I'll have been away for 7 months - nothing for the record books, but my longest stretch to date. And after I come back, I'm not sure how long it will be. It could be as little as 9 months...or as much as a year (my visa is up in Sept 2011)...but I really don't know yet where life will take me. I'm loosely planning to move back to Minneapolis in July or August next year...but...still keeping an open mind.

So I'm nervous about feeling homesick after I'm back here...and not sure when I'll be home again. I'm so excited to see my niece Sophia...but nervous I'll feel some geographical guilt from missing out on a lot of her changes and growth.

Skype certainly makes things a lot easier!! It's hard to imagine life here without it. I think I would be much more likely to be homesick without it.

Though I am a bit envious of my friend who is exchanging love letters of sorts with a girl back in Spain. And she sends him little bits of artwork (she's an artist) (they love to use the word 'bits' here!). And my grandparents all communicated by letter/love letter. And even my parents.

Geri has a plan to find me a MN crush on a boy-magnet circuit she's thought about. Maybe eventually I'll get some love letters of my own ;) [I just watched a program on attraction tonight before coming into the lab to work for a bit]