Jumping Right Back In

Gooligan and I have been home for a week now. And it's weird. But also not that weird. Which is, in itself, odd.

It took us about five days to get over the jetlag. But that didn't stop us from socializing! The first night after we got back, we met up with my friend, Amanda, who I have been friends with since elementary school.

We went downtown to see a cabaret show. Each of the people preforming did a great job designing and preforming their acts, especially considering that it was a debut show for many of them. I guess that's part of being an artist of any kind: the willingness to commit yourself to your work, and to get out there and preform no matter the outcome.

After the show, we went to the Hurricane Café, where we ordered nachos, hash-browns, and a milkshake.

Probably the single worst thing I've eaten since coming back to the States (nutrion-wise, anyway). But it was so delicious!

Then on Sunday, Gooligan and I went pumpkin-patching with her sister and her sister's delightfully silly kid. We went fairly last-minute, I suppose, on the Sunday before Halloween. Most of the pumpkins in the field looked more like vomit than pumpkins, actually. But after a substantial amount of walking around and peering at pumpkin carcasses we finally found two suitable pumpkins.

After we got home, Gooligan and I carved the pumpkins. I carved the Goblin King for her (my drawing skills, which are abhorrent, are still better than my carving skills, let me tell you). Gooligan complained that her pumpkin was also atrocious, but when I saw it my mouth fell open.

 
Incredible, right?! 

Anyway, the real reason we pumpkin-patch and carve pumpkins is for the seeds! Gooligan loves fresh pumpkin seeds. She roasts them in the oven and slathers all sorts of delicious seasonings on them and then we eat them for days.

Speaking of eating things, having a lot of free times on your hands and a well-stocked kitchen, leads to a lot of baking. And it's not even November yet. The holidays are going to hit hard.

Luckily, I've started running again. Sometime in the last couple of runs I passed the 200 mile mark without even realizing it! Take that, high school P.E. coaches!

So far I've made cinnamon pancakes with chocolate chips in them, pumpkin chocolate brownies, and chocolate-dipped peanut butter cookies. Oh, and lentil soup.

Lentil soup is one of my favorite things to make because it's a) delicious, b) you can make it with just about anything, c) it's super cheap, and d) it's really easily adjustable if you have people eating with you who can't eat certain things. Last night I made it with vegetable stock, onions, carrots, and green lentils. If you make some homemade bread to go with it, it's one of the best quick, easy, and affordable meals ever.

Well, I'd better hurry up and finish my homework. Packet four is due in a couple of days and Gooligan and I are going back up to Bellingham to visit some friends tonight. 

It feels really weird to me that I am almost done with grad school. After this packet, I just have one more, which is really just compiling everything into my final creative thesis. Then I have to give my reading and lecture at residency at the end of December and I'll be done with schooling for the first time since I was in preschool. It's so surreal to think about. But I feel like I have made some substantial breakthroughs as a writer and a critical thinker, and I'm eager to be able to apply the time I've spent on school toward other writerly pursuits soon. I'm sure I'll blog about my feelings concerning graduation and my reading/lecture more later!

Readjusting

Since I promised Maddi that I would make a wrap-up post about my trip, here it is!

When Gooligan first told me that she wanted to go to Europe for a month, I thought it would be impossible from a financial standpoint. But then, partly due to our own determination to scrimp and save, and partly due to the wonderful financial blessings by our friends and family, the financial side of our trip--miraculously--fell into place.

What I wasn't planning on was the emotional and psychological aspect of traveling for over a month. Planning an entire trip and dealing with the mistakes that happened along the way, like missing our plane, is exhausting.

When you are at home--no matter how stressful your life might be at times--you are simply not using the same emotional and mental muscles as you do when you are traveling.

Before I left for my trip, there were certain situations that made me anxious: calling up strangers, going to new places, asking for favors.

But Europe threw my entire perception of anxiety-producing situations out the window; after being lost in a place where you cannot speak the language, it's not exactly terrifying to call someone up on the phone.

It's made me realize and appreciate how it is literally life-changing to speak the primary language of the place you live in. After all, what's the worst that can happen?

I feel like I have a much better take-it-a-day-at-a-time grasp on a lot of things, actually, after our trip. I'm no longer scared if I see a cop on the side of the road. Sure, I can't exactly afford a ticket now, but if I were to get a ticket, I know I could go to the courthouse and work out a payment plan. Nothing seems impossible anymore.

Going on this trip definitely strained my relationship with Gooligan at times, due to high-stress situations. But we worked through our tensions when they occurred and have, as a result, a deeper understanding and love for each other.

One of the things I realized when I was over in Europe is how important diet is to my personal mood. We were eating a lot of carbs while we were over there and my blood sugar has a tendency to drop fairly rapidly after mass-consuming carbs, which produces symptoms akin to hypoglycemia. It's not that my blood sugar actually gets that low, but just that the dropping levels is shocking to my body. But since getting back and changing my diet to be fat and protein heavy, I have felt 100% better.

And last but not least, this trip has really made me appreciate where I live. Not just because I speak the language or have access to a wider variety of food. I truly love Seattle. Especially right now as the leaves are changing and beginning to fall. It's gorgeous. The weather is crisp, even chilly. The trees are beautiful in their variety and color. Everything about Seattle at this time is simply magical. It's good to be home. 

At least until the next adventure. 

Wednesday + {Day Thirty-Seven: Paris to Iceland to Seattle}

Today was the big day! We got up early, dressed in our best PNW grunge hipster fashion, and headed off to the airport. We had to take the metro to a more central location, then catch a train out to the CDG airport.

We spent a lot of the day waiting and sitting. We made it to the airport with an hour to spare before check=in began. The CDG airport has these cool futuristic tubes to take you up to the security area!

On the planes, they had all these cute little sayings.

Personally, I think it was a ploy to distract from the fact that they don't serve food on their flights, even if they're 9+ hours. Hmm.

They did serve very delicious soda, though.

With more cute napkins.

And then we saw it.

The glowing beacon of home! The flight home was the longest of my life. The last three hours in particular crawled by. But I read Margaret Atwood's entire The Year of the Flood, so it wasn't entirely wasted time.

My dad picked us up from the airport! And he brought the dog! It feels so unreal to be back in Seattle. After a quick stop to see Gooligan's family, we went out to eat at a decent Thai restaurant and headed home.