It's been seven nine weeks since I got on a plane back to Newark, NJ. It seems like ages ago, even though it really isn't... Hmmm... *ponder*

The first week: August 8 - 13

My trip back was highly uneventful, until I got to Newark. I was worried about immigration -- I figured getting through on a new US Visa + I-20 might take longer. The good news was that I was wrong. Instead, my suitcase didn't roll off the conveyer belt until a solid 30 minutes after I got there. That's 30 minutes *after* I cleared immigration; usually my suitcase gets to the baggage claim before I do.

The short version: I missed my connection and got stuck at Newark for a bit. My original flight was supposed to leave at 1:20pm, but I didn't get out until well after 6pm. Fortunately the people at Continental took pity on me; I got my ticket changed for free.

I was booked for three random flights to Syracuse. The earliest one was a revenue stand-by for 6pm, and thankfully it worked out that way. I didn't find out until they actually told me to get on the plane, though, so it was a little hectic keeping Char (in Hamilton) and Michael (in NJ/NYC) up to date. The plan was to stay at Michael's if I didn't get a flight on that particular day.

At Syracuse I was met by Char and Allison, who helped me find my suitcase (which took a while, again!). I spent the next few days being taken care of Jabonskis, in terms of food and entertainment. Time went by rather quickly, even though Hamilton was at a standstill (like every summer). The library was even-more-finished than before, and the new Ho Science Center was remarkably bigger. There was basically construction all over campus, to the point where getting to McGregory was quite a feat.

Jetlag always makes the first few days on a new continent extra exciting. Fortunately this time around wasn't that bad, though. The Jablonskis made sure of that. I also had plenty of time to sleep

Friday came around quickly. I hung out with Annabel and her family in Rome for a day, and then all of a sudden it was... *drumroll* Saturday. Michael arrived that afternoon. Annabel, her siblings, and I were just visiting Curtis at that time, which made for an odd scene (since two of used to live in Curtis, way back when). After Annabel had left to return to Rome, Michael and I stopped by the Hour Glass for a drink (a first for me), and proceeded home to Tuckers' to get ready for our trip. This felt counterintuitive; I was sort of half-expecting classes to start and leaving Hamilton would be a bad idea if that were true.

On Sunday, Michael and I made the long trip back to New Jersey. It was an awesome day for driving, as it so happened, and Michael brought excellent music for the road. We took Route 20 East, stopping at Anderson's Hardware Store (run by Rob Anderson's family) on the way. We stopped at Bard College next, where we had lunch with Bridget. After a quick highlight tour of the Bard campus, we were on our way to Harrington Park, aka New Jersey Suburbs.

Michael's place, another couple of hours south, was much the way I left it four years ago -- warm and comfy. Unfortunately I started feeling somewhat nauseous at this point, and incredibly tired. Fortunately there was Mrs. Tringali with toast and tea, which helped a lot.

The second week: August 14 - 20

The next morning I woke up feeling a lot better. Next to me on the couch was Jake, the family dog -- he was new since my previous visit. After some breakfast, Mrs. Tringali and Michael dropped me off at the airport. The whole London scare had been that Wednesday, so I was at the airport a solid 2.5 hours before my flight. Of course, security ended up taking less than 10 minutes, so I got to sit around for quite a while.

My flight took me to Atlanta first, and then Charlottesville. Karsten, my student mentor, picked me up from the airport. After a quick stop to drop off my stuff, we went to dinner in Charlottesville. This was to become my first night of eating out in a very long series

I took the SPEAK test the next morning. It was approximately as entertaining as I had feared it would be. I spent the rest of the day taking care of paperwork and what not: getting my final transcripts from Colgate sent over, making sure the Engineering School was aware of the fact that the International Studies Office had allowed me into the country, that sort of thing. It was a good way to keep busy.