Howdy friends,

I just said howdy… Ohio is changing me. Just figured I would give a bit of a life update on this fine Monday night. Mainly because I want to do something but my brain is too fried (will get to why in a minute) to do any homework. Thank the grammar gods for Grammarly and spell check because I can that without them… I would not be able to be posting right now.

Anyway, this weekend I was able to go home for the first time since school started! It was Homecoming but that didn’t stop me because I can honestly say that cuddling with my dog for 3 days is much more fun than getting blackout drunk.

I left bright and early Thursday morning at 5:15am and made it to Chicago at around 4:30pm. From there I went home, cried upon seeing my dog, and just recuperated from the long day of travel.

Friday, I had a doctor’s appointment, then I didn’t… but then rescheduled it for the next morning. After my doctor mishap, I was able to drive to my grandparents’ house and surprise them. Seeing the two of them was great and they both cried when they saw me. After talking for a few hours about school and life we went to dinner because I hadn’t had a good meal yet. I missed PASTA. They are both doing good and kept saying how lovely of a surprise it was to have me come home. It’s the little things. 🙂

Saturday morning I finally had my doctor’s appointment with a VERY ATTRACTIVE doctor that I’d never seen before. I went in for some ear pain and a fluid feeling but apparently, there’s no infection (always good) so I got some Flonase and was told to hope for the best.

Post-doctor appointment, I got my dad and I Dunkin Donuts. I MISSED GOOD COFFEE. Starbucks is always good but I missed Dunkin. I then showered, made myself look less ugly and my family and I ventured to the city to go to the Art Institute. We had lunch, saw some art, tried not to kill all of the tourists in the city for the marathon and had a grand ol’ time until I decided I wanted cupcakes. This prompted the 25-minute drive to Swirlz for some vegan gluten-free deliciousness.

The rest of the weekend was a bit of a blur, filled with homework, shopping trips, dinner with my grandparents again, and spending as much time with Poppy as I could before I had to leave again last night. I had a 12-hour journey from Chicago to Indianapolis to Columbus to Athens to my dorm and let me tell you, I am exhausted. I napped on and off on the bus while simultaneously trying to ensure that none of my belongings got stolen.

Nonetheless, I made it back home to my dorm, unpacked, showered, and have been living my life as if that weekend hadn’t even happened.

I’ll be back in 6 weeks Chicago

Alicia

PS I’ve never felt such a sense of calm and fear as I did in a bus station at 430 in the morning