Where am I?

If you are reading this, you probably know a little something about my life. My dad in Michigan, my mom in Florida, my siblings in New York. And now I am in Paris for 4 months, I expect it will be a very different semester than my life in New York.

In beginning to write this post, I was going to type "I've been away from home for..." but then I started to think...wait, where is my home? I grew up in Michigan, but now 4/5 of my immediate family is no longer there. I stayed with my mom in Florida this summer, a place I had never lived before then. I lived in Chicago on the weekends and for a good part of most summers in Chicago with my aunt and uncle during high school, I miss that family and some of my closest friends are still there. And then there is New York, the place I have made my home the last 3 years. Again my siblings and freshest relationships are there. It's where my watch collection and Betty White memorabilia is in storage at this moment (I brought 4 watches).

It is incredibly hard to have so many important components of my life in so many places, but at the same time I realize how lucky I am to have each one. I guess in traveling now, staying in hostels and with friends until I get my apartment here in Paris next week, I have realized how scattered my life is regardless of where I sleep at night.

I am happy about it. I have people all over, people I trust. I feel loved many places and love them right back. And I'm lucky to have the resources and live in a world where that is possible.

Paris, four months my home. Here we go...

Getting Here

If you didn't already know, I was in Florida staying with my mom and trying to make some money this summer. I had a wonderful time and it was so nice to spend time with her since I haven't lived with her in about 6 years. I laughed more than I have in a while the time I was there.

So I left the 10th of August and went to NYC to get things around. Dropped off some of my summer things and got some winter things from storage. It was nice to see all my New York friends before I left and the best part was that all my Chicago friends were in town for the Del Close Improv Marathon, so I got to see them before I left. I even got to take them to get one of my favorite New York dishes: Fish Head Casserole.

It was a busy week, getting everything around and just wanting to spend as much time with as many people as I could, which I did, but which was incredibly exhausting. I was staying with my brother Josh and his fiancee Ashley and they live a little uptown, so I tended to stay out late and then get up early.

The hardest part was leaving. It seemed like I should have been so excited, but I think because I am used to going back to school now and gearing up to be with my friends, it was hard. And then because I got a little taste of my NYC life before I came here, I got sad to leave it. At the airport I was calling people and I was so emotional, a young woman across from me gave me a sad look, I think she thought I was moving to Europe permanently.

So it worked out that I couldn't sleep on the plane. Even after 4 little bottles of red wine. I was in a row of 3 seats but there were only two of us and the weirdo next to me insisted on staying in the middle and cramping me up against the window. He smelled wierd. I tried to sleep for a bit but the truth is I actually got hooked watching the movie '17 Again'. And as much as I made fun of that movie when it came out, I revise my opinion and say it is officially a sweet, heartwarming tale.

Exhausted at my hour and a half layover in Amsterdam, slept on 1 hour flight to Prague and then found the baggage claim where I would meet Eric after his flight landed. There I semi-slept on a bench for the hour and a half until I heard his flip-flops shuffling toward me. AND THEN WE WERE IN PRAGUE.