returned.

Whew.

The last 4 weeks have taken me on a route I never imagined for this summer: Prague - Vienna - Venice - Barcelona - then a Mediterraean cruise to Florence, Rome, Naples, Palma, and back to Barcelona.

I got home last night - lugging my backpack down the alley and up the stairs to my Chi.nese dorm room. It's still sitting on my purple loveseat, packed, draw-string tight around the things that have sustained my travels the last few weeks. I can't bear to open it (mostly because that means I have to do laundry).

Today I enjoyed jet-lag induced sleep and a trip to the gym and grocery store, slowly becoming acquainted again with the cast of characters in my life. The newstand lady looked at me without a smile and said, "you came home."

I looked at her stunned for a second.

"Yes, I came home."

It was one of those trips that take a lot of debrief. Friends and family and foreign countries. Too much goodness to absorb all at once.

I climbed Mount Vesuvius.

Visited the Colossuem.

Explored the ruins of Pompeii.

And now I sit on my twin bed in Chi.na, hurrying to post this before my hot water gets turned off for the night, wondering did that really just happen?

Pictures prove it did.

Here's some pics from my trip post-seeing Hannah and Rae in Prague and pre-cruise:

nightly free opera movies projeted onto City Hall in Vienna, Austria...

masks in Venice, Italy...
was in l-o-v-e with the Italian sky-line...

when you're on a budget, you're on a budget, Equity Point Hostal, Barcelona, Spain...

schnitzel in Vienna, Austria...

"I lift my eyes up, to the heavens...." Vienna...

waiting for our parents at the Barcelona airport...

boarding the Vienna - Venice express train...

first day in Venice...

pizza. love.

reunited!!! waiting to board the cruise...

I miss my fam so much it hurts. But seeing them and having such an adventure was amazing.

I'm overwhelmingly thankful for the friend time, family time, adventure time that this summer turned into. I feel refreshed. Thankful. Ready for another year of Chi.na-livin.

Like my newstand lady said...I came home.

walk slow. xoxo.