wasting time in gatwick.

It's always better...

Hello, world! I'm sitting in the London Gatwick airport waiting for Mom, Dad, and Aaron to arrive. I still have about 9 hours to go until their plane lands. I had originally planned to sleep, but then a group of around 20 junior high kids who don't speak English or Spanish arrived and decided to shove all of the benches together and have one huge, loud slumber party. Needless to say, I am not as amused by it as they are. Hopefully they'll all crash soon. :) This reconfirms that I will NEVER be a junior high teacher, and this once again leaves me with a ton of respect for my dad for being able to deal with kids this age for 20 something years!!

(Exciting news.. I just checked the flight details for my family, and they just landed in Detroit! They're ahead of schedule!)

This week was pretty decent. We cooked dinner for Abril one night, and then she returned the favor on Wednesday. She is so much fun! And so sweet! Schoolwise, two classes got cancelled, and the others were really tame. The best part is that I don't have to return to class until April 1! It's going to be busy, busy, busy between now and then, though. I'll be doing London, Rome, Valencia, and Dublin with my family, and then I'll go to Barcelona, Valencia, and Madrid with Ashley, Emily, and Rachel. Once Ashley and Rachel leave, Emily and I are flying to Brussels and spending a bit of time there and then taking a train to Amsterdam. The next few hours in the airport are probably going to be the most downtime I get for the next couple of weeks, but that's fine with me! I am ready to see my family and friends and explore more of Europe.

Valencia is gearing up for Las Fallas. Basically, it's a huge festival complete with non-stop fireworks, floats, music, and fire. It officially started today, but a few of the fallas were revealed early, so we got to see a bit last night. They are HUGE! Some are 3 stories tall! There are also lights everywhere, which makes it seem like it's Christmas time! It's awesome! The City Hall does a firecracker performance called mascletas every day at 2pm from March 1 until the end of Fallas. Emily and I went to it on Sunday. Here's a video:



The whole thing lasts about ten minutes; that was just the last 30 seconds of it. I know it seems like my hand is shaking really bad while videoing, but it's NOT my hand! That was the ground shaking from the constant explosions! The video just doesn't do it justice. It was SO loud and SO smoky and SO cool! I can't wait to go to a nighttime performance; it's going to be so pretty! I'm definitely looking forward to Fallas. :)

(More exciting news: sweet little Rachel called my dad for me, and they're on time in Detroit! They should be here in about 7-8 hours!)

Of course, I'm looking forward to EVERYTHING. My mom, dad, and brother are by far 3 of my favorite people! My mom is the sweetest person I know, my dad is the one who can always make me laugh no matter how mad or sad I am, and Aaron is my one and only amazing big brother! :) I just can't believe this is finally happening. When I first thought about studying abroad, I said there was no way I would come if Mom and Dad couldn't visit, but Dad assured me they would come.. and even better, Aaron is able to also! I'm especially proud of my Mom. When I was younger I can remember many times when she would tell me that she never wanted to visit a country that didn't speak English, but you know what? She's on her way! She'll be in two countries that don't speak English this week! :) Of course, if you know my mom, you know she worries about everything, so you won't be surprised to hear that in the past few days she morbidly told me about her will, life insurance policy, etc. Oh, my little mother.. She just wouldn't be her if she didn't worry. Don't worry; I assured her that all I was concerned about was making sure that the cat was left to me.

I know it'll be hard to see the three of them leave, but I've got something equally exciting to look forward to after that... RACHEL AND ASHLEY!!! How cool is it that I'm going to be with some of my best friends in Europe? I'm so excited for them!

In other news, I am happy to report that the junior high kids have fallen asleep. On top of each other. It's awkward but quiet, so I'm not complaining! I think I'll go be productive for the next few hours in order to make the time go faster... my next blog won't be FOR my family; it will be ABOUT my family!! That is so exciting! Europe, meet the hillbillies (and super geek) from Oklahoma. :)

P.S. The green is in honor of St. Patrick's Day, of course!

...when we're together.