kosice: round 2

i've made it back to kosice, safely and soundly. the trip was anything BUT exciting, which is good news. my first flight left from minneapolis and went to amsterdam. i breezed through security (tricked 'em again) and walked straight to my gate. i bought a copy of 'the economist' and 'the new yorker'-- mostly to look smart-- and partly because one of my guilty pleasures of traveling is buying and reading magazines. for some reason a plane seems like the only appropriate venue for reading something on glossy pages. while waiting at the gate, i sat next to two older people who would not stop complaining that they weren't able to get seats next to eachother. "DELTA ALWAYS TREATS US THIS WAY! i'm just going to sit on the aisle. they can't do anything about it. if we don't sit next to each other i'm never flying detla again. it's all of those people with the perks that get the good seats. well la-ti-da! i'm gonna tell them that i am not happy. they can't do this. they always hassle us like this." needless to say, she was a bit crochety. and her husband just soaked it like a sponge. before i loss MY temper, i moved across the waiting area to another open seat. ten minutes later, i heard the same horrible, nagging voice "i just cannot believe they would do that to us. they are just not helpful. oh over there, there's two seats" and they came walking back to sit next to me. again.

fortunately, it was time to board and my angry friends were (unsurprisingly) all too eager to be the firsts ones on the flight. i waited patiently to be one of the last and avoided the pushy line. i sat down and, luckily, sat next to a girl flying to tanzania for a study-abroad trip. she was pleasant and easy to talk to-- a relief! as soon as the flight attendants walked by with the beverage cart, i started my i'm-flying-eight-hours-don't-bother-me routine. i drank one glass of red wine like it was juice, took a sleeping pill, and then politely asked the flight attendant for a refill. after throwing the second glass back, i blew up my pink, furry next pillow (thank you, jean wilson), and i was out. OUT. the next thing i knew i woke up with thirty minutes left before landing. now that, my friends, is how to bear a transatlantic flight.

in amsterdam i had one, last overpriced cup of starbucks coffee and savored it while doing another of my favorite things: people watching. i love imagining why people are traveling, what they're talking about, where they're going. and i love european fashion. european fashion has always held, for me, the connotation of being trendy, elegant, classy, chique... unfortunately, all of my experience in europe has proven my connotations to be wildly misinformed. of course the businessmen and women look beautiful in their suits and pumps, but generally, people just look weird. and, i'll be honest, a little bit trashy. and it's not even a cool-weird or a hot-trashy. it's just lacking in everything that i consider to be good taste.

after my starbucks, people-watching wait, we finally boarded the plane and flew to budapest. fortunately, my gigantic, overweight bags arrived safely. i plopped them on a cart and went out to meet my friend olivier. thankfully, he drove from kosice to pick me up. it was so nice to catch up with him and swap stories from our summers. on the drive (when i wasn't sleeping) i was observing the landscape and remembering how good this place is. the corn, however, is looking small and dry already (just in case you were interested, minnesotans). once in kosice, we unloaded my bags and went to burekas for my favorite meal: falafel and hummus. i hope this strikes you as odd because no, it's not slovak food. but it is the best falafel and hummus i've ever had. it doesn't even compare with holy land. it's ahhhhh-mazing. the couple who owns the restaurant are great as well. they have two kids who are constantly running around, and they are adorable. the wife is slovak and her husband is israeli... and (i just learned) his family is one of only five in israel who have lived there for over 2,000 years. interesting, right? and after eating, i was toast. absolutely, completed wasted. it had been over 24 hours since i left worthington, and i was ready to do nothing other than sleep. so i went home.

after being in kosice almost a full day now, i can say that nothing has changed. it feels like i never left. but it feels like walking into the other half of my life. it's strange because no one at home understands my life in slovakia, but no one in slovakia can understand my life at home. it's actually really confusing and a little bit difficult. i still hold people from home close to me, they are still on my mind a lot... but they are nowhere geographically close to me. and it was the same when i was at home this summer... i kept thinking about people back here. i hope that once i settle back into life in minnesota for good that this effect will gradually lessen, because it's hard.

alright. i think it's time for me to shower (for the fourth time since arriving). i've been sitting in my sweat all afternoon, thanks to 100 degree weather and an extreme national lack of air conditioning. cold showers are my only remedy. i feel menopausal.

please write. i'd love to hear from you.

xo