I'm Alive!

Wow I got lazy about this really fast. I'll skip the details of last week (although plenty of fun was had in different places around town) and skip to my Minnesota trip!

FUN!

The train ride up was uneventful. Mom met me at the train station in Minneapolis and we drove to St. Cloud, arriving at about 1AM. We both turned our phones off until about noon the next day. Plenty of time to catch up, sleep, and have a wonderful Mommy-Baby breakfast at Perkin's. If you don't know, Perkin's is like the northern version of Denny's. The menus and restaurants are almost identical to Denny's; it's just a different brand. But it's a nice tradition to eat at Perkin's whenever we're up north.

Then we went to Grandma's house in Sauk Rapids. Literally within 5 seconds of coming in the door, Grandma was saying what a lovely young woman I had become and was offering me a plate of homemade almond buttercrunch candy. Man, she has got her role down PERFECTLY. I hope I am that cool to my grandkids someday.

We went to the old farmhouse where my mom grew up- now owned by my uncle Bill and his wife Roxanne. The interior was decked out for Christmas. This was a "Christmas in July" party. The idea was to make up for the fact that everyone was snowed/iced in last Christmas and they couldn't do their usual Christmas party.

Sadly my camera died halfway through the day but I got some adorable shots of most of the kids and the farm grounds.

The only depressing thing was seeing how happy my cousins are with their husbands/wives and babies EVERYWHERE. Like a continual reminder that I'm still single and if this was 100 years ago, I'd be considered an "old maid". Hahahaha. So I guess it's dangerous for me to be around that many small children. Just like when I worked at Disneyland...my maternal instincts start surfacing and I get baby fever like Liz Lemon in that episode where she accidentally kidnapped her staff's baby.

The trip home the next day was AWFUL. My train was supposed to leave at 5AM. So we got to the station at 4:15. Then at 5, we learned that the train was delayed 2 hours. So we went back to the hotel room. Ultimately the train did not arrive until 10AM. Once on the train, there were an infinite number of delays, stops, and repairs.

The train started getting crowded after we passed through Minneapolis. Then the conductor came up to me and told me to move to a different seat because this really old guy wanted my window seat. Wth!!! I don't blame the old guy because he actually looked a little embarrassed by the whole thing. But still.

We all got free stew for dinner, but I had to sit next to an old perverted guy who tried to ask where I was working in Chicago and then kept watching me eat with this bizarre smile on his face. At one point I dripped stew on my fingers but was too afraid to lick it off, lest he should interpret it as a 'come hither' gesture. *shudder*

11.5 hours later I arrived in Chicago. I was tired, cranky, hungry, desperate to have babies of my own (still thinking about all those rosy-cheeked baby cousins), and just generally miserable. As I lugged my suitcase up the stairs to the El, a couple of guys passed me. One complimented my shirt and I almost maced him. Not because he was a creeper. I just really wanted to inflict bodily harm on somebody at that moment.

Today clearly I have nothing better to do at work than to blog.

OH I got confirmation of my apartment in Switzerland! It's on the 2nd floor of a house near the Markplatz and I will be sharing with 3 other exchange students!! :-D