Holy whoa it is 2008

Howdy ho.

It's 2008. I'm going to turn 24 this year, I'm going to move back to the States, I'm going to (hopefully) find a good job, I'm going to spend (way too much) time on Facebook, I'm going to...

who the hell knows.

I just got back from 10 days of vacation in England! And I have some bad news: I have no pictures.
Why!?
It kinda totally slipped my mind.

I concentrated on the fun and awesomeness of being around family I haven't seen in 4 years and I forgot to capture it all on 'film.' So no one here can see how cute my little cousins are, how tall Caroline has gotten, how Rob and Alison and Jonny are all so grown up. No one can see how identical Auntie Boo looks to my mom, how Uncle Mike's smile is so freaking sweet and how big Uncle Andrew's head is and no one can see the smile of my gma, aka Cubca, as she hugs her dog, Jessye, or shows me a new stitch for knitting.

Oh man it was a good time. I think I will blog about it in chunks.

Chapter One: Getting to England!
*I realize the last post was a little bit of a downer. Apologies. I know it seems like life here in Avignon is all fun 'n games all the time but early December was kind of hard for me. Homesickness, stuff going on in Avignon... it all kind of hit at the beginning of the month. But things got better bit by bit and now I'm here in 2008 with a pretty positive outlook on it all so we'll see how it goes!*
On Friday the 21st I left Avignon, via train, at 4:15 in the morning headed for Nice. FOUR FIFTEEN IN THE MORNING. Yup. Instead of going to bed like a normal person would, I decided to stay up all night. I mean, I was going to have to wake up at 3:30 anyway, right? Ok BAD IDEA. NEVER TO REPEAT. I drank so much pop and coffee and ate so many sugar cookies that once 2 am hit my stomach attacked me and I had the worst stomach ache of my entire life. It really felt like someone put my stomach through a pasta-maker... flattening it into all sorts of nood. So unfortunate. But other than that, my night was really really good, I thought.
Four fifteen train ride? No problem. Arrived at the train station just before four o'clock which was the hour the station was to open so everyone was hanging outside. And by 'everyone' I mean 'all the shady people of Avignon.' Don't worry, Mom and Dad, it was all good. Got to the platform, drank a little hot chocolate (again, not so good for the stomach at that point) and got on the train. Hugged and kissed Avignon goodbye and sat down in the dark train car for a 4 hour journey to Nice, from where I'd be getting the plane to England.
But of COURSE as soon as I sat down in seat 11, these two French women started speaking REALLY LOUDLY to each other for the next forty-five minutes. Again, that's at 4:15. From 4:15 to 5:00 am these women would not. shut. up. What the bananas. In my caffeine-crazed state I could not stammer out any words in English or in French for "please, shut the bleep up" but oh how I wish I had.
At 5:00 both women exited the train. Praise the lo'd. I managed to get around an hour and a half of sleep after that until French Woman #2 decided to get on her cell phone and speak, really loudly, to French Friend about getting a taxi. For, like, a good 20 minutes. This was while our train was stopped at a random place somewhere between Avignon and Nice... an unscheduled stop. So French Woman #2 spoke to French Friend for the time we were stopped, making us late for our arrival in Nice. Keep in mind that I only had an hour and a half between arriving at the Nice train station and getting to the Nice airport to check in with EasyJet. I was panicking a little. Nah, a LOT.
Did we make it to the train station on time? We rolled in at 9:30 am. I had to check in by 10:00 am! The airport is a 15 minute bus ride away! My thoughts? "Oh HELL no!" So I befriended the girl next to me (Irish - very sweet) and we decided to split a taxi to the airport. I was overcharged (um twenty euros for a 7 minute car ride? Thanks!) but got to the airport at 9:52. Ran to EasyJet and what do I find? My flight was delayed by forty minutes! Awesome. So I checked in, paid an additional 12 euros to check my bag (awesome again), mailed my pocketknife to myself (of course I forgot to pack that in my checked baggage) and make some hasty calls to Avignon to get my Englanders informed that I'd be late. I'd say the hour from 9:30 to 10:30 on that Friday morning was one anxiety-riddled one.

So yeah, the plane took off, I landed at London Luton, and it was all good. My cousins and my aunt greeted me at the airport with a sign with "Emily" printed on it. Too freaking cute. I saw that family just two years ago when they made a trip to the US. My then-8-year-old cousin and I formed a band called Utter Dung and I wrote them a very catchy tune with the title "We're in America" (clearly, I'm an original).
My family then drove me down the road to meet up with my grandma, aka Cubca, who was my hostess for the next ten days. Family reunions all around are amazing and it was so good to see Cubca with her little blue car and her dog in the backseat. Cubca and I said goodbye to Boo 'n co. and set off for the little town of Bewdley to really begin Christmas Vacation 2007.

Reminders to self in 2008: Traveling early in the morning isn't so bad but REALLY make sure you get some sleep beforehand. EasyJet people are not as helpful as they look, even though they are wearing bright orange. The taxi driver might overcharge you if he hears you speaking any English - try to haggle? Next time speak up to annoying ladies on the train... you have every right to sleep!