Vacation in America

**Written on April 14th**

Hello Everyone!

For the last two weeks, I have been visiting my family in America. I am so grateful to everyone who made the trip so wonderful. To any and all of you that I didn’t get a chance to talk to during my visit, I am very sorry. Time really does fly.

In the first couple days I had a lot of fun adjusting to the food, amenities, cold weather of life in New England. I’m happy to say, there weren’t any parts that were very traumatic.

Seeing my family and friends was absolutely the best thing about the trip. I will never forget seeing my family at the airport, and it was so goodto get to catch up and hang out with a lot of my friends.

For your entertainment and for posterity I will try list some of the highlights. I got to take a 10 hour layover in Paris and see the Eiffel Tower and Notre Dame de Paris. At the arrival gate I was met by my Mom, Dad, Grandma, Granddad, Aunt Julie, Meg and her apartmentmate, Lauren Greene. Kev joined us later at the house. The first week we had an incredible amount of home made food including pancakes, Easter dinner, and home made chocolate cake. I got to go to two of Kev’s baseball games and in the second he scored the first two runs for his team! I got to have a party with my friends and show them some of my pictures. After Easter festivities died down my family got to take a hike at blue hills together. I got to hang out with Jason, and benefit from his ability to drive. I visited Kev’s University, and looked into the possibility of grad school there. I visited Meg’s apartment and got to go out in Boston with her. I went to the MFA. I visited Gordon with Jasmine, and saw a dress rehearsal of waiting for Godot. I got a hair cut and a massage and other pampering (so appreciated). And of course, I stuffed my bag with stuff to take back to Africa.

And then when it seemed like the trip had reached a close, My flight was over booked and I got bumped to a flight two days later! I had time for a few more delicious meals, some good hanging out, and even a dip in the hot tub.

I know I have missed some things, and I apologize for that, but I hope you get the idea. This trip pretty much couldn’t have been any better. I know we had a lot of fun planning it out in advance. Now I just hope that it revitalizes me and gives me happy memories to cherish during the next leg of work. I know there will be some transition time (just like there was coming back to visit home), but I hope the homesickness doesn’t hit to hard. It’s true there is a lot to miss!

Still, I am so grateful to all of you who have given me such constant support, and so grateful to all of you who read the blog. Thanks for being a part of this.

Talk to you soon and thanks for reading.

With love,

Lauren