Monday, August 13, 2012

Winding Down

I've left this blog completely unattended. Shame on me! Time really does fly, as it seems like only yesterday I landed at Heathrow. Now...I will be leaving for home tomorrow. I don't want to leave really. I can count on one hand the pros of returning home: 1) Seeing the grandparents 2) Graham Crackers 3) Being reunited with the rest of my clothes 4) 24 hour open Meijers and 5) School.

The cons though: Social life...pretty much out the window (Hello study and hopefully either returning to my jobs on campus or getting something to actually support the over $1,200 monthly bills for school I'll have), Toledo traffic (bunch of crazy people), inability for me to work full time and finish school (yes I realize many people pull this off, but I take care of my grandmother full time when not in school or at work if gramps isn't around), no more true pubs, no more easy public transportation, goodbye to the large diverse population, hello to being expected to tip 15 to 20% when I get any food delivered or eat out, trying to figure out sales tax in my head (I'm horrible with this)...

I will stop with the cons as it's too depressing.
On to the highlights of my trip..which are many:
- An internship with State Department at the U.S. Embassy in London
- Queen's Jubilee
- Free Museums
- Krispy Kreme Donuts...from Krispy Kreme stands
- Making friends easily
- Starting my journey of learning Polish
- Friday night visits to pubs with awesome people
- Working in SCS
-Working in Passports
-Working for the CG
- Being delegated as lead on research survey for Assisted Reproductive Technology
- Becoming part of a team to initiate culling of backlog cases
- Meeting the First Lady and getting to shake her hand
- Going to the Olympics for free because of the generosity of a fellow colleague
- Day trip to Canterbury
- Seeing my friends finally play hockey
- Birthday with my best friend and his daughter, and then being invited to dinner with the CG and his family (His daughter is awesome!)
- Apples to Apples with a lovely group of people
- Pizza and a movie with Margaret
- Visiting the Polish Center and Polish restaurants
- Getting my hair cut

I know this summer has had ups and downs, but overall it has been the best experience of my life.