Welcome back, welcome back, welcome back...

[alexr_rwx]

We showed up in New York's lovely Kennedy airport yesterday evening, having started that conceptual day out in Rome (the literal day before), then flying to Paris in the early evening, then spending a night taking turns sleeping in Paris's most excellent Charles de Gaulle airport, terminal #3... and last night, at a bit after 2300, we arrived in Tallahassee again :)

I slept until about 2 PM this afternoon :)

It's quite nice to be back :) I haven't done a whole bunch today, but I figure I can give myself a day to recover. We've been showing our pictures (expect these up on the web, probably later on tonight), talking with family members, and getting re-acclimated to North Florida, which as far as I'm concerned is the Very Least Threatening Place Anywhere.

Earlier this afternoon, I made and consumed an entire pot of drip-coffee, which is the familiar estadounidence style -- in Spain, France, and Italy at least, if you say "cafe", you mean "espresso", and you don't get your cup refilled in a restaurant... and even "cafe americano" means espresso mixed with hot water. Sometimes you get a cup with a shot of espresso and a little pot of hot water, separately. Regardless, it's not coffee in the United States-ian sense... it's funny how it's little things like that that make one glad to be home.

So on the final tally, we were in six different sovreign nations (France, Britain, Spain, Italy, the Vatican, and Germany) and in places operating in eight different official languages (French, English, Spanish, Basque, Catalan, Italian, Latin, and German) ... although there weren't any major issues with language barriers (although I /think/ I heard somebody speaking Basque, in the trainstation in Vitoria, nobody addressed us in it), aside from minor issues with not speaking French and Italian. I want to learn French and Italian now :) And Basque. And I want to move to Barcelona, maybe for gradschool :)

... and for the rest of the summer, I don't have a whole lot planned, which is great :) I'll get out into the forest and run, and Anthony (the most excellent stepfather) hooked me up with a membership at the nearby gym, so I'll keep on lifting, and I'm going to install gentoo on elrond the desktop box... erm... and when August comes around, I'll be all ready to move back to Tech :) Yeah. Ah, and I got a big rainbow flag that says "PACE" ("peace", in Latin and Italian) while we were in Rome, and it's going up in the apartment in the fall, and it looks more or less like a gay pride flag, but there's not much to be done about that. I suppose I'm all for gay pride, anyway.

So life is good, and everything's Perfect, and I'm in a super-good mood right now :) Yay :)

Comments

[the-glory-girl.livejournal.com]

Okay, where are my postcards?

[oniugnip.livejournal.com]

We picked one up for you in London, actually -- pop by and visit sometime in August and I'll give it to you then? I'll be living with Tim in the fall.

It's a really highquality postcard, too :) It's currently being used as a bookmark in my Stroustrup book, just in case I forget. Don't let me forget...

[the-glory-girl.livejournal.com]

You actually got me one? Yay! That makes two postcards from London this summer. Another friend sent me one of C.S. Lewis's gravestone, but didn't sign his name, so it took me forever to figure out who it was from.

I'll be at Tech in mid-August, I know. I'm supposed to go meet Timothy, who'll be there then.

Welcome Back

[(Anonymous)]

Welcome back from the across the pond. I agree that where you come from is the most nonthreatening place possible. This is why the invitation to see endless forests and lakes is still open (*wink* *wink* *wink*). I hope you are enjoying the return to a place with good, wholesome Homeland Security and none of those weird European people who wouldn't know a solid, juicy, bloody hamburguesa if it smacked 'em in the face. As always, you have my regards.

~samarin~

Re: Welcome Back

[(Anonymous)]

And of course by "...where you...", I mean "...where one..." Otherwise, it just doesn't make any sense, now does it?

~samarin~

Re: Welcome Back

[oniugnip.livejournal.com]

Thank you! :) I'll speak with The Emperor Brett (zip4096) about the trip -- this should be planned out in the Near Future.

... they might not know the joys of the hamburger like we do 'round these parts, but I think the Spaniards have a leg up on us in the Ham Department. There're about fifty or a billion "Museo Del Jamon" (literally: "museum of the ham") locations in Madrid :)

Re: Welcome Back

[(Anonymous)]

The trip: this is good news indeed.
Ham: Jamon, mi amor! Déjeme demostrarle los secretos de mi corazón. (I admit weakness, oh great god of babelfish)

~samarin~

Re: Welcome Back

[the-glory-girl.livejournal.com]

"Ham" est "jambon" en français.

But I don't want any bloody ham!

[tabandlow.livejournal.com]

I swear the food groups in Spain are: pork/ham, potatoes and egg. Order a sandwich, comes with a poached egg on top. Just try to order something that doesn't come with a side of fries. And they just love to sneak pork into everything! Order fish, and it comes stuffed with bacon! (When I was in Barcelona, the people of don't-eat-pork religions had such a hard time!)

The best was when I ordered a hamburger that literally was a ham burger. A bit of a surprise that first bite, but it was really dee-licious.

[tabandlow.livejournal.com]

Yeah, but most Americans no longer know the joys of a bloody-as-hell steak.

Make mine sagnant, s'il vous plait!

Welcome back

[zip4096.livejournal.com]

Ah, welcome back Alex :)

i must say...

[vitamorsque.livejournal.com]

hope all was awesome! pity you didn't say hello to my sis whilst you were in germany but then again you've never met her. heh. try and get some rest man, and ill talk to you later.
peace.

Heeeee....

[(Anonymous)]

*giggle.... poke.... gnaw* Hiya! I found you!

*does one of those happy-lisa-type-smiles and bounces back to work*

Re: Heeeee....

[oniugnip.livejournal.com]

Yay for getting found (and gnawed on) by Lisa! :)

*waves and offers a LJ account codes*

[eponis.livejournal.com]

I picked up one of those flags too, actually. They've shown up in the oddest places - France, Germany, Switzerland . . . two other people at L'Abri had them in their rooms. Evidently the rainbow flag is a general sign of "progressivism", incidentally - as well as gay rights, it's supposedly been used for Labor in the past.