Hello everyone…
Well, I’m back in the states…..I flew back on the 22nd, spent Christmas at my grandparents house in L.A. with all my relatives, and came back to Galt last night, where I’ll be until the 7th probably.

My last 2 weeks traveling were amazing and exhausting.
I went to Barcelona, Rome, Pompeii, Venice, Heidelberg for a day, then Paris, then 30 hours of traveling to get to L.A.
Some highlights were seeing the Pope!, the beautiful Mediterranean, meeting a neat girl in my hostel at Paris so I wasn’t alone the whole time!, the Sistine Chapel, the most beautiful sunset I’ve ever seen on the way to Barcelona, going to a soccer game in Barcelona, the Coliseum, walking through Venice in the very early morning and watching the town wake up before all the other tourists came, and a fantastic 3-course lunch in a fancy French restaurant with waiters in white tuxes that waited on us hand and foot, with an old friend of my grandmothers. 

Some low points were spending 2 nights in a row on a train, the 20+ hour train ride to Barcelona and the same to Rome, getting my 2nd camera stolen, getting my driver’s license stolen, not getting to shower for 3 days, wearing the same 2 outfits for 2 weeks (hey, I packed light!), but worst of all….having to say goodbye to the house, the castle, Heidelberg.

Hard to believe it’s all over.  I’m still trying to fix my sleeping patterns, and going through more culture shock than I did going over there, but I somehow expected that.  I had to ask my mom today if the bank would be closed during lunch.  I honestly couldn’t remember if they did that over here too! 

Anyway, for my Merced friends, I’ll be coming around new years….probably drive down on the 30th and stay till the 2nd or so…..so, e-mail me if you’ll be in town because I’d love to see you all.

For my Pepperdine friends….I can’t wait to see everyone when school starts.  I’m living in Towers room 465 and my ext. is 3736, so come by or give me a call!

Tschuss,
Christina