dun dun dun el EXAMEN

All we did today was have a brief and hardly informative orientation meeting at the university, which is practically up a mountain here in Toledo. Also, we took a placement exam which included a (not so) easy written portion and a highly intimidating 3 on 1 oral interview. We find out what ¨level¨we tested into tomorrow morning. Tonight they are throwing us a party at 7:30, and for those of us whose partying tastes go beyond that of a barbeque thrown at a local place of knowledge, we are going to run amok in town looking for somewhere fun to go. Good thing the ENTIRE city shuts down for the SIESTA, we are gonna need it tomorrow...;)

FREE INTERNET

Es la verdad. I FINALLY made it to Toledo (trust me, after city hopping between 4 countries and 5 cities over the past 3 weeks, i did NOT think this day would ever come...) where I have a giant residence hall with a small room with my own shelf, set of drawers, tiny little bed and best of all, a gust of frigid air coming from a little whiny box right over my bed. Thank you GOD, I don't know how many more nights of sweating myself to sleep I could take. Anyway, the whole meeting up with the group thing didn't pan out as planned because the big group flight got in early and hence left early without telling me. BUT there were 3 people on other flights who were also in the same boat, who were able to pick me out in the crowd at the airport, (Thank you Nebraska football shirt) so we all hopped a bus to Toledo together and laughed when our bus ended up passing the group bus on the highway from Madrid to Toledo. Touche. Anyway, I have to be ready for orientation and a placement exam by 9 am tomorrow soooo maybe I should go study. Or sit around and do nothing until the finals of EURO 2008 come one and dance in the streets when Spain beats Germany. Priorities... hmmm...

ole!

I survived my last overnight train from Paris to Madrid last night, even though it wasn't easy. Last time I had a full on BED, on the bottom level of a wall with 3 beds on top of me, hoisting sweaty German bikers above me. I had a reclining seat this time, which is not nearly equipped for anyone to sleep in it, much less me. Oh well... you live and learn. Anyway, I did a little walking around Madrid this afternoon, some light window shopping, a l0ad of laundry, etc etc. Now I'm making sure I have everything in place for "school" to start again, and to meet my group tomorrow at the airport! Nothing too exciting. Best wishes - I hope no one was too put out by the storms yesterday :(

Auf weidersehen!

I´m writing this early because I am not sure if I will get a chance later. Basicall my day consists of traveling on trains... for HOURS... oh well. I have to get down to Spain somehow. I was able to exchange my train ticket for an earlier ticket to Paris, so that I have more time to catch my overnight train to Madrid, which was a concern of mine earlier. So I leave here at about noon and arrive in Paris at 5, but I have a transfer and about a 45 minute "layover" somewhere along the way. Then I board a train to Madrid around 8 pm, to arrive at 9 am tomorrow morning. Then, I will meet my ESTO (Espanol in Toledo... clever.) group at the airport on Sunday morning, and we will take a bus down to Toledo together! Let the learning begin :) Best wishes as I leave the land of beer steins and cuckoo clocks and weiner schnitzel!

Eau de Cologne!

Sorry for the late post today, but I was on a train most of the day traveling to Cologne! I totally couldn't find my Eurail pass just as the train pulled into the Berlin Hbf station today, so I spent about fifteen minutes trying to convince a very German train worker guy that I was legit, and throwing receipts and all kinds of other paperwork in his face, until he managed to spit out the German equivalent for "Its all good" and let me sit down. I found my pass approximately 30 seconds after he walked away, which is surprising because as often as I lose things, I'd say its about darn time I lost something on this trip. Seriously... I haven't lost so much as a bobby pin or hairband or piece of floss. Kudos, and KNOCK ON WOOD.

I just arrived here in Cologne. I'm only here because it was the most direct way to make it back to Paris to catch my train to Madrid tomorrow night. i almost wish I had more time here though, it seems pretty neat. But I must get to SPAIN to start studying again and stop being a clueless nomad :)

Biergartens & football

This morning I arrived at my hostel just before 5 a.m., and took a nap on one of the couches until 7 when reception opened. They had enough pity on me that they gave me an open room for yet another quick nap before I took off for the day. I then bought a metro ticket and took it to Alexanderplatz (sp?) to hook up with a bike tour company for a city tour at 11. It was well worth it... we saw tons of stuff that I would have never seen on my own, and it was fun. It breifly rained but not a big deal. We stopped for lunch at a local biergarten around 2, and were finished just before 5 pm. It was fun and entertaining but it totally wiped me out. BUT I'm SOOO excited for the soccer...uhh football game tonight though. Berlin, being the capital of GERMANY, contains the world's largest Turkish population, outside of Turkey that is. And they are playing each other tonight in the semifinals of the Euro 2008!! We rode our bikes through the city centre, near Bradenburg Gate, where the city is broadcasting the game LIVE on giant projected screens. Its already a nuthouse... people draped in national flags and colors, chanting national anthems. City officials are expecting upwards of 1.2 million people just in this one square tonight... AND if Spain wins against Russia tomorrow, I will be in Spain the night of the finals! scoooooore :)

Berlin bound

After only just over 24 hours in Amsterdam, I am leaving soon to hop an overnight train to Berlin. Luckily though, I can sleep just about anywhere when I am tired enough so I should be okay. I tried to visit the Anne Frank House today but the line was 3 hours long, when I got there 30 minutes after it opened. Must be Anne Frank season. Other than that I did some shopping and some much needed email returning and now I'm back to shopping and just hanging out until its train time! See you in Germany!

I SEE said the blind man as he fell down the stairs....

Solution to the problem of not having enough room on your digital camera memory cards? Borrow a USB cable from a dutchman! Problem solving is totally my thing... AND I finally get to share some visual evidence that I am indeed in Europe and not hiding out in someone's basement. Even though I've momentarily forgotten some of the significance of a few of my pictures... yeah it was bound to happen.

I know what you're thinking... and yes, this is one of the most historic sights in London. This is where Hagrid gave Harry his first train ticket for the Hogwarts Express. *SIGH*

This, of course, is Westminster Abbey. This was one of my favorite places, but they don't allow photos inside sooo this is all I got. Its a little Sound of Music, I know, but its an abbey. I figure they're all basically the same, eh?

This is the Tower of London-- also one of my favorite places. The picture is kinda boring, but the actual place isn't, I promise.

This is the view we got from the first balcony at St. Paul's Cathedral, before we all nearly had conniptions about climbing the spiral staircases that swayed to and fro.

And this is the view from the top!

And view from the top + me. See? I really was there.

MIND THE GAP.

My first glimpse of the Eiffel Tower!

We had to have SOME fun on this trip...

You may be asking yourself, "I wonder if Marie Antoinette slept in that bed?" Well yes she did.

Versailles! I can't believe they were able to drag me away from here...



The famous stained glass window at the head of Notre Dame Cathedral... if you look closely you can see Quasi Modo hangin out




The gigantic stained glass windows at Saint Chapelle




LOOK AT DA BONES




Annnnd Rodin's The Gates of Hell. On THAT note....

On the road again....

After a few minor hiccups this morning, I managed to make it to my train on time and get all my things done before I left Paris. It was really sad to have to say goodbye to my Visual Arts classmates though... such is life though. I arrived here in Amsterdam around 11 a.m. and immediately dumped my luggage at my hostel, which really is only a 7 minute walk from the train station. Then I grabbed lunch and took one of those cheap bus & boat tours, which was an inexpensive and relaxing way to see the city, seeing as how I probably won't leave the area around my hotel since the Anne Frank House is right here, as is the train station. I didn't realize how prevalent the canals are here... Anyway, I am going to do some shopping and walking around before dinner, then hang out at my hostel which really is pretty cool and chock full of people my age doing this same city-hopping thing I am. But since I probably got about 4 hours of sleep collectively in the past day and a half, I am going to be a zombie by about 10 tonight. I have all morning and afternoon tomorrow here, and then I get on an overnight train tomorrow night to Berlin! Oh the thrill of the travel :) Much Love :)

ABANDON ALL HOPE YE WHO ENTER HERE

FIRSTLY, I'd like to point out that whoever thought it was a good idea to exhume millions of bodies from Parisian cemeteries in the late 1700's and throw them underground in a festive manner is a total whack. Forget everything I said about climbing to the top of St. Paul's Cathedral.... climbing underground to the catacombs in Paris is by far the scariest thing I have ever done. I paid €3,50 to get into this cave of complete doom, and began to descend the 80-some steps down a limestone spiral staircase. Note to self: spiral staircases are the bane of my existence. Once I got down there, the German family who went down before me had magically vanished and the English couple who was behind me in line got stopped at the ticket counter. Of course I' suddnly all alone. The first few miutes of walking down there aren't lined with bones... its just a hallway about 6 feet high and maybe 5 feet wide. There was about a foot of space between each of my arms and the stone walls, walls of which were soon to be made of centuries old human remains. The whole time, the tweaked out trigger in my brain was screaming BAD IDEA BAD IDEA, and I could hear my dad's voice in the back of my head saying "Ooooohhhhhh this isn't right...." This was all before I got to the bones. I finally caught up with Mr. and Mrs. German just before we entered the ossuary, which is noted by a sign hanging above the doorway that says something in French, which looked like "This is the creepiest thing you will ever do. These are DEAD BODIES... go away." The catacombs were created partly because Parisian cemeteries were becoming so congested that people in neighboring buildings and homes were falling ill. So obviously it makes sense to allow the public to tour this cave of death and disease. The bones weren't as scary as I thought they were going to be... BUT, if you were to not watch where you were going or trip on a rock, you are falling face first into a pile of rotting human skulls. NO THANKS, dead Parisians. I enjoy doing things that scare me a little, but geez. I really thought I would come out of there possessed by the corpses of millions of dead Parisians. I sprinted the 83 steps to get out of there, and at the top when I was totally out of breath and shaking, there was an employee who insisted on checking my bag for any stolen bones. Right.

Before that, I slept in and woke up just in time for 11:30 mass at Notre Dame Cathedral. If you ever get to come to Paris, mass at Notre Dame is an absolute must. Last night, we did go to the Eiffel Tower to eat dinner and watch the light show. Little did we know, Paris is hosting an international dance festival this weekend, and last night was the first night. There were giant pods of speakers blaring strange techno punk music, surrounded by giant mobs of people "dancing" and throwing champagne all over each other. I came to Europe to experience culture damnit, and I will experience it; even if I have to be showered in champage under the Eiffel Tower to do so. ;)

I leave Paris tomorrow morning to catch a 6:30 a.m. train to Amsterdam and begin my week of lone traveling!! Hopefully I can find a decent internet cafe asap... wish me luck & see you in the Netherlands!!

NO MORE MUSEUMS

.... its the truth. We went to our last set of museums today. At the Rodin museum we saw the Gates of Hell and the Thinker, amongst others. At the Pompidoux we saw 7 floors of modern & contemporary art, and at the Orangerie we saw a large collection of original Monet's, among other impressionist pieces. Thank GOD that is over though... seriously. 2 weeks of 7 hours a day stuck in an art museum is not healthy. But on the downside, my group is leaving Monday morning for Charles de Gaulle airport, and I am going to Gare Nord train station. All good things must come to an end.... Tonight I think we are going to buy some bread, cheese & wine and picnic under the Eiffel Tower, waiting for it to get dark for the light show to start. Cheeeeeeeeers :) Another plus: tomorrow is a FREE DAY to spend 24 hours doing anything we please in Paris. Hello sleeping. <3

A monkey is never just a monkey.

This morning: the Cluny museum for the Unicorn tapestries, really interesting if you ever get a chance.

uhhh more morning: Notre Dame cathedral..... really really pretty

afternoon: more notre dame and saint chapelle, the church built that was meant to house (one of) the crown of thorns........ really pretty.

i am too tired to even process my own thoughts. SORRY!!!! paris takes a lot out of me :) au revoir

the lonely palace of versailles

VERSAIIIILLLLLLEEESSSS yesh. Yes, we took a train to Versailles today, which is only the GREATEST palace on the face of the earth. If you haven't seen Sofia Coppola's film adaptation Marie Antoinette, please watch it, and imagine me sitting in front of the frog fountain, basking in the French sun for the rest of eternity. No freakin wonder she was beheaded though.... that place is nuts. I would totally sacrifice my head for one year living in the Chateau de Versailles. No lie. It is hands down my favorite place (of educational significance) that we have seen thus far. We got to tour the Hall of Mirrors and the state apartments qnd bedcha,bers of Marie Antoinette and her husband King Louis XIV. Her original bed, that she gave birth to her first child on, is still there. Granted it is covered in plastic wrap but one guy going through near me looked like he really wanted to spill some soda on something really historically significant, so touche. In the corner of her bedroom, you could just barely make out the hidden door in the corner through which she escaped one night in October 1789 when the Paris mob stormed Versailles. No... way. The rest of it was amazing too... the gardens and fountains and ponds etc were much more amazing than I pictured. It was insanely fantastic. Then we went to some random museum in Paris which completely paled in comparison so whatever.... ;)

oh monna

Today was our day in the LOUVRE, the world's most commemorated art musuem, which of course was amazing. Once I saw Cupid & Pysche, the Raft of Medusa, the Venus de Milo and La Joconde, I was done... I need not see another piece of art for awhile. Except now I really really want to go buy the DaVinci Code (starring the one and only....) when I get home. We had quiche and tarts at a cafe near the Louvre, and I did some souvenir shopping after that. One of our student's birthday is today, so we are going out tonight to celebrate.

Other than that, Paris is lovely. Our hotel isn't as nice as the one in London, but you win some you lose some. The keyboards on their computers are COMPLETELY different, so typing this is near impossible. And, for the record, I was indeed in London while GWB was there. Obviously I didn't get to see him, but I did get to see the tons of protestors dressed as grim reapers wearing GWB masks. Hmmmm. I'm getting away from this terribly frustrating keyboard asap!!! Maybe by tomorrow my fingers will cooperate with my brain :)

Hello Paris!!

I made it to Paris! But we have been walking and doing things non stop all day so I am completely bushed... and the nearest internet cafe is a good 8 or 9 minute walk away when the one in London was barely 2. Yikes. Au revoir for now :)

Tales from the CRYPT

SOOO this morning, we got up early to go to St. Paul's Cathedral here in London, which is an Anglican Church straight up from the Millenium bridge off the Thames. It was the location of Winston Churchill's state funeral and the marriage of Prince Charles to Diana Spencer. One of the most popular things to do there is climb to the very tip top of the cathedral, which is a full 528 steps. A small group of us wanted to make the climb, going down the crypts first to get a bottle of water and stretch. After the first 257 steps, we made it to the whispering gallery, about 100 feet above the cathedral floor. It looks out onto the front altar area. After that, you climb another 100 some steps to the very lower base of the dome, where we walked on the balcony outside and got a better view of London than you could ever get from the London eye. All is well at this point... THEN we go through the doorway to climb the remaining 100-some steps to the uppder dome. There's a sign at the ground level that rambled on about how it is very easy to get scared and clausterphobic at this point, and there is no way to turn back or be let down if you can't make it from here. Turns out THEY WEREN'T KIDDING. I consider myself fairly unafraid of heights and falling, etc etc. But I was whispering Hail Mary's the ENTIRE time I was goingup these next set of steps. They were spiral.... steep.... had holes in the bottom so you could see the 160 foot plummit to the bottom of the cathedral.... and they swayed. I'm telling you I have never been this scared in my life, and I have done some SCARY SHI... things. I was petrified. And there were about 8 sets of these spiral staircases, no lie. Imagine the scariest, eeriest, creepiest, jumbliest set of balck iron spiral staircases in an old creepy -probably totally haunted- white stone cathedral.... thats what I climbed today. Exaggeration has no place here. I thought it would never end, and when it finally did, we had to climb a stone staircase that was about 4.5 feet tall and 3 feet wide. If I wasn't clausterphobic before, I am now. [Funny anecdote: We all left our bags and coats and things with the people who didn't want to make the climb. We each wore our special walking shoes today for the occassion, took a bottle of water and a camera, and did a few stretches before we took off. One of the two boys on this trip, Nathan (he's a professional drag queen), wore heels, took a gigantic purse full of junk with him, blared Britney Spears on his iPod loud enough for the rest of us to hear, and danced the entire way up, also holding a juicebox. He made it in much better shape than the rest of us, too. At the very top, he proved that all you really need in life is the right song and a fabulous pair of heels.] The view and exhilaration of making the climb was well worth it though, and I would do it again in a heartbeat. Its stuff like that that keeps you really alive. There was an older man working the doorway at the very top of the dome, and he climbs that entire thing 3 times a week. I swear he is going to live forever.

After that, we saw a nice collection of Picasso's, Rousseau's, Degas's and Manet's at the Courtauld Collection at the Somerset house nearby. It was brilliant of course, but I'm pretty sure there exists no piece of brilliant art in London that we haven't seen yet. SO tomorrow morning we board a bus to take us to the Channel Tunnel at 6:30 a.m. Neat. Finding an inernet cafe might be difficult tomorrow, so sorry in advance if I take a day off :) Cheerio!

happy fathers day!!!!

happy fathers day dads everywhere, especially mine!! I'm sorry I can't be there to partake in the festivities :( But I hope you have a fantastic day, I love you!

Ok so today was a half day (thank GOD.... I am still so exhausted and my feet are killing me), and we went to the V&A - Victoria and Albert- Musuem, which had a huge fashion collection which was incredible. It had a really amazing exhibit on the Supremes, too. It was different than your normal art museum, so it was a nice refreshment to do something different. After that, a few of us went shopping as our time in London is quickly running out!! We are all so excited for Paris, though. We definitely cannot wait. Last night, the boys and I went to Heaven, one of the most popular clubs in the entire world... it was HUGE and full of people and disco balls and such. We danced for a little bit, but didn't stay long. Friday night out took a lot out of us ;) Tonight I think we are going to sit down to have a nice last meal and late night glass of wine before we have to get all packed up for Paris tomorrow night. We'll see... Hope all is well! Happy Sunday :D

RIP Anne Boleyn & Lady Jane Grey

OH MY GOSH we went out to the clubs in Soho last night and.... nothing bad happened. !!! Amazing. Last night was a total blast, only a select 5 of us cool kids kept going all night. Soho on a Friday night is a total zoo, but it was great. You don't experience culture by sitting in a hotel room all the time... nope you don't.

So I slept in today and woke up around 10:30, and left for my own alone time wandering the streets of London at noon. I went to the London Tower and took their free tour led by the Beefeaters, which was really good. The Tower was phenomenal, too... I love European history though so maybe I am biased. I couldn't passup the opportunity to see the places where Lady Jane Grey and Anne Boleyn were both executed. I especially liked the legend of the London Tower ravens, and nearly bought a stuffed raven in the gift shop. I was able to hold myself back. After that, I did some light souvenir shopping and bought a new pair of cheap ballet flats because I am sick of having only two pairs of shoes to choose from, and honestly no matter what pair if shoes I wear... MY FEET ARE GOING TO HURT. Oh well. Tonight we are going to try to make it to a silent DJ bar, or to Soho again... we only have a half day of class tomorrow :)

Short and sweet.... TGIF

If it is at all possible to be burned out on extraordinary and world famous art, then I definitely am. I have seen more art in the past week than I have in my entire lifetime. I've seen some of the most brilliant, astonishing masterpieces... but seriously. Enough already. Today we went to the Tate Britain and the Tate Modern. They are separated by about a ten minute boat ride down the Thames River. A few of us at lunch at a Greek restaurant, where I was (un)fortunate enough to try a piece of octopus. Yeah. Its as disgusting as it sounds, trust me.

Tonight we all have plans to do dinner and Soho! Sorry to leave you with not much to read, but I am exhausted and my fingers hurt. :) I was watching the local London news last night though and one of their top headlines was the tornados in Nebraska that killed those boy scouts... its nice to catch a glimpse of home every now and then, but not necessarily this time. Hope everyone is having (no) fun without me!! <3

i even hear her singing in the AAAABBEEEEEEEY

I'm REALLY glad to hear everyone is ok after yesterdays storms. Best of luck dealing with the terrible Nebraska weather...

London was pretty chilly today, which actually fit the bill pretty well seeing as how we went to Westminster Abbey today! I saw more tombs and memorials than I can recall, most exciting of which are the tombs of 17 Kings and Queens of England including Mary Queen of Scots, Mary I of England (Bloody Mary) and Elizabeth I (the Virgin Queen). I saw the coronation chair which has been used to coronate almost every King of England since William the Conqueror. I saw the tomb of Chaucer and Charles Darwin and Isaac Newton and Charles Dickens. Is it weird that I become breathless standing over the dead body of some of humanity's most influential figures? Seriously though. It sounds kinda weird.

We also saw the Wallace collection, with a ton of ancient pieces of art and furniture. It was a big old mansion that was donated as an art musem once old man Wallace died.... Mrs. Wallace died when Mr. Wallace pushed her down the stairs and broke her neck. Classy. I got to see (and touch... ra hahah Wallace collection police) an entire bedroom set that was in Queen Marie Antoinette's private quarters at Versailles... oh man.

As far as last night goes, Nathan and I went to Wicked (Which, Jerome, is an amazing Broadway play and the prequel to the Wizard of Oz) which was incredible!! Elphaba was perfect and Glinda was hilarious and they even had drink specials going at the Apollo bar for each witch... Glinda's drink had glitter in it. Needless to say I chose the other. After that, a few of us took the Tube to Soho, watched a scene from a movie be filmed in front of local bar and just barely missed participating in some sort of political uprising just after midnight. There were old cars, tons of people screaming and lots of flags from Saudi Arabia. Too bad we didn't make it in time...

All else is well!!! Tomorrow... TGIF.... in LONDON. Someone stop me. ;)

ART

TODAY we started at the National Portrait Gallery, a smaller gallery just next to the National Gallery at Trafalgar Square. I caught my first real glimpse of Big Ben today and fell totally in love.... its SO gorgeous. I haven't been able to get up close yet, but SOON!

The two national galleries were incredible, as expected. I saw some really great pieces that I adore... the Ambassadors, the Virgin on the Rocks, and Venus and Mars. We bought audio tours for the National Gallery, which was actually worth every penny. Go figure.

A few of us bought half priced tickets to Wicked tonight, which I can't wait for! I am sooo excited, I love theatre and I have wanted to see Wicked for a long time. After that, we are going to Soho to find a dance club... or two. Or three? Open all night! Take that, Nebraska. Also, we stumbled into one of the world's most popular clubs, Heaven, while we were looking for Kate Moss's TopShop. So whether that happens tonight or anytime before Monday... its happening. When in Rome :)

OOHHH before I forget, I had my first dose of fish and chips at a bar just near Leicester Square, A Moon Under the Stars. It was AMAZING, a really fabulous and decently priced little bar and grille. Fish and chips and a pint of Strowbridge beer. Check please.

I'm baaaaaaaaaaaaaaack!!

Oh Europe, how you have MISSED ME! So I made it to London, we got in around 6 a.m. this morning British time, around midnight in Omaha and luckily I slept ZERO on the plane... soooo.... yeah....

We went straight to our hotel this morning to drop off our luggage and grab a coffee, seeing as how we basically skipped Monday night and sleeping. After I mastered the underground (which by the way, I love) we hit the British Museum. Among the things we saw there were the Elgin marbles, an ancient Greek tomb hall, mummified remains of Egyptian Pharoahs, and a set of giant centaurs used in ancient Assyria to scare people away from royal quarters. It was significantly cool... definitely something to write home about. After most of the group nearly passed out from exhaustion at the museum, we took a much needed coffee break and grabbed a sandwich for lunch before continuing on.

We wanted to hit the British library next, but in true American tourist fashion, we got lost and split from our group, etc etc. We took the Underground eventually to King's Cross Station, made famous (for me at least) by none other than HARRY POTTER!! I stood next to Platform 9 3/4 and was sorely tempted to run at it, hoping to find the Hogwarts Express. No such luck. Next time.

So we didn't get to spend much time at the British Library, but our short time there was well worth it. I saw the Magna Carta (!!!???!!! i know), the enormous personal collection of King George III, and original manuscripts from William Shakespeare. Although we nearly passed out from exhaustion here too.

After that, we checked into our hotel and NAPPED! I think I looked forward to my first nap than my first glimpse at the Magna Carta. I have NEVER been this tired and exhilarated at the same time... and tired. Did I mention how tired I am? I just got done eating dinner at a local Italian cafe, which was extremely authentic and thus extremely delicious. We had a really cool waiter who gave us the dish on the best night clubs to go to when we finally regain our strength... which will be tomorrow night. When in Rome, hmmm?

I do have to pat myself on the back though so for being such a savvy traveler. At least 75% of the people on this trip with me packed double the amount that I did, yet they are staying less than half as long. Is that a good thing? We will see... All in all, I'm just stonished that I made it here and this is actually happening. I've been picturing this and planning this for over 9 months now, and looking up London and Paris hot spots on Google was beginning to get old. My dad said that I would be homesick by the third day for sure... while I'm not quite homesick yet, I do have an overwhelming gratitude that I have something for which to be homesick.

God bless & wish me a really really really really good night sleep :)