Week 107: Back to the USA!

I went back to the US for a couple of days of work! We returned from our weekend trip on Sunday and I washed clothes and re-packed on Monday. Tuesday, I had to be at the airport by 3am for my first flight. I connected at Frankfurt and was BLESSED with an empty row on my flight from Frankfurt to Chicago so I laid down and slept almost the full nine hours. My final stop was St. Louis!

I spent three days in St. Louis, where it felt like it was boiling hot with the heat and humidity. In reality, it was only 80F and mild humidity but I guess I have gotten really used to the German weather. I did get one hour out on an afternoon to walk around and see some of the sights.

Overall, St. Louis is actually a really pretty city. I was warned that it was dangerous, but I never saw anything that worried me and almost no homeless people at all. The only thing that was notable was that it was a ghost town- I barely saw anyone walking around outside and many stores and restaurants were closed.

I was able to meet a friend one night and we ran into Fred-Bird, the St. Louis Cardinals’ mascot. Baseball is BIG here; the only time I ever saw anyone was when there was a game being played and then it was PACKED.

Matt and the kids worked HARD all week as it was the last full week of school and finals. I’m so grateful they could hold down the fort while I was away.

Friday night, I flew back to Maryland and my sister picked me up from the airport. My parents were out of town until Sunday, so we hung out, did some shopping, and took my grandmother to lunch on Saturday.

Sunday, I had brunch with some friends and then finally caught up with my parents. Monday morning, I was able to catch up with some other friends who were visiting from out of town before heading back to Dulles.

Sadly, I did not get an empty row, or even an empty middle seat on the flight back to Frankfurt. I was able to get a little sleep though, which was great since I had to head to work as soon as I landed Tuesday!