Back on the blog: Roaming the USA and hola Santiago

Thursday, November 18, 2010 - Monday, December 13, 2010

The last time I updated this blog I was on my way to the USA.  Well, those 3.5 weeks have passed and the next part of my journey has begun: South America.  But first, let me make a few reflections on the last few weeks.

I landed in JFK at 8pm on Thursday, November 18 after 15.5 hours on the plane.  A friendly man at baggage claim offered me a lift to Tracy's apartment because he lived only a few blocks away (don't worry, I was very careful when I decided to accept his offer and it turns out he works for a hedge fund).  Tracy wasn't home yet but had kindly left keys with her doorman along with sheets and towels on the sofa.  A wonderful hostess considering she was busy preparing for her birthday weekend away and was really only putting me up because she's such good friends with my cousin Becky.  Thanks again Tracy for letting me stay.

Friday I took care of necessary business such as going to the post office to apply for a new passport and getting a US phone number (my first since moving to London in 2005) before meeting some Birthright friends for dinner and dancing (and randomly running into Laura Gluck from Wash U).  After breakfast on Saturday, I joined Leslie (the bride-to-be) to pick up her wedding dress and have lunch with her fiance (who I still hadn't met in person).  A quick turnaround from the upper west side to central station where I boarded a train for New Jersey to spend two fabulous nights with Megan (another Birthright friend).  Saturday night Jen and Jason (more Birthright folks) came over for dinner but at 7pm I was falling asleep at the table.  I climbed in bed at 7:30 and miraculously didn't wake for 12 hours.  My first good night of sleep in ages.  Megan and I spent the entire Sunday morning talking before getting our nails done and enjoying a delicious meal at her parent's house.  Oh, and I must not forget to thank Marissa (Megan's roommate) for picking me up at the train station and her dad for dropping me off.

Monday afternoon I was on my way to Philly almost an hour late due to train delays (which made me very impatient as I hadn't seen my mom in four months or sister in five) and we all headed straight to King of Prussia.  On Tuesday, mom and I stopped at the tailors to have my dress altered for the wedding and when we came to pick it up the next day, they had bustled the train instead of hemming it.  What a funny mess, luckily it was all fixed on Friday morning when I picked it up.  The rest of the week followed as normal with a few nights mixed around - Cin Cin on Tuesday, dinner at Susie and Art's Wednesday, and of course, Thanksgiving at the Farm.  The Farm is such a magical place and I'm so fortunate to have such a warm and loving extended family to share the holiday with.  A huge thanks to Bob and Lindsay for another amazing turkey day.  Overall a wonderful week spending time with my incredible sister (who I sadly won't see again until June), Susie and Art, Aunt Elaine and Harry, Becky and Greg, Joel and Sydney.

Before I knew it, I was back on a train for New York for Leslie and Dave's wedding.  A small group gathered for the rehearsal dinner on Friday and Saturday was spent getting ready for the main event.  It was a blast sharing the day with my best friends from high school.  The ceremony was beautiful (none of us tripped walking down the aisle) and the party outstanding (especially the band).  Sunday after brunch, my parents and I enjoyed the sunny weather and strolled down 5th avenue.  At Eataly I ran into two Wash U people (Alison from my freshman floor and Jocelyn from Aviva) - so random - before hanging out with Amanda for a couple of hours.  I rushed back to the Essex house to pick up my bags and drop them at my parents hotel and walked around the corner to meet Audrey and Carolyn (and Brett and his brother) for dinner.  Love seeing my Hurd girls!  After an extended evening of wine with Audrey and I went to Ben's place to sleep since my parents had no space in their hotel room.

Then I was on the move again - this time on a four hour bus ride to Bethesda to see Joy and Ross.  A lovely dinner and catch up found me passing out on my aerobed.  Tuesday I had time to kill during the day so I took in some of Bethesda (dragging my luggage around) before going to see part one of the seventh Harry Potter movie.  From there I hopped on the subway to Du Pont circle to meet Katie K and other Wash U friends (Danielle B, Sara K, Erica P and Kate P) for dinner.  I was relaxing on Wednesday morning at Katie's apartment when I found out that my Delta flight to JFK was cancelled.  I frantically called Orbitz to figure out an alternative, but the only option that would get me to New York in time for my connection to St Louis was the 11am flight and it was almost 10.  I rushed out the door (leaving a few items behind) and into a town car to take me to Ronald Reagan airport arriving 45 minutes before the original departure time.  Of course, the flight was delayed due to poor weather in New York and I ended up landing at JFK 30 minutes before my initial flight was due.  Luckily, I made it to St Louis ahead of schedule, picked up my rental car, and drove to Jocelyn's (it was a good thing I ran into her in New York because I didn't have a place to stay in St Louis).

I spent the entire day Thursday roaming around the Wash U campus (exploring the new DUC and Wohl, eating at the on campus restaurant, seeing Art and Delise) and meeting up with faculty - Dean McLeod, Dean Killen, Professor Drury, John Berg and Risa Zwerling.  Then I drove to the new Renaissance Financial building for the annual holiday party, which I had last been to in 2004 and is now a completely different affair. I had a great evening with Carrie, Dave and Claire and some random other people I met at the food tables.  And Friday morning, after a quick stop at the City Coffeehouse for a crepe, I was off to Chicago to stay with Jill (my pledge mom).  We went to dinner with Ali Z that night and spent Saturday morning having brunch at Yolk and watching the movie Tangled (so cute) with her boyfriend Darren.  Saturday night I met Tracy (from high school who I hadn't seen in at least seven years) and her fiance Larry at the John Hancock building for drinks.  The clouds kept rolling in, but when the sky was clear we had an amazing view over Chicago and even saw the fireworks show from our table.  I joined Jill back at her apartment for a med school birthday in her building.  Sunday morning I had brunch with Josh before he dropped me at the L for O'Hare. And I was on a plane once more... This one bound for Nashville.

I basically spent 24 hours in Nashville but had some very local experiences with Tara including ICE, dinner with Ellen at Urban Flats, music at the Station Inn, breakfast at Pancake Pantry, the Frist (Impressionism and Chihuly exhibits), downtown Nashville and lunch at Jack's bbq.  Wonderful seeing more of my Hurd girls, and getting to spend so much time with T-dawg since she didn't get called in to the ER.  That Monday night I was finally back in LA.  

Home sweet home.  I spent just seven nights in my comfortable bed enjoying the time with my loving parents (and sharing one bathroom with them downstairs), shopping for new clothes for my trip, eating delicious home cooked meals, working out in my mom's gym class.  I was luckily enough to meet up with Allison (my pledge grandma), Jim and Andrew (friends of friends), Ali and Jesse (yay for knowing my best friend for 18 years), Spi (I don't think I'll ever call him Aaron), Jan and Mike, Wanda and Steve and Marge and Steven.  Phew!  That's a long list for six days (and sadly no pictures to prove it).

Yesterday morning I said goodbye to Oak Park and mom drove me to LAX.  I spent as much time with her as possible before heading through security to the one world lounge.  Only a few tears were shed before I boarded the plane, but while I tried to sleep my mind wouldn't shut down.  So the eight hour flight to Lima was tiring and I stayed on the plane (talking to a guy from Denver who works for the government) until we took off for Santiago.  Exhaustion set in on the three hour flight and I slept most of the ride, waking up just in time to see the sun rising over the Andes.  Spectacular.  

Tuesday, December 14, 2010

Tuesday, December 14, 2010

And that brings me to today, Tuesday, December 14 in Santiago, Chile.  It took two hours after landing (and a very friendly Chilean-American woman) to get to my hotel but when I arrived at 8:30am, I was told I couldn't check-in until 1pm.  I had no energy to start exploring a new city and I spent the morning sleep on the couch in the lounge (it was somewhat out of the way so people couldn't see me).  Another woman from my trip showed up at noon and was also waiting for her room, and when we came downstairs to check-in, our tour leader Ally was there with her parents (who are also on our tour).  Finally made it to my room at 1:30 and jumped in the shower.  I took my time getting ready and didn't head out of the hotel until 3pm.  Went for lunch (since 3 is a totally normal lunch time in Chile) and walked to the main square (Plaza de Armas) and the Cathedral.  I strolled for a bit before coming back to the hotel for yet more sleep then got ready for dinner with Allison's friend, Ricardo.  He met me at 9pm at my hotel and we went for dinner at Galindo in Bellavista. It was so lovely meeting a local and Ricardo offered to give me tips for other parts of Chile and helped me with my Spanish.  Thanks for the introduction Allison (I know you are one of the few people who reads my blog so you will actually see this thank you).

By the time I got back to the hotel it was 11:30pm.  It's taken me a while to write all of this, so now I really need to get some sleep.  Buenos noches.