38K

now that i'm all set up with a cup of tea cooling on my windowsill and a terry pratchett book at the ready, i thought i should fill you in on my last day in chicago and my first day here. in case you're the overly-worried type, you can stop worrying-- i am safe, healthy, and ready to sleep (but surprisingly not dead beat yet). now to the stories, but i must warn you that my brain feels a little bit fuzzy, so these may not be entirely coherent.

i woke up surprisingly chipper on friday, although N probably wishes i had slept a few more minutes. i got all my laundry done and finished packing. scones from Whole Foods rounded out the morning, and i only had one small breakdown when the boy told me how proud he was of me (i almost made it thru the rest of the days sans tears). we packed everything into a taxi and headed out of the traffic-stunted city to the airport. our cabbie even wished me luck and said that i will "truly enjoy myself"... apparently i looked terrified.

we managed all four heavy bags through the check-in line. the lady at the counter was very kind, but after finding out i booked my tickets in july, she said "oh i'm sorry, you can only take one bag" to which i said "WHAT????"... apparently she realized that her mis-phrase had caused some minor distress, and restated by saying "you will be charged $50/ea for any additional bags." that calmed me down until the machine declined my card! so after running to the nearest ATM and back, we loaded the bags on the scale. two were overweight, so N and i hastily packed everything heavy into the extra bag i made him bring (thank goodness for that). we then checked that bag, too, and grabbed some lunch. N left and i then made my suddenly lonely way through security.

sitting in the terminal was uneventful except for listening to the AirFrance passenger and the little irish kiddies ("aw MUM lookit is wee face"--speaking about about a stuffed toy). boarding the plane was another story entirely. the plane seats are as follows:

(AB-DEFG-JK)

i got to my seat (38K) to find an older couple already taking the row! i politely asked which seat they were in, stating that i believed they may possibly be in my seat. they were in the right seat, of course! this was seat 37F&G, wasn't it? after pointing to the middle two seats and laughing mercilessly (in my head), i settled into my beloved 38K, window seat with two windows! and then, right behind me, came another voice saying "could i have the window seat?" i turned to deny this request, only to realize it was the lady in 37K who also misread the rows. damn these irish airlines and their confusing rows! but i eventually won out, majorly, because i had the whole row to myself! victory at last!! and i thus endured the trans-atlantic flight with minimal discomfort and was even able to sleep for a whole three hours.

and that concluded my last day in the states.

also, i cried during takeoff. luckily, i don't think anyone noticed.