My trip home to America was amazing. It was so great to see everyone, and even more great to surprise my mom (she had no clue). Yet another time in her life that we have been able to keep something from her. She is usually pretty good at figuring things out, but we fooled her again. My family could not believe it when they saw me standing in the living room the night that I got home. I think they had to look at me twice!
I spent the first part of my holiday at home, because I decided to bring the snow with me....which I don't know how that is possible. I came from hot, rainy weather. Anyway, it snowed a lot, so I got to spend my time with my mom and my grandma. After the snow cleared up and after spending the holidays with my family, I started my journey across the State of Wisconsin visiting everyone that I could while I was there.
First Stop: Plover, WI
This is where I was able to spend time with Ryan, Grace, her parents, Mom and John. We went out for dinner with Grace's parents. It was nice to see them since I hadn't seen them since Grace's graduation.
Next stop: Antigo, WI.
I had never been there before in my life, but I had to go and visit Andy! I left from Plover on another snowy day, but I made it to Antigo just before it started to snow. The highlight of my time in Antigo was the snowmobiling! I had not been snowmobiling since I was probably five years old. We pulled each other a sled and I also got to drive a snowmobile for the first time. I was not used to it, so I didn't want to go very fast. Haha.
3rd stop: Oshkosh, WI
I stopped in Oshkosh to visit Sarah. I had seen her in Richland Center while she was home, but I wanted to spend some more time with her since I had never been to her place. I met her roommates and actually met up with a friend that I met this past summer. It was New Year's while I was there and we had big plans to go out in Oshkosh. This is how you know you are getting old....we didn't do anything! We just stayed in and watched tv, waiting for the countdown to midnight. Shortly after the ball dropped, we went to bed! Haha. We ended up going shopping at the Outlet Mall, which caused me to stay another night. Oh darn! Then I made my way back to Richland Center.
After being in Richland Center for a day, I decided I had better head to Madison. I actually ended up taking a friend from Korea so that he could move into his new apartment. So I killed two birds with one stone and was able to visit Hanna. It's a good thing I did, because while I was there, her car would not start! She wasn't going to be able to make it to Richland Center to see me for the weekend :( I also got to meet up with my wonderful friends Dolly, her fiance and Krista. We had a great time chatting over a good meal.
After staying one night in Madison, I headed back to Richland Center. I packed my things and headed off to La Crosse for a night. So much moving around, I know! First thing I did when I got to La Crosse was to meet up with my friend Hillary for lunch. She brought her husband along so it was nice to see him too. I hadn't seen him since their wedding. After a long lunch, I just bummed around the mall and then finally met up with my good old friend TK. He was sick, so he was not going to be able to meet up with me later. It was so nice to see him and we had a good time chatting as usual.
After leaving TK's we went to Grizzly's for dinner. I met up with my old co-workers from Old Navy, my old roommate Melanie, and my old neighbor Jared. Andy also drove down from Marshfield to come out with everyone.
After dinner, some of us headed out to downtown La Crosse. I hadn't been there since last June! It was pretty dead since it was the holiday break. Most students were home, so it was kind of a nice night. Not too crowded, but still ran into a few people that I knew.
The next day I ended up meeting with my cooperating teacher from Arcadia, and some Indian friends that I met at Old Navy when I worked there. I had a nice visit with all of them before heading back to Richland Center.
I wasn't home for many days after that, and I had to head back to Chicago to the airport. My mom ended up taking me back...again. She was of course very sad to see me go, but I feel like I had an easier time saying goodbye to everyone this time. I was so happy to be able to make it home, and it was a nice vacation away from the big city of Jakarta.
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