Virginia

When I arrived at the Minneapolis airport at 11:00 pm last week I had about seven hours before I hopped on another plane to Virginia. Needless to say, I felt I had roughed it enough, so I had reserved a hotel room a very short shuttle ride away, where a hot shower and real bed with fluffy pills were waiting for me.

In spite of all my previous travels abroad, I still felt "reverse culture shock" when I got back. In fact, I think I'm still getting over it now. It just felt so weird to be in familiar surroundings, with everyone speaking English. One of the students had mentioned something similar in Miami- she was so used to not understanding the signs around her that when she saw them at the airport she thought to herself: "I wonder what an escalator [insert Spanish accent] is". I also really missed the group. They were so positive and fun, and I really had a great time traveling with them all.

In Virginia Juan was waiting for me with a bouquet of yellow roses (my favorite, though I don't think he knew that, we'll give him credit anyway). We spent the first couple of days in Charlottesville, VA, a small well-to-do university town. Again, it felt weird to be in a nice hotel surrounded by posh restaurants and shops with everyone all dressed up. It seemed like a Disney version of life compared to where I've spent the past month and a half.

We spent the next night in Lynchburg, which was a bit more "real." We stumbled upon a weekly summer tradition, "Friday cheer." There were people of all ages there, and a really good cover band that played everything from country to hip hop. They had almost everyone dancing by the end of the evening, which was a lot of fun.

The last couple days of our little get-away were spent at the Wintergreen Resort in the Blue Ridge Mountains. While it was yet again a Disney version of life, it did me good to just relax and take it easy for a while. I got through two really good books this past week: Turpentine and Mirror, Mirror. The first is a tale of the Wild West, which I enjoyed immensely. (Honestly, I think because it was written by a woman). The second was a revision of Snow White, by Gregory Maguire, of Wicked fame.

Now we're here in Boston until tomorrow when I can finally see my dog again!!