Time Travel

Hey gang!

Here I am, writing again, but from good old Rhode Island, and not from Sydney. I have arrived home safely!

Last Saturday, I packed up a few last things, had my last bowl of Just Right (a delicious Australian cereal with dried fruit in it) and went to the international airport, where I cleared security and did a little shopping until my flight at 1:05pm. A long flight followed, in which I watched Valentine's Day (which, besides Taylor Swift's performance, left something to be desired), a few episodes of MASH, and played Tetris on the sweet in-flight entertainment console. Once again, I was very impressed by the Qantas food offerings. I also did some reading and writing about my experiences.

At 9:45am on Saturday (yup, Saturday) I arrived at LAX, where I spent a great deal of time in the Customs Hall, had to go through security again, and got a quick glimpse of California palm trees. I was quite pleased to be back in the United States, tasked only with following the trail I had left 6 weeks before to make it back across the country before I was home. Just before getting on my plane, I had a frustrating encounter with a Burger King employee that went something like this (this is included mostly for my sister's benefit, becuase she really enjoys it):

Me: Do you have milkshakes?
BK employee: No.
Me: You don't have milkshakes?
BK employee: No.
Me: Do you have any ice cream-type products?
BK employee: Milk?
Me: Ok. I'll have a garden salad.
BK employee: Um, just that?
Me: Yes.

I flew to Boston, where I arrived around 8:30pm (still Saturday) and my parents and sister were waiting! We drove back to Rhode Island, my heart soared as we drove through Providence, and then, suddenly, I was home.

Strangely enough, it didn't feel as weird as I thought it might, just a little surreal. I suppose that was to be expect though, because living in Sydney didn't feel as weird as I thought it might, either. Since then, I have been trying to kick the jetlag, visiting friends and family members and Dunkin' Donuts, and trying to make the most of the time I have before school starts. More than a few people have commented that I brought a lot of rain back to RI with me from down under, but hopefully the sun will come out soon.

During my copious number of hours in flight on Saturday, I had a good deal of time to think about everywhere I had been an everything I had done over the past six weeks in Australia. This was certainly the experience of a lifetime for me, and I am so glad to have had the opportunity to do it. I gained many insights about the nature of the benefits offered to young adults by a university chaplaincy, some of which far less expected than others! Furthermore, I learned a seemingly paradoxical pair (although, ultimately, I think this is not the case) of personal lessons: greater self-reliance and to trust in God's providence and the hospitality of others.

Therefore, I have only the greatest gratitude to all those who helped to make this fellowship possible for me, especially Fr. Guido and Fr. Robb, the Murrays (whose generosity made my trip possible), and all of my relatives and friends whose prayers and support made journeying half-way around the world infinitely easier.

For those of you who are in the Providence area and would like to hear a slightly more detailed wrap-up of my fellowship experiences and/or about the experiences of some of my fellow Fellows, I will be giving a public presentation on my time in Sydney on Wednesday, September 22, 2010 at 7:00pm. I am not positive yet where it will be, but I am relatively sure that it will be in the Center for Catholic and Dominican Studies at PC. I'll post an update about this when I find out for sure. If you can't make it, I would be happy to send you a written version of my talk (once it is written). Just let me know!

Thanks for reading these last weeks. I hope you've enjoyed it as much as I did!

Take care,
Lia

P.S. A note on pictures. I've not yet finished updating my Picasa site with the rest of my pictures and some captions. I'll put a note here once its done