first week in the good old US of A...

Man, it's been a long week, but a pretty good one. A lot has happened anyway. To recap:

I survived my last flight to Fort Myers by watching part of Donnie Brasco. My Dad met me at the airport, and so did my luggage. Suzanne and Emilie were nice enough to drive my car up to the airport so that I wouldn't have to go all the way down to Naples to get it, so I got to my Mom's house by 7. I took a quick shower, ate some burritos, and then we played for awhile. I was feeling pretty awake, and I'd slept quite a bit during my travels, so I was feeling much better about the impending drive. I finally went to sleep around 10:30, and woke up about 2. My mom and Buddy woke up to see me off, and I pulled out of the driveway right on schedule at 2:15. The drive was actually a really pleasant one... one of the most pleasant drives I've ever made to Orlando. I didn't feel tired at all, which was excellent, and there was no traffic on the road, so I just cruised all the way there. I did get creeped out when I stopped at a rest area around 4am, but I survived. 

Manuel's flight was a few minutes early, so I didn't even have to wait long, which was nice. It was really nice to see him, and he gave me a big hug. We drove to UCF, had breakfast at Panera, looked at my first apartment, then headed to campus. I gave him a little walking tour, but it was reallllly cold, so we cut it short. We parked in the garage and slept for about an hour while waiting for Kate to arrive, and I ran to the registrar to order my transcripts I needed. After a car alarm incident, we met up with Kate and headed to Friendly's for early lunch. They seemed to like each other, which was good, and we had a nice chat. Then Kate went to class and we set off for Fort Myers. I worried my energy would be crashing and he would want to sleep, but it was another nice trip. I was a little tired, but he stayed awake the whole time and we talked for three and a half hours. It was the longest amount of time we'd ever spent talking, just the two of us, and it was nice. I told him about my parents in hopes of preparing him, but that was futile. 

My mom came out to meet us when we got out of the car, and she fell in love with him immediately. Even Buddy seemed to genuinely like him. The weekend was excellent. Manuel loved my Mom's cooking, which made her love him more, naturally. On Saturday we went down to my Dad's, which was a little more awkward, just because my Dad's a pretty quiet guy, so Manuel worried that Dad didn't like him. We went to P.F. Chang's, which was delicious, and I ate way more than I should have of a Great Wall of Chocolate. Mmm. Then we came back to Cape Coral and had a nice night in. Manuel and I stayed up late, ate brownies, drank wine, and watched my favorite Japanese drama about vampires. (He was a really good sport about watching it.) Sunday we all went out on the boat, which was really fun. I wish it had been warmer to start with, but it did eventually warm up. Buddy and Manuel fished, and I drank wine coolers and chatted with Mom. If I'd brought a book I'd have wanted to stay out longer, but we had lunch and then turned back. We took naps after the boat, then had dinner, and then although I was exhausted I dragged him out to the Melting Pot for chocolate fondue. 

We got to bed around 10:30, then woke up at 3:45 on Monday morning to get ready to go to the airport. His flight was at 6, so I wanted to leave by 4:15 to be safe. We managed to get out the door around then, and then of course it only took about half an hour to get to the airport, so we had plenty of time. It was sad to say goodbye, but I wasn't as sad as I expected to be. I'm glad he's going back to Korea before I do. It's hard being there without friends, but it's a lot easier being here with the fam. 

The rest of this week has been pretty pleasantly uneventful. Monday Mom and I drove up to Spring Hill to surprise my grandmother at her birthday lunch, which turned out nicely. I got terrible indigestion on the way home which put me in bed at 6:30, but I woke up the next morning feeling fine, so that was good. Tuesday I went to meet Mom for lunch at work and she ended up leaving early, at 11am. Then we proceeded to shop literally the entire day. It was amazing. Belk, JCPenney's, Payless, and then Kohl's after dinner. I got some amazing stuff... I just love it. Four pairs of shoes (including a pair of boots), three pairs of jeans and a pair of slacks, a cardigan, a dress, and five beautiful shirts. But the best part... the pants are all size 8, and the shirts are all size medium. I literally couldn't believe it. I'd grabbed a random pair of size 8 jeans in Old Navy on the way to my Dad's house on the weekend and couldn't get into them at all, so I thought I wasn't anywhere near... then I shocked myself by slipping into pair after pair on Tuesday. You could have knocked me over with a feather I was so surprised and happy. I spent quite a bit on Tuesday, more than I expected, but I absolutely love what I bought. 

Yesterday I stayed home most of the day except for exercising and grocery shopping. I've started watching The Stand with Buddy, which you might know is 8 hours long, and I'll probably finish it up tomorrow. Today I went to the library and got a library card and four books. I haven't actually had that much free time in the past few days, and if I do have free time I'd like to spend it writing, but it'll be nice to have the books for the boat, and for the flight to Melissa's. And who knows? I might find time for reading. It's better than watching TV, I guess. My goal while I'm home, I've decided, is to edit the three finished stories I have and submit them for publication. I definitely don't think they're good enough to get published, but I need to do this, to go through the process at least once. I need to get rejected and see how it feels. I need to just do something. Does that make sense? In fact, I think I'll start editing one right now... at least until Mom gets home and wants to ride bikes.