Homeward bound

I have now been back in Canada for almost a week. From Liverpool, I went directly to Birmingham. The first night, I just walked about the downtown area. There wasn't much to see, and the museums had already closed for the day. The next day, however, I took a bus down to the burrough of Moseley, and I did a little J.R.R. Tokien tour. Tolkien grew up in Birmingham. I visited the Sarehill Mill, where they used to process grains by water power. I also saw the former Tolkien house and the Moseley bog, which may have been an influence for the Old Forest in Middle Earth. Then I went back to the centre, saw and bit of the municipal museum, and then returned to my hostel, where I ate and waited until my bus at 8pm. I arrived at Victoria Station in London at 10:30pm. then I took the tube to Russel Square to pick up my suitcase from the hostel where I had stayed. Then I got back on the tube and went to Heathrow airport. London is so big that it took about 45 minutes to get there. Thus began a long night in the airport. I re-organised my bags, and then wanted to have a rest, so I laid out my bags on the floor and laid on top of them. Like so, I slept for a couple hours and kept my belongings protected in so doing. At 5am, I checked in at United Airlines. The flight departed at about 8:45 (an hour late, because the in-bound flight had flown through an ash cloud and they weren't sure if the engine had been damaged!). Luckily, we got clearance. I flew to Chicago for my connection to Edmonton, but because of the delay, I barely made to the next flight. My suitcase, however, did not. I discovered this at the baggage carousel in Edmonton. I touched down at 3pm. So I filled out the proper paper work and took a shuttle bus to downtown. A truck had rolled over on the highway, so there was a long traffic jam on the QE2, and I didn't get to my cousins' apartment on Jaser Ave until about 5:30pm. I was very tired, and went to bed early. Because of the jet lag though, I could only sleep until 7:30 am. I did some errands that day (May 7): renewed my driver's licence, got a new debit card and exchanged my foreign currency at CIBC, and also stopped by the university. That evening, my cousins and I drove to Whitecourt. And so I finally arrived home around 7pm. Since then, I have been readjusting to life at home, doing my taxes, unpacking, spending time with my family, going to my friend's house, calling my employer (I start work next month), preparing for my volunteer exchange in the fall, going to my chiropractor, exercising, and unpacking. My suitcase was reunited with me on Monday. United Airlines shipped it to me via Greyhound. Well, in conclusion I can now say that I have both studiend abroad and backpacked for a considerable period of time. I feel like I have grown a bit as a person, and feel more accomplished. I am very happy that I did this. Writing in this blog has been a pleasure, and I thank you all for taking the time to read it. I hope it was interesting for you. This is the last entry for the time being. I look forward to seeing you all sooner or later. Ci vediamo piu tardi (See you later).