Skip to main content

One month back, and I'm...working on it

Hey friends,

I've been back in the United States for a month. It's been an emotional whirlwind of ups and downs, a little more stateside travel, some serious readjustment, a major binge of Parks and Rec (how have I never watched this show!?), and plenty more that I'll get into later.
Last backpack photo! (At 4:30am, after pulling an all-nighter)

You may have noticed it's been a while since I've last updated the blog. I've started drafts of the remainder of my time in France and Spain, vaguely thought about relaying my epic adventure through Ukraine with my partner Scott, and imagined how I would handle documenting my return to the states and trips to New York and Denver. However, I haven't been able to bring myself to publish anything. I think I've been in a bit of a funk since I've been back that I can't really define or describe. Instead of attempting to catch up, I figured I'd start from where I am now and write more about my final adventures later.

I did some research on "post-travel depression" while I was still abroad and thought I could sidestep PTD by doing some traveling for a month before I headed back to Minneapolis to cobble my stateside life back together. I had a trip planned to Denver and a 2-week roadtrip out to DC. I figured traveling in the states would slowly ease me back into American culture before I felt the need to find a job, apartment, etc.

Can't beat that Kansas sunrise.
However, a week into returning, I decided I was pretty tired of sleeping on people's couches and spending long amounts of time traveling. I didn't feel like doing much of anything that wasn't related to getting my life back in order. I changed my roadtrip to DC to a flight to DC, and ultimately canceled that flight. I spent a lot of time going through my clothes and apartment stuff. Due to my new penchant for minimalism (try not being a minimalist after living out of a backpack for 15 months) and a slight weight gain around my middle it was easy to jettison a fair amount of my wardrobe. The fear of having to move a monsterload of things back up to Minnesota made it easy to winnow down my apartment knickknacks to basically my kitchen equipment.

I had a great five days in Colorado with my friend Jason (who I met in Croatia in April) but drove back up to
Minneapolis two days after returning so I could jump into job interviews and apartment hunting. Five planned days in Minneapolis turned to eleven, as I canceled my trip to DC and didn't want to come home to an empty house- parents took a trip to Oaxaca for Day of the Dead. The trip was successful, as I've managed to secure a job to work during the legislative session before I (likely) start graduate school next summer, and I found a lovely duplex in Northeast to share with my friend Joelle.

I drove back home to Kansas Tuesday, where I'll remain until next week, when I Officially drive back up to Minneapolis. My new job starts this month, and I move into my new apartment in December. So it's all coming back together, and I'm feeling a little more solid and secure with my future. Not that I actually worried too much about it, but overall I'm feeling better than I was a few weeks ago.

Regardless, it's good to be back. I'm ready to brave the Minneapolis winter and be back at the Capitol next session. I'm ready to have my own kitchen and cook my own food again. I'm ready to drink beer in taprooms with old and new friends.

Speaking of, my birthday's coming up in a couple of weeks and I'm throwing a party. I would love to see you at Bauhaus on the 19th!

Love you all. I'll be sure to write more soon(ish)!

Sophie


Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Tripaversary 2018: A life update, a throwback to the Balkans in 2015-16, and plans for the next adventure.

Three years. Three years since I hopped on an Icelandair plane to Europe, not knowing when I’d be back. Fifteen months later (not including a quick hop over in May 2016) I landed back in the states and picked up where I left off. As is tradition, I wanted to give you all a quick update on what’s been going on in the last year since I wrote a two year travelversary post in 2017 . I want to acknowledge that living in the United States is kinda rough right now. There’s been a lot of bad news coming out of DC this week, and it’s hard not to let it seep into your psyche, affect your daily routine, and darken your thoughts of what will happen next. I had the privilege of hearing NYT columnist Thomas Friedman speak on Tuesday evening. This was after the Supreme Court upheld the Muslim ban, and it wasn’t just me in the audience who was feeling hopeless, for lack of a better term. I think all of us were looking towards Friedman, a Minnesota native, to give us something to l...
Post a Comment
Read more

Final days in France- Paris, Prayssac, and Pau.

I've been pretty terrible at keeping the blog updated since I arrived back in the states. Part of my lack in updating comes from sheer laziness, but I think part of it has something to do with the end of my trip and feeling a little down about that, so I haven't had the motivation to update to the end. But here it goes! August - The end of my time at American Village was welcome, though I was sad to leave the camp and the people I worked with. I definitely was not as burnt out as I was the year prior, which was great, but it was still time to move on. One of my favorite activities of the summer came during the last session, we hiked out to an open area to camp overnight. I eschewed the tent in favor of sleeping under the stars, which was pretty amazing. I had never done anything like that before, and it was surprisingly comfortable! At the end of August, I said farewell to kids and counselors alike an embarked on a high speed train back to Paris, where I met up with m...
Post a Comment
Read more

Musings/complaints about traveling alone, the frustration of missed connections, and the constant draw of that Northern Star

In an unexpected and impulsive fashion, I booked a round trip flight from Zagreb to Minneapolis three weeks ago. (I'm inserting nature-y pictures of my recent time in Slovenia and Croatia to break up monotony of the text.) Two hours prior, I was having dinner with my mom in a pizzeria in Rome on our second to last night together. When our eggplant, olive, and mozzarella pie arrived, I could only look at it. Anxiety was brewing in the pit of my stomach, and I had lost my appetite. Travel anxiety has always been a part of my life. Stressed out LRT rides to the airport, waking up multiple times in the night after forgetting to pack something, finally exhaling when getting on the plane were all part of my experience living away from my parent's house. Arboretum in Slovenia Now, it's gotten a little better- I don't have to buy a lot of bus/train tickets ahead of time, and just show up a little before the departure time. Packing my backpack has become a mech...
2 comments
Read more