hopped off the plane at LAX...

I do apologise for the Miley Cyrus reference...but I really did hop off a plane at LAX. It was probably the longest Monday of my life. Thanks to an international date line crossing somewhere in the night, the 40+ hours of travel was ALL on Monday the 16th! But now it's the 17th where I am (I think?) and I am rather jetlagged and exhausted. 

I would tell some horror travel tales, but I was actually pretty blessed. Got an exit row seat on the Brisbane > LA flight, so there was oodles of legroom! It was, however, right in front of the toilet, so I judged the time of night by how many old people were using the toilet. :P 

Fast forward past two hours of waiting in line just to get through American Airlines security, then a five-hour wait at LAX in which I nearly missed my plane because my tired little eyes just kept closing, and the triplets from hell on the LA > Chicago flight, and I finally arrive at Chicago!

It was meant to be so simple...just look for the nice man holding an Eastern Illinois University sign. Easy enough, right? 

WRONG. After there was nobody in sight looking even vaguely welcoming, I thought maybe there was something I misread in the information letter from two weeks ago. Email on iPhone = not working. So out comes the laptop, thank the Lord for free wireless internet, and I find I'm actually meant to be in the International Terminal, not Terminal 3. Much wandering aimlessly follows, until I find a sign that points me in the general correct direction (lucky I wasn't in a hurry!). But when I get to the international terminal...still nobody. And free wireless internet has now disappeared. :( I sit around looking lost for about an hour, buy a bottle of water, and attempt to figure out American payphones...no luck. 

Thankfully, just as I was about to go find somewhere to camp for the night, there he was! The nice man with the Eastern Illinois University sign. Yay! A few hours and a few more international students later, and we were safely in the van on the way to Charleston.

The rest is a bit of a blur. We arrived at our temporary housing at about 2am, finally got to bed around 3am, and then my body thought it just wouldn't like to sleep just yet. Cue another hour of staring at the ceiling and then finally, the longest Monday ever was over.

Then there's Tuesday...that was (is?) a bit of a blur also. We had to wake up super early (three hours of sleep, yay!) and get registered for our student ID's, pick housing and make a payment, and then....drumroll please....a trip to Wal-mart!! :D oh yes, how exciting. 

And even better, I didn't know this, but for a dorm room, I needed to have sheets, blankets, towels, etc. Thank goodness for Walmart! Bought a phone, food, socks, toiletries, and the prettiest sheet set that could be found at Wal-mart! Had a fabulous time with the other international students who I'm sure were all just having as much fun as me! 

That brings me to now...finally in a dorm room of my very own (pics very soon!! once my beautiful sheet set is on!) and pretty keen for an afternoon (morning?) nap. 

Yes, it is definitely nap-time.