Back in the USA -- very briefly

So, my big news is that I'm going home for a very short weekend tomorrow to attend my old college roommie's wedding. I'd been going back and forth for months as to whether I'd be able to make it (whether plane tickets would be too much, or whether I'd be able to find flight times without missing class). It wasn't looking too good, so I held off. But then when I arrived here, I realized the atmosphere of the school is quite a bit more relaxed than I expected, and missing a day wasn't going to kill me. (To prove this point, I told my discussion leader today that I would not be in class tomorrow, and he said "I expect and hope that you will get wasted this weekend, but don't forget you have a paper due Wednesday." haha.) And, believe it or not, ticket prices stayed relatively low even a week before the departure date (I just booked the tickets earlier this week).

So, I am really excited to be home, even if it's very brief, and I'll be spending most of my time in Central Illinois, where the wedding is. It will be great to see a bunch of my old college friends, too. I think I would have regretted it if I didn't go. And it gives me the chance to bring back some stuff with me (like my printer! yeah!).

Not much else is new around here, so I'll leave you with one final thought that I found surprising: We may complain about rising gas prices in the States, but apparently we have it good. I always heard London had the highest prices, and they paid around $5 or more a gallon. But I assumed that was extreme, and most other countries paid less than we did in the States. It seems like that's not true. I talked to some people from Brazil, and they said they pay at least $5 a gallon. Even in Costa Rica, which in some ways is quite a bit cheaper than the States, their gas is something like $4 or $4.50 a gallon. Everyone I've talked to pays more for gas than we do in the States. And when I told them we are outraged at the gas prices in the U.S., they just laughed. Who knew.

Be back in a few days when I return from the States...