Travel bubble

I got home today finally after a very wonderful trip up to Chicago and Wisconsin (Madison, actually, which is not to be confused with Michigan, although somehow those two names are the same to me . . .) I somehow managed to do everything that I came there to do, plus some bonuses.

Bonus number one: Trip planning.
This basically started when I got off the bus in Madison. I took the Mega Bus, which I definitely recommend, except that the bus stop in Madison is in the middle of nowhere. So, I had to take a city bus in to town. The city bus stop was about a mile away from the Mega Bus one, in the middle of a large dairy complex of some sort. The city bus stop was at the intersection of Dairy and World Dairy (Rd., I think).

The sidewalk on the way there was overgrown on both sides by tall scraggly weeds that also pushed their way through all the available cracks. And these dry weeds housed little cicadas that jumped in large groups across my path like they were playing some crazy "let's see if we can get across without being run into by this human" game.

I just missed my bus by one block's worth of space and so I settled down in the (cut, green) grass in front of some large one story box-like building, across from another large one story . . . when my phone rings, and it's the French consulate. And they ask me if I can fax them my plane tickets. To which I answer that I'm in the middle of nowhere, and we spend the next forever working out the spelling of my caller's email address.

For the last week, I'd been checking my Fedex tracking number every day to see if I'd actually gotten my visa (the people at the consul were a kinda iffy on that), and so it was super relieving to be waiting for a bus in the middle of nowhere and find out that I will actually be able to go to France.

And now, today, finally, my Fedex number has shown some activity. Whew.

Also, I managed to finally decipher how and when I'd travel where, over the next few weeks. This had been way too complicated to do when I was home with nothing to do (time stops here, I think) but worked out well when I really should've been paying more attention to hanging out with friends (when time speeds up).

Bonus number two: Bus mates
I somehow managed to sit next to interesting people on both my bus trip up to Madison, and back down. On the way up, I sat next to a girl with hair partially died bright red who had been to Japan (which we talked about) and was searching for a way to go back. Or, barring that, join an traveling artist's colony wandering through South America. Or something. And as a plus, she recommended more books for me to read, since I was fresh out.

And on the way back, my row mate worked for Apple, and let me play with his I Phone (side note: I've realized that an I Phone is the sort of toy that, when you have one, you want to share it with everyone, because it's just that cool. Which I really don't mind, because it is a very cool piece of technology.) And he also told me about skating while being pulled by his friend's pick up, and sometimes climbing on and jumping off and rolling. Both enjoyable conversations. Which is good, because mostly, I don't like to be talked to on buses. I enjoy the scenery.

Bonus three: Extra baggage weight
On my trip to France, I'll be carrying the following useful and necessary items:
Spices: On top of the curry, chili powder and cumin that I bought at home, and that my mom doesn't use, I'll also have Chai powder and "Ukrainian" spice from a spice shop in Chicago that also features black and red salt and True cinnamon from India.

Chocolate koala bears: Yeah! Chinatown! Useful for when ears pop on planes.

Jeans: I got two pairs, which were on sale. Carrying them back to my friend's place, I realized that jeans are incredibly heavy objects. I swear they weigh as much as the rest of the stuff I brought to Chicago.

Tea: In Madison, there's a tea shop with teas direct from all over the world, where I absolutely had to get my favorite sort of tea (Russian caravan, not because of the Russian, but because it tastes like smoke. Well, two teas that combine to cause smokiness, actually) And now, because I'm leaving soon, it'll be traveling with me.

Chop sticks: Universal utensil. Bought in a very high end kitchen shop in Madison. Pots there topped $200, but I only paid $2, so I tricked the store.

And so, this post ends with absolutely no indication of the main stuff I did. But it's already really long, so . . .

At any rate, the bubble of the past two weeks, where things were almost, almost like they were before I left Chicago, is past. And now I'm very very ready for new things . . . I've finally worked up some anticipation, because as I said, here at home, I can't imagine time moving very fast. When I have a family, I bet time will slow down then, too. Eventually.