Checking in from NYC

So yesterday I spent over fourteen hours in airplanes as I made my way back to the States. I arrived in New York at about 4.30 or 5 in the afternoon and loaded all my things on me like a hermit crab and took the subway to my aunt's apartment. Having woken up at 5 AM Spain time in order to catch a 5.30 shuttle to the Madrid airport, and going to bed around 11 PM EST, I spent approximately 24 hours awake, not counting the naps on the plane. I also read 120 pages of Junot Diaz's Drown, watched two movies, and did a sudoku puzzle or two. I thought I would be more surprised or something coming back to my home country, but it felt fairly normal. The only strange occurrence I had was trying to formulate questions in Spanish to ask officials before realizing it was okay to speak my native English. The only thing I lost going through customs was an apple I bought the day before. I told the guy I hoped he would enjoy it before he told me, "Nope, it's just heading to that yellow trashcan over there." Oh well.
I'm feeling pretty relaxed and rested having slept ten-and-a-half hours last night and another two hour nap shortly following breakfast this morning. I'll be seeing a few shows while I'm here, and I'm looking forward to that. I went out to dinner with my aunt last night and witnessed a crazy car accident right across the street. I'm currently sitting in the Starbucks (it's evil, but I needed Wifi [wee-fee]) that the Benz shot backwards into, breaking a few windows. Apparently, like NYC, Starbucks never sleeps. So it goes. I leave for Springfield on Sunday shortly before noon and don't have any real plans ahead of me for my time here in New York. I'll be home for a few days before heading out to California for the remainder of my summer, going on a river trip then working on building a house until early August when I head back to school. It's been a good summer so far and I look forward to the coming weeks. I'll be writing a post of the remainder of my travels shortly. It will comprise what I did in Barcelona, Valencia, Córdoba, Sevilla, Lisboa, and Segovia before I returned to Madrid in order to come home. In the meantime, I'm going to wander and explore New York City.
Until next time,
much love, be well, and thanks.
Lauren