In Closing...

My mom told me last year when I came home that I needed to write a 'conclusion' to this blog. It seems a little pointless a year later, but at the same time I think it would be nice to close this a little more gracefully.

A short summary of my trip home. We were so grateful that the weather was nice enough for us to get a floatplane out of Afognak, but then found ourselves stuck on Kodiak with our flights cancelled. All the hotels were full because of all the other stuck travelers and Brittany and I were lucky enough to have Nikkia with us who had friends in town. So basically we stayed with a family who had never met us. They were so nice to let us in. Thank heavens for charitable people like that. Before we stayed there we went over to the floatplane pilots house and ate ice cream and watched a movie. (I think that might have been a little bit of a different partying style than they were used to, but they seemed to enjoy it anyway. Haha.) It was really a good time and almost let me forget how much it sucked to be stuck in Alaska for my last day of summer. So the next day we finally got into Anchorage. I think I remember almost crying when they were going to charge me again for having overweight luggage, which had nothing to do with 20 stupid dollars, but this was already the trip from hell. I ended up finding my receipt from before and didn't have to pay. I said bye to Brittany in the Anchorage airport and was so happy to be going back to Arizona. When I finally made it to AZ I remember sprinting towards my family for a huge hug. I ended up having less than 24 hours at home before I was driving to school in Utah, but it was a good <24 hours all the same.

It really is odd to reflect on my experience in Alaska now. Since then I've finished another semester in Utah where I worked in an upholstery shop and spent a semester in Israel. If you want to talk about a contrast try living on an isolated island in Alaska and moving to Jerusalem intensely studying the Bible every day.

Anyway, even though I really can't see ever working in Alaska again I really appreciate the summer I had there and the people I came into contact with. The guys I worked with really were incredible people and taught me so many things. The women I cooked with were incredibly strong women and I really look up to both of them. Being there took me way outside of my comfort zone and I did a lot of things I never would have had the opportunity to do otherwise. I am grateful for that. Before going I remember thinking "This is so not me," but I think sometimes you can't really know whether you will enjoy something until you try it. I loved it and I miss it now, but am still grateful to spending this summer under the AZ sun.