Don't Get Comfortable - Installment Two

Well well well. You're still reading? Silly people. I promise this entry will be shorter than the last as we are only dealing with a few days this time around. Here's how the story rolls on...

I believe I left you with a pretty good cliffhanger the last time, so I'll try and start right where I left off.

First of all - even after indulging in the greatest mexican food in California for awhile, Burracho's white queso and hot salsa is still amazing on a burrito. Absolutely delicious.

Second of all - I totally forgot about the few hours I got to spend with my sister in Rivers Falls before getting into Eau Claire. We went to RFFR (River Falls Family Restaurant) and had some pretty incredible cheese curds. Really good stuff seeing her. I wish I could more often.

On Tuesday morning I woke up around 7AM and honestly had a hard time leaving Eau Claire. I knew that I wouldn't be back for a long time, and there are just still so many of my friends who still live there. It also meant that I was leaving my girlfriend. Saying goodbye for months. There are so many different forms of communication out there today (thank jesus for the internet), but nothing will ever replace face to face communication. Nothing can replace an in-person laugh or smile, or the touch of someone else's hand to your own.

Needless to say, I planned on leaving at 7:15, but didn't leave until atleast 8:30. Most of the time was spent just standing at the car.

After the goodbye it was time for a quick stop at Starbucks for some 4 1/2 hours of sleep fuel and it was off to the races towards Milwaukee. I needed to go to the Department of Homeland Security Immigration Office in downtown Milwaukee and convince them to have my biometrics (which really just turned out to be a big word for fingerprints) read on the spot, as I was "encouraged" to get everything sent overnight to New York City to have the British Consulate sign off on my work Visa within 48 hours so I could actually...ya know...go to England and start by Monday. Luckily after driving some 32 hours before this having 4 hours in the car was relatively painless. I cranked up some tunes and sped home. The weirdest part was the 65 mph speed limit, as I'd been used to 75 (and sometimes 80) speed limits on the way home.

I ended up driving straight downtown and parked across the street from the building which was right next to MSoE's campus. I walked in and asked the gentleman behind the counter if I was able to have biometrics read, and he seemed very confused that I wasn't on his list. He eventually agreed and gave me a little buzzer as you'd receive at a restaurant and told me to have a seat upstairs. When I got upstairs I was met by a giant waiting room that would put the DMV to shame. It looked more like a huge airport gate than anything else with CNN playing on all the TVs and a guard in the corner making sure no one used their cell phones. The good news was there was only 4 other people in the room with me. How long could it take for people to get fingerprinted?

Apparently nearly three hours.

After becoming an expert on Tuesday's top stories on CNN (Rick Perry was "very" concerned about the Texas wildfires) my number finally got called. I went downstairs, gave them my passport, and about 10 minutes later I was back outside. Sadly my two hour meter was far gone and a $21 parking ticket clung to my windshield. (Mom or Dad - if you're reading this, I forgot to pay that. Might be in my car somewhere?) After some lunch I had to go to Walgreens to get a UK style passport photo taken. You'd never imagine how strict the guidelines for a UK passport photo are. There can be no glasses, no smiles, no obstructions whatsoever. I look like a serial killer on my visa.

After all that was done I printed out all my applications, got my photos and passport together and went over to Fedex it all to NYC for the next morning. Luckily for me, I wanted to stop in New York on my way to England, and because I physically needed to pick my passport up there, it gave me an excuse to stay a whole day in the city. More on that later.

I breathed a huge sigh of relief, and went to my parents house and had a shower. That night was spent with my parents and eventually the one and only Sam Simonson. Just spending time at home with my parents is always terrific. I try and speak with them a couple of times per week, but as usual, nothing can replace face to face communication. Sam picked me up later and we went down to Moe's Irish Pub for some garlic cheese fries (YES) and a beer. As always with that guy, 3 hours flew by and it was like no time had passed at all.

The next two days I spent in Wisconsin. Meeting up with some of the few friends I kept in touch with from high school. Watched the Packer's season opener against the Saints at a friend's house which was great, except for the Drew Brees lighting the packers up for 400 yards thing. But aside from the Packers awful secondary, it was a really nice couple of days back home. I had loads of cheese curds, custard, and fun with family. Friday morning my flight left Milwaukee at 5:40AM connecting in Charlotte and then JFK. Flights went really well with no problems. Even JFK wasn't a horrible place like it usually is. After living in the city and flying out of that airport it makes things considerably easier to get around. I was also lucky enough that my friend lived just a few subway stops away from the airport. The bad news was both of my suitcases weighed 49.5 pounds (well done, right?) and there are no elevators in her station, so it sucked to carry those up the stairs.

Being back in New York was totally amazing. It honestly felt like I had never left. I still knew the subways, I knew how to get around and how things worked. I had a couple of friends who I spent all my time with and I ate way too much food. I was introduced to a bar that gives 5 shots for 10 dollars (seriously, you show me this NOW? I lived there for six months!) and this place called S'Mac, which made some of the best baked Mac and Cheese I've ever had. It was really nice to see some of my friends from the city and just experience that type of life again. It really is something you won't find anywhere else, and while I don't know whether or not I'd want to live there for a long time, it's something I do enjoy.

The next morning I went into Times Square and visited my first "real" job site with Merlin, Madame Tussauds New York. I sort of walked in un-announced, and it was really cool to see some reactions of the guys over there. The attraction itself looked fantastic and most people seemed in high spirits.

I know it was only a day and a half back in the city, but it was really fantastic and I'm glad I was able to go. I managed to pick up my passport from some skyscraper on Madison Avenue in Manhattan, and I had a plane to catch at 6:30PM out of JFK. I grabbed my bags, and made it to the airport just under 2 hours before the plane took off. Being September 10th on the tenth anniversary of September 11th, I imagined that security lines would be atrocious, but I was through in five minutes and at my gate.

Made some calls. Said some goodbyes. And walked onto the plane. I managed to book a hotel in Brighton for my first night in the city, but I didn't have anywhere to live, no means of real communication, wasn't even sure how I was getting from London to Brighton in the first place. For the first time since I got this job I didn't want to go. I didn't want to get on the plane.

It was definitely the feeling of going into the great unknown. In a middle seat.