Adjusting Being Back.

I stayed with family friends for a day before my family got back from Rome. It was funny what was throwing me off, and what I started getting excited about. 

I went to look for the flush on the toilet and couldn't figure it out right away.
Hidden on the side. What is that?

I went to plug in my phone (p.s. it's weird having a phone that people expect me to look at more than once a day) and was startled that for the first time in 5 months I didn't need an adapter.

Cathy asked me what I wanted for lunch,
I asked her if she had ice cubes. And if I could have water. 
I saw her open a drawer and saw the corner of a Fritos bag.
I asked if I could have those, and she let me finish the bag.
I asked if she had peanut butter, she said of course. 
She made me a peanut butter and jelly sandwich.
These may seem like very standard items, but my face was filled with an excitement you would compare to a kid being told they're going to Disneyland.
Water with ice.
Fritos.
PBJ.
I've always been pretty easy to please, but now it's just ridiculous.

Back in Tri-Cities, the entertaining/confused Laurel continued.

We could start with my first trip out in public. At Best Buy I tried to pay the cashier with euros, asked her if she needed my zip code in front of my phone number (area code #notthesame), and said "Ciao" to the greeter as I left.

I can finally understand what people are saying around me. That was a strange realization.

I still find myself constantly making sure my bag is zipped up, putting a leg through the strap when it's on the floor, and never leaving it somewhere even if it's for 5 minutes. I never had a bad theft experience while I was abroad, but those habits have followed me back to the states and I feel like a paranoid freak.

I don't know how to write the date anymore. In Europe it's day/month/year, and over here it's month/day/year. Now I just write the whole thing out in frustration. July Seventeenth Two Thousand and Thirteen #justkidding #butseriously #ihaveissues

What has been nice: 

Not converting euros to dollars in my head, 

Not calculating a 9 hour time difference, 

Water is free at restaurants,

Public bathrooms are free,

Having a microwave (Boiling a pot of water and putting a skillet 

with leftovers on top never seemed to do the trick),

measuring utensils (I am the queen of estimation now, however),

coffee creamer (I do like my coffee stronger now though because of Europe),
and countless other things.
All small.