Homecoming

As the month of October begins, the leaves begin to change, the weather cools, and the hope of Outfly rises. Outfly is a day at my alma mater when classes are cancelled and there are a variety of events for students on campus to serve as a break. Only the college president and student body president know what day it will be. Outfly is a tradition that connects Wartburg students, staff, faculty, alumni everywhere. For the first time in three years, I was not called at 3 in the morning being told to wake someone up for work or that I needed to get ready for work. While I obviously did not have my class here cancelled on Outfly, I still found my own way to celebrate. I sported on my favorite Outfly shirts and spent a beautiful afternoon reading in Washington Square Park. It was neat to celebrate the tradition as an alum for the first time, and show my Wartburg pride.

A few weeks ago, I was fortunate enough to return to Iowa during Fall break. While I had been looking forward to going back since I purchased my ticket shortly after arrived in the city, as my trip approached, I began to wonder if I was going back too soon. I was only just beginning to feel settled in New York when I would be going back. How would I handle returning to New York after returning to Iowa?

Getting to the airport for my flights was a journey itself. My flight was set to leave Newark airport at 6 AM, and of course, one should arrive a couple hours before that. I did not feel comfortable trying to use public transportation at 3 o'clock in the morning, so a began my adventure a few hours earlier. I left my apartment at midnight and walked to Penn Station. At Penn Station, I had to get some assistance to figure out which train would take me to the connection to the terminals for the airport. To my surprise, when I arrived at the airport around 2 AM, it was a ghost town. The check-in desks were vacant. Though, that did not stopped me from checking in, I have pretty much mastered the art of carry-on only travel. Thank you self check-ins. My hopes to the sleep at the air port were dashed when I found out security would not open until 4 AM, so I slumped over my personal bag at table and attempted to sleep. Unfortunately, there was construction at the terminal so sleeping was impossible until I got through security, which finally opened at 4:30 AM. Needless to say when I boarded my flight to Minneapolis, I quickly feel asleep, and woke just as we were landing. I was awake at the airport, however once I boarded my flight to Des Moines, I was out. I do not even remember taking off. I finally landed in Iowa and was greeted by my dad in time to have lunch with him.

Thursday evening, the day I arrived, the group from church my family went on the mission trip to Tanzania, had a get-together. When I was in Iowa just happened to line-up with when our hosts from Tanzania were visiting. We spend time together catching up on each other's lives and hearing about the current mission work going on.

Friday, I drove up to my alma mater for the weekend to visit my friends and professors. I do not think I have even been more excited to drive through cornfields in my life. The open space, the fields being harvested, the beginnings of fall, a refreshing change to the confines of concrete in the city.  I shared with professors what I was up to and how I was doing. I filled my weekend with quality time with friends. I spent a lot of time with a number friends doing everything from watching a movie to carving pumpkins to simply sitting together and talking. I was even able to attend the fall concert of the choir I was in for four years. Because I happened to be visiting the weekend before Homecoming, when one the people from the Alumni Office that I had worked with over the summer saw me, she asked what I was doing there. I told here that I was celebrating my own Homecoming since it worked better for me to visit that weekend, rather than the next. What time back to Wartburg is complete without a large cup of chai from the campus coffee shop for the road back to my house?

Not only was I on break at this time, but so was my brother who just started college this year. Because I knew that I would probably not come back for Thanksgiving, on Monday night, my family went to dinner with my mom's brother's family so I could see them. Though it is not the same as getting together on the holiday, I knew it would have to do.

Though I meant to get some readings for my classes done while I was back for just under a week, that did not end up happening. My week was quite busy, and not so much of a "break," but was worth every minute. I was so grateful to spend time with family and friends. Going back to Iowa and seeing my friends and family was rejuvenating. It reminded me of the support system that I am so lucky to have even though they are a thousand miles away.

After I returned to New York, someone asked how I felt about coming back to New York and if I thought of it as coming "home." I felt conflicted. I loved being back in Iowa and being with family and friends. However, New York is where I needed to be. I would not say that I thought of it as coming home though. Who knows, maybe I will never consider New York to be home, only time will tell.