Back home [continued]

Right afterwards, I got on a train to Graz. From Graz, I took the bus to Gratkorn, where my grandma (my dad's mom) lives. I spent two days with her, then it was time to get back on the bus, then back on a train and head to Liezen, where my grandpa lives. I saw more relatives in two days than I usually visit in a year and as soon as we were done with that, it was time to leave to get back home, do laundry (or to be honest, let my mom do my laundry...thank you, mom!!!) and then head to my friend's house for a week of hanging out with my three best friends from high school. We try to have these "reunions" as we call them every five year. Last year, we had to postpone it because it was just too busy of a summer with weddings and job searches and other plans. But this summer, we made it happen. At times, I didn't believe it would actually happen but somehow the plans - as vague as they were for the longest time - did work out and the four of us were in the same place for five days. We spent the week wandering around, swimming, a tiny bit of sightseeing (a castle nearby) and just hanging out and reconnecting. We stayed at my friend's apartment, just about ten minutes away from my parents' house, which - to be honest - felt a little .... weird. I guess I'm also just not the person for day-trips; I like to TRAVEL, really TRAVEL! My family used to go to a foreign country for three to six weeks and just travel around and explore. We rarely stayed in one place for more than two or three days. It's not that I don't like visiting my family and friends, but it just doesn't feel like a true vacation. When I was little, we used to go "on vacation" for a few weeks in another country (usually in our RV) and then we went to visit our grandparents - which was still fun and a lot more relaxing but not the vacation-part. Anyway, I digress....

After the week at my friend's place, I "moved" back to my parents. My parents are both teachers and unfortunately the school year doesn't end until the end of the first week in July here, so they are still working. However, they tried to take as much time off as posssible, so that we could go hiking and swimming in the lake - even if it was just for half the day and they had to work the other half. On Wednesday, we left again to visit my grandpa. Thursday was a holiday and they didn't have school, so we could spend the long weekend at my grandpa's and briefly see my uncle and my cousins. We got back Sunday evening and I spent one more week at home - going hiking and swimming whenever possible. I spend so much time in my job sitting inside or just running around on a college campus that it's nice to get out and really walk/run/swim. I made the most of that for the past few weeks. Last night, my sister had a dance performance and now my week at home is unfortunately coming to an end again and I'll be heading back to the US tomorrow. I can't believe my summer's already practially over.

I managed to pretty much stop thinking about work though for the past few weeks, which was awesome. I rarely checked my e-mail (which also wasn't that easy since I wasn't home that much and my grandparents don't have internet...or even a computer) and when I did check it, I only responded to the most important things. Even a workaholic like me could get used to a life without work. ;)