Whirlwind Weekend

Not literally. But figuratively.

I'm sitting on the train, window seat with enough foot room for a baby dinosaur, empty seat next to me and practically empty car. I've just plugged in to my headphones and iPod, and am listening to the great (I say great because I made it, of course) Official Toronto-Washington, DC playlist. I smile to myself and think, damn, it's good to be travelling...

Fast forward roughly 9 hours and I'm starting to feel the strain. Customs was a breeze (did you know they don't really care about food items? At least, tomatoes and almonds barely need mentioning), and now we're somewhere near New York and I'm either mentally reviewing the switch at Penn Station, or we've just passed it and I'm missing the empty seat next to me, my legs are restless and sore, and I can't sleep anymore.

And it just goes downhill from there. Fun, but a 17-hour train trip is, as you might expect, exhausting. Gives a person lots of time to study, and sleep, and eat candy. Way too much candy.

So we pull in to Union Station in DC at 2:30am, I practically leap off the train and hop in the car. Twenty minutes later, we're at an all-night McDonald's drive-thru (never as good as it seems) and then home, for four hours of sleep before I get up around 8.

We pick up the U-Haul, drive it home, pack it up, and three hours and change later are pulling out at noon-thirty. For the 12-hour ride back up north to Toronto. Got some more studying done, changed the radio a lot (who knew you had to bring your own CD player for a U-Haul truck? I didn't).

About midnight, we pull into the alley behind my new home. I'm persuasive enough that we unpack that night, then drop the truck off for the night at a nearby parking lot, and walk back to re-construct the bed. By about 4:30am (again) we finally get to sleep.

I wake up with a start and check my clock. It's NOON. I have class at 2. I freak out. Spend the rest of the afternoon and evening in classes, and then. Finally. It's over.

And I have a whole week to wait for the next weekend.