Doublicious merrilicious teammate meet up.

Labor Day weekend is upon us, which means I am home from school like most college kids, spending time with my friends and family. It's been a much needed break of getting to sleep in my own bed, eat jalapenos with my dad, hang out with my brother, and not having to worry about homework or walking down the hallway to use a communal bathroom each morning. Also, not eating caf food is nice. 
But as much as I am loving being home and chilling with my family, the best part of my weekend BY FAR was yesterdays mini-reunion with two of my Romania teammates, Haley and Ian. 

I arrived in Asheville around 9:30 on Saturday morning and met Ian in the parking lot of the hotel where I was staying that night. Our morning was spent walking around the mall, drinking coffee, catching up, searching (in vain) for a hat to replace the one he lost in Romania, and buying a tattoo sleeve from the Halloween store. Many jokes about rock slides, rivers, and falling off a mountain later (and many, many times singing along through the Romania CD Betsie made for us all) we arrived at Haley's house and our adventures began. 
One thing I just love about my Romania team is how even after a month apart, our dynamics don't change at all. It was like we had spent no time apart, the way we joked and picked at each other and found eternal amusement in poking Haley. Ian and I fought for who would sit in the backseat of the car (which resulted in me jumping over the front seat, pinning each other against the car, etc.) and he shut doors in my face while Haley didn't take sides. We watched a marathon of Super Sweet 16 on MTV, threw our hands up so we wouldn't have to say the prayer over our dinner at KFC, and left obnoxious videos for the rest of our teammates. Our night ended attempting to make gogoshi, the Romanian doughnuts we made during our trip, which surprisingly didn't go too horribly. They weren't as good as the ones we made in Viile Tecii, but they weren't too shabby for our first go round with a recipe. Even a month later, I had not lost my ability to evenly fry gogoshi! (Which is saying something, because I don't cook. Ever.) 

Leaving was just as bad as leaving after our trip, but I'm pretty sure anytime we get together it'll be that way. I haven't had that much fun or been that genuinely happy since the trip. I don't like to be all mushy and crap, but when I look at this team of people I've been given as my friends, brothers and sisters, I realize how incredibly, incredibly blessed I am to have them in my life. And I know we'll all be together for many, many years to come. Spending a very broken, challenging month where only a curtain separates the shower from your bed kind of bonds you in a way you can't really understand until you've been there. These people changed my life. 

Going back to school is not going to be very easy, but I'm pretty sure the fact I have homework to attend to tomorrow is going to be a bit of a distraction from my lack of love I have about college. A pretty gross end to a pretty phenomenal weekend, no?