12/20: Seattle - A Winter Wonderland?

12/20:

So last Christmas I spent with Giselle and had an awesome time, however, the last time I went home was when I defended my thesis in April and I was preoccupied with the stresses from the whole ordeal and didn’t really get a chance to enjoy it. So by the fall I was aching to get home, and once I finally had a job and was able to book my flight I was just dying to get home. The last weeks were particularly torturous as I worked through the weekend (only a total of 7 hrs on the two days but still …).

Courtney took off on the Tuesday, but my flight was set for Saturday the 20th. The week ended rather intensely as we sent out documents for a conceptual design of a highrise tower in Shanghai and had to finish some other stuff for a highrise (at least by Swedish standards) here in Stockholm. That Friday I went out with some folks for work, and then headed home by like 10 pm and occupied my time with the following schedule:

10:30 – 11:30 – Nap
11:30 – 12:30 – Pack
12:30 – 1:30 – Nap, and wake up paranoid
1:30 – 2:00 – Nap, and wake up paranoid
2:00 – 2:30 – Nap and wake up, finally succumbing to paranoia and finishing my packing.
3:30 – Head to the central train station to catch my 4:35 train so I could catch my 6:25 flight.

Arlanda airport is possibly the worst nation’s capital airport ever. After a slightly dramatic time of standing in lines, forgetting my debit card at the duty free shop, retrieving my forgotten card from the duty free shop, etc. I went and took my flight from Stockholm to Frankfurt.

While waiting to board our plane we had to fill out the usual absurd forms for traveling into the U.S. After this I hung out and read a bit. While doing this I kept noticing a few girls taking unusually long glances at me. At this point I hadn’t shaved for several days and felt all in all greasy and gross, but perhaps this was a good look for me? Then I looked at my hands and saw they were covered with blue ink. Naturally this made me paranoid, so I subtly went to the restroom. When I looked at myself in the mirror I looked something like this:
Note to self: Don't bring bleedy ink pens on planes ... apparently the change in pressure causes them to explode which only leads to embarassment.

After I had blued myself I hit my flight to the U.S. and arrived in Seattle to a winter wonderland. Here are a few photos from campus which is uncharacteristically covered in snow.
Husky statue by the HUB:
Husky statue over by Husky Stadium:
12/22:
After a lazy day of watching football and drinking beers with Wes I braved the elements to head downtown and meetup with Whitney and Jeff.

Unfortunately said elements cancelled trivia plans and I didn't get to see any more of Whit than an hour lunch, but Jeff and I got to catch up over a few Manny's.