Where have the months gone? It seems as if it was only a month ago when I was saying goodbye to everything I knew and loved (and hated) about Iowa. And it seems only weeks ago my mom tearfully bear-hugged me in my Morris Hall dorm room. While in her embrace, my dad just patted me on the back and said, “Good luck kiddo. We know you’ll do fine.”

And I was fine. For four months, I had been feeling pretty good about myself and was at ease.

But then Thanksgiving came and shook up my newfound Southern life and reminded me of how things once were in the state I called home for 20 years.

I had a lot to be thankful for. First of all, I was thankful for good news. The day before I left for home, I learned that I had been promoted to news editor at The Red & Black for next semester. Now I can say goodbye to a reporter’s slave labor-like wages and say hello to more money and more responsibility.

I was thankful for my Iowa State friends.

Four of them picked me up from the airport in Omaha, and after a few minutes of tears and hours of laughter, they really made me feel as if I had never left Iowa.

When I was in Ames on Friday, it was good to be hanging out with old friends, singing, dancing and gossiping. Sometimes my friends here in Athens don’t appreciate the things that my Iowa State friends and I hold so dear to our hearts, like the 2 Skinnee J’s and drunken card games.

I was also thankful for good food. Some of my Southern friends here have been trying to get me to try grits, fried okra and everything else they love and makes my stomach churn. Once I was back in Iowa, I was all over Grandma’s Thanksgiving dinner, my mom’s chili and of course, Jimmy John’s and the gyro stand on Campustown.

And I was thankful for my family. My younger brothers, I swear, grow like weeds. They’re not so young anymore either – one is a freshman at Bellevue University and the other is a junior in high school.

And of course, I can’t forget my parents. My mother was a little bit too excited to see me, coming over to me and squeezing my arm every now and then to check if I was really home. It was cute, even if it slightly hurt at times.

Finally, I was thankful to be back in Athens. After flying in to three different airplanes to actually get to my final destination, I was so happy to be back on the ground for at least another three weeks.

Flying has been a little scary in the post-Sept. 11 world, and I agonized over every little screech or creak that occurred during the flight. It didn’t help that it was a 20-seat plane.

I wish I could have had an extra two days so I could’ve enjoyed my vacation even more, but of course, homework called and I had to come back to reality.

Finals week is quickly approaching with only six more days left of class.

And then I’ll be back in Iowa and in my nice, warm, comfortable, full-size bed once again, getting more than five hours of sleep every night.

Amber Billings is a junior in journalism and mass communication from Sioux City. She is at the University of Georgia through the National Student Exchange program.