Welcome Back to Village Life

I am home. Back in England, back in Orston. When I arrived it was raining, unsurprisingly, but there was so much rain that my village actually flooded! I closed my eyes and tried to remember what the Californian sun felt like!

It is weird being back. I am so excited to see all my friends and family but trying to fit back into this life is going to take some time I think. There was a moment when I was standing in my bedroom, trying to unpack (a task that took me way longer than it should!) and I was just looking around unable to remember where my stuff went! Other habits came back straight away like having to yank the bathroom door really hard to get out as it has a tendency to lock you in. Driving has been also been interesting; definitely turned the wrong side of a bollard and continued to drive in the wrong lane for a while! Oh well, quiet village lanes mean this wasn't too dangerous!

My last few days in Seattle were great. I got to spend some time on my brother-in-law's parent's boat which they had moored up in the Puget Sound for 4th July. We played Bananagrams and ate cream teas randomly! Also ate gorgeous clam chowder in Pike Place Market! 

My year abroad was absolutely amazing. I am so happy that I got to experience life in another country, meet some great new friends, see such beautiful places, and try things that I never would have done otherwise! I have been all over the country from Seattle to LA to Nashville, and that barely even scratches the surface of America. Now that I am home, people are asking me what my favourite thing was, and it is so hard to narrow down. I would say that it is between the white water rafting, and  just the general lifestyle; the outdoors, relaxed, care-free, sunny! It sounds so cliche to say it but America does feel like the land of opportunity and freedom. The sky feels higher there which I know is not possible but somehow...it just does. I have said for a long time now that I want to live in America and this year was either going to make or break that idea. It definitely made it! I do now appreciate how hard it is to leave everyone and it was really hard for the first few months, and when you were feeling down, but you do create a new life for yourself. I am going to live there one day, I just have to make sure I am rich enough to come back often! 

Oh and during the year I was trying to see all the different license plates. Out of 50 states, I saw 44. But I mean, who is going to have driven from Delaware all the way to Santa Cruz? There is also only like 50 people in the entire state anyway.
Thanks for sticking with me and reading this blog for the past year! I have loved writing it and am now going to print it out and make it into a scrapbook (well, that is the plan anyway!). I also need to find something to do on Sundays now that this is done with!