We're Gonna Make Our Way to America

I’m on my flight back to the States (but by the time I post this, I’ll probably be be sitting comfortably in my own room. It’s a long flight (about 7 hours remaining, and then a layover, and then the 2 connecting flight), and I’m ready to be home. I miss my parents and my friends, and being in a reasonable time zone to the majority of them. I miss food with flavor and being able to eat when I want. I miss my double bed in my own room with my own bathroom and a real-sized shower that provides water at a variety of temperatures (as opposed to only ‘uncomfortably warm’ and ‘scaldingly hot’-- except for that week that the hot water went out and the only temperature was ‘colder than ice’). I miss my car and being able to sing along with my music at the top of my lungs.

But I’m going to miss London, too. I’ll miss the big, beautiful, royal parks. I’ll miss being able to hop on the Tube and get just about anywhere pretty quickly. I’ll miss being around so many people who are so different from me. I’ll miss the beautiful architecture all over the place and the buildings that are older than our country. I have had the most extraordinary semester, and I can hardly believe how blessed I am to have gotten such an experience. I’ve seen things that I didn’t think I would ever get to see in person, like Stonehenge, the Rosetta Stone, and Big Ben.

It will feel strange being back home. It took me about three months to get used to Sterling not feeling like play money, and I kind of feel like Dollars are going to feel like play money now. It will also be difficult for me to remember that display prices don’t include tax at home. I really got used to not having to add that on when I bought things. I think I’ll also have to adjust to hearing American accents all over the place. It was getting to the point where I was so used to hearing English accents that sometimes after talking to someone, I would walk away and wonder, “Wait, did he have an accent?”

Here’s my obvious statement of the day: The ocean is really big. Even from way up here, it just goes on as far as you can see. When I look at a map or a globe or something, it doesn’t seem like it should take almost 9 hours to fly from London to Charlotte (and to be fair, it was less than that on the way to London. I have no idea why this flight is almost two hours longer). I wish the ocean weren’t so big. It makes traveling more difficult.

Thank you all for reading my blog this semester. Your comments have been very encouraging, and I look forward to seeing you all again soon.

Much Love,

Holly