Land of Hope and Glory

Woke up early this morning, took the International Studies 135 final. Went fairly well I'd have to say, could have probably gone better. Mark and Carol picked some pretty finicky dates. But that's besides the point. It's over.



A fortnight (two weeks) from now, and I'll probably be sitting in my room at 6 AM, still on English time and thinking it's noon, gazing longingly at photos from this year, listening for one of the flatmates to start complaining about the lack of food in the house, craving some Yorkshire Gold tea, and trying to figure out my way through the incomprehensible ailment that is "hobbit syndrome." Also known as trying to figure out how to re-acclimatize to the good old US of A. Yeesh, that's a problem to not dwell too much on now. It's just very hard to face up to the fact that there is no longer much time left. For so long (8 months), it's been like, "Dang, we're here a whole year practically, plenty of time." Not so anymore. And let me tell you, that is scary. I feel like there's so much I haven't done, and now I have to face the fact that time and money are going to prohibit me from doing. A few things come to mind, such as seeing Liverpool, rambling in the Scottish highlands, getting down to Sussex or Cornwall, and maybe seeing a cricket match. Strange to think of that way, because we've been able to see so much of England. Last night, as we frantically tried to study for this final, 8 of us sat down and read through all the itineraries from the flat trips we've taken around England this year. It was lots of fun to reminisce, and share stupid stories and jokes from what seems like so far away. We've come a long way from our first tentative steps out to the door to York way back in September to our recent continent spanning travels. It reminded me of how much we've all come together, and how much we've experienced. And I guess how good we've become at traveling. But anyways, you sort of think that if you live in a country, you should know it intimately, you know? You should see it. But then again, we come from a country that is so huge, it would take an entire lifetime to see it all. And the fact is that most English people haven't even seen their own country, much less Wales or Scotland. So, at least I've gotten a good head start, and I feel fortunate for that.



I'm dreading all the questions that will surely be hurled at me starting June 5th. "How was your year abroad?," "Are you glad to be back?," "What did you all do?," "Do you like it better than home?," "Do you think you're changed?" Those are questions that really can't be answered. How was my year? I can't distill 9 months into a pleasantly packaged one sentence answer. Physically can't. Am I glad to be back? Of course, but I also miss England. What did I all do? See answer to first question. Who is to say whether Britain is better than America, or the reverse? Not me, I don't think. Who's to say whether America or Britain is better than Iraq, or France, or Japan, or Fiji? I like some things here better, true. See the above photo of the tea, or double decker buses, or vinegar on chips, or using the word "cheers" as an almost blanket term for anything polite. I don't like everything closing by 18:00, the exchange rate of one pound to two dollars, or putting mayonnaise on freaking everything. I guess the point is, I'm sort of struggling with this question that I feel will be posed about the US and UK. I'll be glad to come back to the US, but will be waiting to return to England. And vice versa. I don't know, I guess I sort of now consider myself to some tiny amount Anglo-American. Americish. Englamerican. An illegitimate child of Margaret Thatcher and Ronald Reagan (God I hope not). You get the point.



Anyways, enough on that. The weather is beautiful today, so a few of us are headed back to Wollaton Park to see the stately home. I'll take some photos and post them soon. I hope to get up some more photos of Nottingham and the University. I have plenty of photos from Paris and Istanbul, but very few of where I actually live. I'm headed down to London tomorrow afternoon and staying until Saturday. What do I plan to do? Hit the British Museum again, see the big Star Wars exhibition on the 30th anniversary of the film, maybe go to Harrod's. But mostly, I just want to "be." I sort of consider London my second home here in England, as I feel very familiar and comfortable with it. I'm also getting coffee at Café Vergnano, which is amazing, and hoping to go to Yo! Sushi. I'm going solo, so I think I'll take these two days to try and be as English as I can, without bothering to use my horrible British accent. Everyone told me before I left that girls loved the English accent. Besides the fact that I'm dating Emily, I don't think I'll bother, because mine is terrible. But anyways, me, London, this weekend. Wish I had some more time, but it's just so damn expensive. Whatever, it'll be fun. Not much time left. Better make it last.