What I Miss
I'm back in London, and after getting all rested up, I'm able to look back on my two-and-a-half week trip around Great Britain and Ireland with satisfaction. Some of the high points: playing with swords (aka sticks) on Hadrian's Wall, the full Northumberland breakfast at the Once Brewed (I highly recommend this hostel- what wonderful people!), the little chocolate shop off of the city walls in York, the Shambles, Beauty and the Beast in Edinburgh, the three-day Haggis tour of the Highlands, cruising Loch Ness in search of Nessie, the Isle of Skye and Macurdie's Exhibition, Hamish the Hairy Coo, walking around Derwentwater near Keswick, watching F-15 dodge the hills of the Lake District, baguettes at the Oasis cafe, playing "Guess Who" at the hostel in Keswick using questions like "Does your person look like a Russian insurrectionist," Kevin and juice at the Embassie in Liverpool, watching Man. U play Arsenal in a Temple Bar pub in Dublin, going to the Guinness brewery, seeing the Book of Kells, finding Reeses Pieces and Hershey's chocolate after a four-month withdrawal, sitting on the window sill and writing at Barnacle's in Dublin, the best banana split I've ever had in my life, the little man who wriggled under a flaming limbo stick, finally making it back to London after 13 hours of travelling and waiting. There is so much more I could mention, but I doubt you would be interested. I have never been so happy to pull into Southgate as I was at 1:45 am Saturday night/Sunday morning. I had been comforting myself all day (through all our travel incidences that made a 7 hour journey 13 hours) with the idea of sleeping in my own bed and sleeping as late as I wanted, and I finally got to my room, opened the door, and found a strange girl at my desk! It turned out she was visiting my friend at the college and was using my room to sleep in, so I ended up having to sleep on a cot in my friend Ryan's room. I was slightly disappointed (okay, so I got a little teary eyed, but I was also extremely tired) at not sleeping in my own bed, but it still was the best night's sleep I'd had in almost three weeks. I woke up the next morning feeling like I could handle living in London for another five weeks, compared to the feeling of utter homesickness I'd had the night before. I still am missing home, some things in particular, like Oreos, Ranch dressing, Peanut Butter M&M's, Reeses Peanut Butter cups, real Coke, Bugles and Doritos (the American versions), my minivan, my stereo, the freedom to travel wherever I want whenever I want (realistically speaking, of course), church (especially on Easter), dollars, family, my bed, my grandma. I leave again on Wednesday for Sweden to see my sister; I'm getting so excited! I can barely believe it's been almost a year since we've seen each other. Thanks to modern technology, we're able to communicate almost daily. It's strange to think that even fifteen years ago, that wouldn't have been possible in the same way it is now. Crazy.