12 December: Homesick
Well, it happened. Contrary to the image that I had of myself as the jet-set, love 'em then leave 'em international traveler who has no ties to anyone or anything except his combination electric razor and travel alarm, I went and got homesick. Here I was thinking I was going to be able to hold out until June, possibly even July, without seeing my native soil, and I'm scrambling to get back barely 3 months after when I left. Sheesh.
So, by a queer twist of fate (read 'twist' as 'recital', and 'of fate' as 'of my credit card number over the phone to the travel agent'), I find that I'm being mailed a ticket to go home in a couple of weeks.
You see, I thought I could hold out because my parents and brother were (and still are) planning to come to England when my term ends this weekend, and we would have a nice family vacation, see London and the south of Spain, and generally have a blast. I would be so into the sightseeing I wouldn't mind being away from home. But, this is not the case.
Granted I am looking forward to the next two weeks. I really need to get some serious London sightseeing in, because despite my few trips there, I've barely scratched the surface of London tourism. And who could refuse a trip to the south of Spain, where last week, IN DECEMBER, temperatures hit 78 degrees Fahrenheit (for all you Brits, that's equal to eight million billion degrees Celsius). So, yes, vacation will be good. Also vacation with my family will be really good, because I miss them more than I thought I would.
But then I realized that my New Year's plans for this year consist of: nothing. My England friends are all going to be at their respective homes in England, and my American friends are all going to go to their respective homes in America, and I would be left with the other half-dozen people who didn't manage to get out of Brighton. Then I got to thinking, even if I did find some people around here to hang out with, all of my Dick Clark jokes would fall flat with the British crowd.
So, it's back to the states for me. I'm flying out the 27th of December, and returning the 6th of January, and I'll probably cover a bit of ground on the East Coast in between. (because what's a couple hundred miles here and there after a transatlantic flight, right?) I still don't have the New Year's plans lined up, but I'm sure I'll figure something out, and in the meantime I'll be dreaming of the following:
- hot and cold water FROM THE SAME FAUCET
- Kraft Macaroni and Cheese
- Crisp and Juicy
- Krispy Kreme
- Free laundry
- Free local calling
- Free food (just kidding, mom)
- Good food (not kidding there)
- Free gas (ok, it's not free, but next to European prices...)
- Being underage again (oh, wait! ack!)
- I'm sure there's plenty more, but I got most of it.
And, of course, seeing some of you wonderful people will make me quite happy.
Not that my time here has been bad at all. In fact, I plan to write big list about what I've learned and what I've gained from being here, but my stomach is rumbling, and I've got some leftover burrito hanging out in the fridge.
I'll write again in the near future, because I do want to compile that list.
-matt