It’s official: I’m back in Indiana! After over five months abroad, I expected to feel a lot more of reverse culture shock and weirdness than I have so far. I’m happy to report that since being back all I’ve really felt is happiness and gratefulness, with a few twinges of sadness thrown in. But before I talk about being back I should probably tell more about how I got here.
After arriving back from Holland, which is where my last post left off, I really only had a little over 24 hours to get everything read to leave Canterbury for good. Luckily, I’d packed mostly everything before we’d left for the trip, so all I really had to do was clean up and gather a few more things. Since there wasn’t much to do, I definitely had time to spend with my friends on my last night. We started things off the way they started off initially back in January, with a trip to Woody’s for drinks. After watching the Euro match that was on that night (Germany v. Holland— go Deutchland!) we headed to our second stop of the night, the sports pitches. We spread out a blanket, listened to music and sang along, and just enjoyed each other’s company while we still could. I started crying about halfway through, but it was only temporary, and possibly induced by wine. It got to be pretty chilly out on the pitch so after a couple of hours we moved the party inside, to Mike and Charlie’s place. We all crowded into their kitchen and Mike made us some kind of rice dish that he improvised on the spot. I also learned how to play four chords on the ukelele! We took a lot of pictures, laughed, and talked. So basically the usual, only this time everyone knew it was our last night to do it. Once 2:30AM or so rolled around Laura, Emily, and I broke up the party because we had to leave for London the next day, so after a really long series of goodbyes we made everyone promise to come see us off before we got in the cab and made our way home.
The next day involved a lot of sitting around and throwing away last-minute things, but when it came time to drag everything I owned in England out to the taxi, I was happy to find that everyone was true to their word. All of my fantastic friends showed up to say one last goodbye. Emily, Laura, and I were sharing a cab, so we all waited together until it was time to go. After a series of one-on-one hugs and one huge group hug, I was starting to tear up so I declared that it was time to get in the cab and go. It was so weird to drive away from everyone not knowing when the next time I’d see them would be. I managed to hold it together though, and rode all the way to London without shedding a tear. I’m going to miss every single one of those amazing people so much, but I know that I’ll see them again soon. ‘It’s not goodbye, it’s see you later,’ was the mantra I had to keep repeating to myself, but I know it’s true.
The cab ride was kind of ridiculous. Our driver was annoyed at us from the start because we had more luggage than he expected and then he got pretty lost trying to find our hotel. He was really starting to get on my nerves so I was so glad when we finally got to our hotel near Heathrow. After dinner in the hotel cafe we watched a movie and went to bed, because getting into Central London from the Heathrow area is quite an ordeal, as you’ll see in a bit.
The next day was one that Laura and I had been looking forward to for months: we were going to the Harry Potter Studio tour at Leavesden! We woke up bright and early, got on the bus we needed and to the nearest tube station without a hitch, and sat on the tube for just about an hour to get into the city. Our hotel was really nice, but nothing beats a hostel for being both cheap and getting you right into the middle of a city. Emily walked with us to get on our bus and then went off to explore the city for the day.
I can’t tell you how great Leavesden was. We got to see so many of the props, costumes, and sets from the Harry Potter movies. If you know me well, you know just how big of a deal this was to me. I basically walked around in awe and jumped up and down a lot. Laura might have been a little embarrassed to be seen with me, but she hid it well. We got to try Butterbeer, eat a real Chocolate Frog, and even walk around the Great Hall. After the fantastic tour (my favorites were the Knight Bus, Privet Drive, the great concept art, and Diagon Alley) I bought out the gift shop, we ate lunch, and took a few more pictures before getting on the bus back. The ride back to central London took about an hour and a half, so Laura and I listened to music, dozed, and went over our favorite things about the day. I took about a million pictures of the tour that day, so if you want to see more of the awesome stuff I saw they’re on my Facebook! When we met back up with Emily, she had some really cool news to tell us: she’d seen Kate Middleton! I was so jealous, even though I’d had a pretty spectacular day myself. We made the long tube ride back at rush hour, which wasn’t exactly a great time, ate dinner at the hotel again, and managed to get online for a few hours to talk to the friends we’d left in Canterbury and the parents we were headed home to in a couple of days.
The next day, our last full day in England, was spent entirely in Central London. We made it into town in time for lunch (that tube ride from Heathrow was seriously time-consuming) and ate at one of our favorite pubs. We then headed to the British Library, as they had a fantastic exhibit on about British authors. We got a great student discount (note: always, always bring your student ID when traveling), bought a lot of cool stuff at the gift shop, and then wandered around the exhibit for a couple of hours. They had manuscripts and first editions from many of my favorite British authors, from the Brontes to Dickens to Hardy to Rowling. There were even John Lennon’s hand-written lyrics from the Beatles song “In My Life.” I was completely enthralled, so say the least, so we spent a lot more time there than we originally intended. Once we left the library, we had just enough time to walk around Camden and find a restaurant to eat dinner before heading to see The Tempest performed at The Roundhouse by the Royal Shakespeare Company. We enjoyed Italian food and wine and then made our way to the theater. Our seats were great and as The Tempest is one of my favorite Shakespeare plays, it was the perfect way for me to spend my last night in London. It was a very literary-themed day, which is the best kind of day if you ask me. We rode the tube home with the post-theater crowd, packed all of our stuff one last time, and tried to get to bed at a decent hour because we had to get up early to go to the airport in the morning.
The next morning we woke up at 5:45AM (!!) to throw on clothes and drag all of our stuff down to the lobby. I’m honestly still surprised that I could move it all by myself. I had two giant suitcases, a duffel bag, and a backpack just for myself. (I was gone for over five months, after all). I managed somehow though, and we made it safely onto our respective buses to the airport. Laura took a separate one from Emily and I, as she was flying direct to Detriot, so we said our goodbyes outside of the hotel. After struggling to check-in and getting rid of our bags, Emily and I had breakfast and waited to board our flight. Once it was finally time to make our way to the gate, we were definitely ready to be on our way. The eight-hour flight wasn’t bad at all, even though our plane was a bit ancient and looked like it was leftover from the 90s. I watched four movies, dozed a bit, and got nervous for our two-hour layover in Chicago. Because we had to claim our bags, re-check them, ride a tram to a different terminal, and THEN go through security, Emily and I were nervous that we wouldn’t have enough time. We ended up having plenty though, because our flight from O’Hare to Indianapolis was delayed. We spent more time waiting to board and get in the air than our 35-minute flight was in the air. When we landed in Indianapolis, we basically ran to baggage claim to meet our parents, and from there you can imagine the hugs and happy scenes. The airline lost one of Emily’s bags, but mine were all there, luckily. After saying goodbye to Emily until I’d see her later this summer, I walked out of the airport with my parents, completely happy to be home (and not just because I had people to help me with my massive bags). We celebrated Father’s Day and my birthday by opening presents, and I went to bed earlier than I have since elementary school, possibly. I’ve never been happier to see my house, cat, room, and bed.
I’m still just as happy to be home. I’ve been back in Georgetown for about five days, and it’s been great so far. IU told us to expect some reverse culture shock, but so far I haven’t experienced any of it. I miss all of my friends from Canterbury so much of course, and I’m sure I’ll miss them even more as I’m home for longer because I’ve been used to seeing them every single day, especially Victoria. Laura, Emily, Max and I will be reunited at IU in the fall, but it won’t be in the giant group that we’re used to.
Charlie, Phil, Mike, Julianne, Max, Laura, Emily, Victoria, Dave, Marco, Alberto, and Guillaume, you are some of the best friends I’ve ever had, and I had such a great time traveling and getting to know you for the past five months or so. It went by so fast and I had the time of my life. Canterbury, you were absolutely fantastic and I’ll miss all of the Brits I was lucky enough to meet and have classes with. Tudor Court 4, I was incredibly lucky to have such great roommates and friends. You made it really easy to adjust to life across the world from my family. Basically, I’m incredibly grateful to have had the chance to experience all of this. I feel so lucky and completely happy with my time abroad. This blog will go back to being a book blog soon, and I’ll go back to my day-to-day life at home and at IU, but I’m forever changed because of the people I’ve met, places I’ve been, and experiences I’ve had. I’m a different person, and a better one, because of all of this. Thank you to everyone who has made this possible by supporting me in any way, and thank you to those of you that have kept up with this blog, whether by reading every post or just stopping by every now and then. Sharing this experience with you has made it all the richer for me.
Having experienced all of this, I’ll leave you with a quote that is one of the truest I’ve ever read, and one that reflects how I feel about all of this: “Twenty years from now you will be more disappointed by the things you didn’t do than by the ones you did do. So throw off the bowlines, sail away from the safe harbor. Catch the trade winds in your sails. Explore. Dream. Discover.” – Mark Twain