A Farewell to England.

So classes are over, exams are finished, and my bags are more or less packed. It hasn't really hit me yet that I'm leaving for good, and I'm not sure it will until after my upcoming travels, when instead of making my way back to my little flat, I board a plane back to the US. I'm trying to prepare for what my study abroad handbook calls 'reverse culture-shock'; even being on a US military base over the holiday was a little weird, and it was still in Europe. I've been a little worried about this trip home because even though I really miss everyone, I'm still in Europe-mode. I came here expecting to be away for a year, and now I'll have a few weeks in the middle of feeling really conflicted about leaving again. As many times as I've moved, it's not the being away from home that bothers me. Home is wherever I happen to be at the time. The hard part is going back. I've never done that before, and I'm not sure how I'll feel. I mean, I really love Philadelphia and Charleston. Voluntarily leaving wasn't exactly easy. This is part of the reason I've decided against going back to Charleston during my time in the States (though the greater reason is lack of time). Maybe all this fretting will come to nothing, but I'm feeling dubious about it all the same.

I feel like I should do some reflecting on my time in England - really moving out for the first time, living in another country all on my own, going to a different school, travelling, etc. There's a lot I want to say eventually, but I don't think now is the time (as I already said, I haven't quite accepted that this part is over). I will say that I'm ridiculously excited about going to Tuebingen in a matter of weeks. As scary as it is to think about living my life in another language, it's something I've been looking forward to forever. I think I'll be more comfortable in Germany than I am here, even given the language. After all, I already have a friend there (one of my flatemates here, Susanne, goes to Tuebingen), so there will be a friendly face at the airport and someone I can go to when I have questions, not to mention an awesome friend with whom I get to spend five more months :). The school itself is supposed to be more like CofC than Uni. Nottingham, so I think it will suit me better than the massive university environment seems to to. And it will be getting warmer instead of colder, which is perhaps more important than I would have imagined it before the onset of winter here.

On a slightly different note, I should mention that for the next couple of weeks I'll be out and about, trying to see as much of the British Isles as I can. I'm meeting my dad in Edinburgh, Scotland on Thursday, after I leave Nottingham. We're spending a few days there, then doing a tour of Ireland. On the 30th I go to London to meet up with Kathleen before she goes to Spain. And finally, I get back to Philly on the 3rd of February.

I'll leave you with a couple of photos from my recent pilgrimmage to Stratford upon Avon (where Shakespeare was from).

The Birthplace.

Me and Shakespeare.