Goodbye, London

When I moved to London about a year ago, I was terrified. I'd never been to the UK before. I'd never lived anywhere but Missoula, MT and Portland, OR. I was lonely, scared, missing Greg, and completely culture shocked. My mom was there with me to help for a few days, and thank god for that. Moving to another country is scary enough, but doing it completely alone? I could have done it, but I might have gone prematurely grey as a result.

But now, a year and a lot of mental adjustments later, London feels like home to me. A while ago Shaun and I were sitting up on the Heath with a picnic, watching night fall over the city. And we agreed that despite its size, its mess, its millions and millions of unfriendly people who rudely bump into you in the street, and its lack of Target... London felt like home. To realize this only a matter of days before I was set to leave the country for good was particularly tragic, but it's pretty much what I expected would happen. It's okay.

Living in England has been the most rewarding, exciting, frightening, difficult, and worthwhile thing I've ever done. Brunel's Creative Writing program was so excellent, and I met some incredible people there, not to mention the fact that I completed the first draft of my very first novel! It's always been a dream of mine to live in England and write, and look what I did -- I moved to England and wrote a novel. I'm so happy with everything I've accomplished in the last year, especially with my writing. I feel like my life has a direction now, and it is to follow in EL James' footsteps and write porny romance novels for a living. JUST KIDDING, my romance novels won't be porny. But seriously I'm gonna be a writer, and I'm going to get a book (or two or three??) published, so keep your eyes peeled!

Anyway this post isn't about writing! It's about London. And how much I am going to miss it. I think mostly I'll miss the Britons. They are seriously the best people. Great senses of humor, fabulous senses of style, and constantly guzzling tea (seriously I didn't realize how much tea these people consume until I stayed a weekend with a British family. I was blown away). The Brits may not understand customer service, unbridled enthusiasm, or efficiency (sorry guys), but they make up for it by having the best accents in the world, and Wagamama. Actually Wagamama may not even be a British chain but seriously there are like three of them in Leicester Square alone and it's probably not enough. Wagamama is GREAT.

I'm also going to miss: Cider on tap, Pimms, River Island (oh god I'll miss it so much), rolling hills dotted with sheep, people saying "cheers", Nandos, watching Doctor Who on the BBC, being trampled to death on Oxford Street, walking along the Thames at night, cold rainy days year round, fruit pastilles, proper chocolate, random British celeb sightings, Heinz baked beans, chips with everything, Topshop, history, architecture, the pigeons outside my window, being a cool American, the tube, people saying "Alright?" and not knowing how to respond, Brick Lane, and my friends.

I'm mostly going to miss my friends. Lucy and Shaun, you are the actual best and I don't know how I'll survive without you. It's been great. ♥

London, you've been great. I may not be back for a while, but I'll be back. Don't go anywhere while I'm away.