A little over a month ago, on 4th of July, I was unable to wrap my head around the fact that I was about to be out of the country for a month. Then once I got to London it was hard to believe I was actually there! After adapting to my temporary home, it was hard to believe that I was going to have to leave such a wonderful place. While I was on my way home, a 15 hour journey, it felt as if I was just going to a different country temporarily and heading back to England in no time. Now that I’m actually home, it feels as if I’m dreaming. I miss my friends, I miss my dorm room, I miss the British accents everywhere I go, I miss my teachers, I miss seeing castles everywhere… I just miss the experience I had!

All my friends and family back here in Oregon have been asking so many questions about my experience and I keep thinking to myself “wait…that actually happened?” It’s such a weird feeling. It makes me a little sad here and there, but then I realize that yes I do really miss England but what I miss more are the people that I met there. And they happen to live in the United States so that makes things slightly more convenient. Most of the friends I made are from Kentucky and we’re already scheduling a time for them to come visit me and vice versa 🙂 The photo to the left is of our group. We all bonded early on in this experience and didn’t really leave each others side the whole time. That’s me on the left, then Allison (my RA/ best friend ever), Casey (also my RA/my long lost older sister), then the 3 stooges, Trevin, Justin, and Garret. Those 3 have been buds since 7th grade and us 3 ladies had the chance to be in stitches over their hilarious comedic friendship over the course of 4 weeks. Miss them 🙁

I learned so much about England, the world, and myself this past month. Through my classes I was able to get a good grip on the media systems in England and how they differ from ours. I found it interesting how their monitoring programs for the magazines, newspapers, and television shows are funded by the public to increase the integrity of the press. As for my film class, we learned SO much information about production, sales, cinematography, genres, and themes in films all over the world. It increased my passion for film and I definitely would like to take more classes involving film. This picture is of my wonderful film class in front of the Harry Potter studios. An eye opening experience for a young student interested in film!

As for the culture, it wasn’t too much different that in America. There weren’t any language barriers besides trying to figure out heavy accents. The food was pretty similar except much more healthy than in the states because they don’t put as many preservatives and hormones in their food which was really nice! I enjoyed the public transportation so much. The tubes were amazing, so much better than spending 20 bucks on gas every time I wanted to go somewhere. The trains were a lot of fun too. On long train rides my friends and I would find some pretty fun things to do to pass the time. I did notice that the Brits don’t have much of a personal space bubble. If you have to stand like sardines in a tube then you did, no questions asked and there was nothing weird about it. Much different than here in the states. The differences in our culture and Englands culture may be slight, but living there you start to notice the little things more and more.

I felt like a new person coming home from this adventure. My parents noticed I’m much less uptight and more relaxed about life and all the twists and turns involved. I learned that even when things go wrong you don’t have to let it ruin your time. Just stand back up and keep having a blast because the bad things are lessons learned in hindsight. Life is way too short to sweat the small stuff or worry about what people think about you. I definitely plan to travel a LOT more very soon to discover more of the world and how it works. London made an adventure monster out of me and I am oh-so thankful for that 🙂

These last 2 pictures are of me on my way to the airport in Portland 5 weeks ago, and the second picture is of me leaving London. They pretty much wrap up my feelings about coming back home.

Cheers!

-Rachael