Over a month now, I have been travelling the length and breadth of the UK visiting family, friends and most of the time pulling off a tourist image! I’ve found it very hard over the last month to settle with the fact that my time here was a stopover. To be honest, I felt stuck between two chapters in my life, with no real relation (almost like a whole separate book to my life!). However, I learnt to live it large on the time I had here.
What I have really enjoyed over the last month was visiting friends in their own homes, I guess at our age, it’s something to be renting or owning your own pad, so it was great to see how each of my friends had personalised their homes. From Laura and Will’s vegetable garden with potatoes growing out their ears, to the girls at Harriet Street and their garden that we decorated with melting candles that cascaded over the used wine bottles. It’s like slipping into their life for a few days and seeing what it’s all about. My adult years, I spent in New Zealand, and they were quite different due to the circumstances. I never lived in university accommodation with flatmates like a lot of my English friends; instead I lived in random cheap rooms around the city or drove for an hour into university every day from my parents place. The party atmosphere in the student district of Cardiff was astonishing, you could hear and see each house getting geared up for a night out after the stress of the exam period. That particular part of student life, I missed. However, with the thanks of my best mate, who took me out in Cardiff, I feel like I’ve experienced what I had been missing, and to be honest, I don’t think I could have done it 24/7 for four years. One week, in their shoes was enough for me to enjoy, but also I think, my life has been moulded so differently over the last few years. I’ve adapted to the kiwi style of living, and due to the fact that I spent some vital growing years there, it’s what I see as normal now.
It has to be said, I love coming back to England and seeing everyone. I was pondering on the thought the other day, and I came to the conclusion that it’s almost like being in a time machine. For the reasons above, I have grown and adapted differently, so when I meet friends and go to the pub; it’s almost like going back in time. The pub atmosphere here is so different to NZ; it takes me back to when my parents used to take us out to a pub at the weekends for a meal, or when a number of us started going to the local because we got away with being underage. It doesn’t feel normal; it feels like a blast from the past. It’s extraordinary!
Without so much delving into my thoughts, I have had a good time here in the UK. I have had my time of frustrations (and possibly the odd tantrum) due to a lack of independence on the transportation front plus moving from place to place is not always easy, it’s a time when I envy snails that carry their home with them. Next time I return I may consider renting somewhere as a base, so I don’t have to lug my suitcase everywhere!
In a week, I depart for Italy. I land in Bergamo, get picked up by my host family and driven back to Brescia. Until the end of August, I will be looking after two children and teaching them English at their home in Brescia and in Sardinia at their holiday home. Lucky girl you may say! Well, I am scared! But it’ll be the chance of a lifetime to delve into the Italian culture. I hope to come out fluent in Italian and speaking with my hands (even more). More updates will come…for now…ciao!
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