The Beginning

“What is that feeling when you're driving away from people and they recede on the plain till you see their specks dispersing? - it's the too-huge world vaulting us, and it's good-bye. But we lean forward to the next crazy venture beneath the skies.”
From On the Road by Jack Kerouac

Blogs are an interesting thing. Have you ever just typed an address in and put .blogspot.com on the end? There are some interesting (and disturbing) things to be found in the blogosphere. Yet as one blogger I found put it - this blog has filled its purpose. I began this to record my amazing adventure living in England for grad school, and that is what I've done. Time has gone by so quickly.


In many ways I did this blog for myself. I wanted to capture this year and be able to look back on it in years to come. Sharing my experience with people back home - or anywhere else in the world - was a nice bonus and a motivator (because even as a writer I've always struggled with consistent journaling, no matter how often teachers have encouraged it). Even with this self-knowledge I've surprised myself (shocking, right?). I am excited to go back and read through my entire adventure and really get an understanding of how much I've grown and changed, while remaining much the same.

Blogging is often extremely narcissistic. When writing about your life and posting it for anyone to view, you are saying "I'm interesting, look at me, look at me!" When I first told people back home that I was going to blog about my experiences in the UK, I got mixed responses. Some were patronizing, others excited, while a few even expressed doubt because - as one friend put it - "all people ever do is complain and tell about all the bad things that happen to them." I didn't want to be that person, I wanted to make people smile, laugh even, and provide them with a window into the strange world into which I was about the leap. There was nothing extraordinary about my experiences, but I realized that if I didn't capture these precious moments and just let them speed past, I'd lose them forever.

So thank you for joining me on this leg of my journey. I hope you enjoyed it as much as I did. But this is not the end, it is only the beginning of a new phase of my life. What I have gained (besides crippling debt) this year has irrefutably altered the road on which I travel.

And maybe, just maybe, I'll be back for more English adventures . . . who knows? Anything's possible.

In the wise words of Anne Shirley (because when in doubt, quote Anne "with an e"):

“I'm not a bit changed―not really. I'm only just pruned down and branched out. The real ME―back here―is just the same.”
From Anne of Green Gables by L.M. Montgomery