So I was kinda half and half as to if I would do a last post after my last 'last' post, but I kinda figured that my blog has always been a travel blog, and a big BIG part of travelling is returning home! So I suppose it makes sense to write one!
Returning home is...well it's easy! You have to start again in a new country, opening up bank accounts, getting a phone number, finding a home, finding a job, and finding a social network (not a website, an actual physical 'social network')! Sweet as, I'm from England, I have two and a half of them straight away (I didn't need to open my bank accounts, just obtain new cards). But I had the main two, a house and a social network!
Returning home is easy! Returning home at first is the easiest and most excited I've ever been....at first!
It was amazing to see my parents and my sister at the airport and spend the evening with them on my return home. It was so cool to spend the following morning with my bruda and my nephew (he really can talk now, he was 2 when I left), it was amazing that Danny G got me a ticket for the Saints - West Ham game. It was so weird walking back into St Mary's, I really cannot explain that experience! It was exactly the same........exactly the same, but....uh I dunno, the whole stepping into the terraces again after so long away.....no seriously, I really think that is the only way that I can explain it! But it really was awesome to see all (well nearly all) of my ASC again! That was an awesome messy night! I forgot how cheap it is to drink in England! It was always sweet to come home to them dirty skate bastards getting relegated for a THIRD SEASON IN A ROW! Who's laughing now! Ohhhh how I hate the blue corner of Hampshire so much!
The main reason I came home when I did is for my brother's wedding, but mainly his stag! We had his stag last weekend, all I need to say about that is that he had an amazing time, and we brought home home ALIVE! Job done!
Trust me, there's still a few of you that I haven't caught up with yet, it's not cos I don't want to, it's because I haven't had the chance yet! (or cos some of you have "your reasons").
That's the thing with it all though, I have always been expecting everyone to get over me being home again way before I was used to being home. But I really didn't expect it this quick! I think I'm gonna have to get use to text messages like "oh sorry mate, we would have invited you, but I gotta get use to you being back"......uuuuummmmm, yeah maybe that's something I don't really wanna get used to! It really does feel like hard work again, with them all, but then when I actually think about it, it's exactly the same as when I left!
I can't help but think about Melissa, not like "oh I Miss her", but more along the lines of the last time I was in England, walking the exact same streets that I am again walking down, I was working, I was studying, I was excited about my travels, and I was about to reunited myself with 'the most amazing person in the world'...now I'm walling down these streets again, and I have a new and amazing someone on my mind (notice how there's no "'" over the amazing), but no plans set as of yet!
I'm hoping that this is just a case of not working, and not having a plan set, I'm hoping that once I'm back in the system and earning, and have a plan set that this will pass, but the grass really is greener!
I really miss being an hour or two from the mountains, or the islands, or the national parks. I really miss the carefree lifestyle (and I'm including Brisbane in that where I was working full time), I miss struggling with a foreign language! I miss being away from here. I miss not caring about the weather and having to get excited when the sun comes out for 5 minutes! I miss there not being an end to the night...I was home at 12:40ish tonight, and that was it, night over! I miss having an English accent (now I just have a weird Australian/American twaaaaang apparently (depending on who I speak to)). I miss people understanding that I don't get everything about where I am (Seriously I've been gone for over 2 and a half years, laws my have changed, and I get confused with what was a law in one country and not another)
I would like to point out that the whole time I was away from England, I really did miss my family, my ASC, my friends, football ((the original and only football), English dry humour, and some foods!
Aber mehr als alles, Ich vermisse dich
So, I wrote everything above about two weeks after I arrived home in England (so about the middle/end of April), after a Saturday night out in the local Botley pubs! And after I wrote it, I didn't wanna publish it, and I have edited it only a tiny bit today (not to correct it, but to make sure I could understand what I wrote when I was slightly drunk), but I thought that I should publish it, kinda sticking with what I said then, coming home is all an included part of the travelling experience, similar to now! So I thought I should publish the post above, but also include about where I am now, 3 months after getting back to England! Plus I enjoy writing this!
So I think overall, my mood is way better than it was back then, especially compared to that night! It did take me a while and the holiday blues didn't really kick in until after my brother's wedding. He got married back in the middle of May, and it was a great day, and I really loved doing my best man speech for the newly wed couple and their guests. The following day I went to the last game of the Premier League season at St Mary's as Saints could only manage a 1-1 draw with Stoke (wherever that may be), but then the Monday morning after that, the holiday blues really kicked in. Like I said, the main reason I came home when I did was because of my bro's wedding, and as soon as that was over I think the thought crossed my mind as "hang on, what am I doing here!?".....and honestly that was hard. It wasn't helped much more that one of my favourite person in the world was heading to one of my favourite locations in the world...I really did look into booking flights to New Zealand for the week after the wedding to reunite with said person in said location. But my sense got the better of me, and I started thinking more long term....(but still bearing that person in mind, just several different locations).
So since I've been home, I have been helping my brother out as he has his own plastering and decorating company, actually I think it was more him helping me out for money and to get myself out of my house. I then started working for my town's local Medical Centre, where I just filled their records......just to keep me going whilst I was looking for work. But it did give me a great chance to work on my German through the days.
I have had a couple of trips up to London since I've been home, to see an old friend from school, Luke, to see one of my Aussie friends from Brisbane, Nat, my old Australian manger, Rich (who now lives in Japan), and to see a few of my friends that I met in South America, Angela, Ruk and Clare. Twas good seeing you all again! And a fair few adventures in Southampton with my friends since I have returned, including Beer Festivals, Rat Races, Camping, BIG FIRES, Cheap Comedy Shows......etc.........etc.........etc........ And I have also been catching up with (nearly now) all family members.
I have now started working as a Test Technician for an Avionics Company after getting offered a job and starting (just for a few weeks) as a Test Technician for an underwater ROV (Remote Operated Vehicles) company, but I felt I got offered a role that would help me better my career. I've been at this company (the avionics company) for just over a week now, and I think that I'm gonna like it there.
Sorry that there's no pictures up here, but I didn't really wanna put too many on, plus it'd just be photos of people (mostly) I don't have to many of many epic English landscapes!
But since my last post, like I said, my frame of mind is better, my friends are used to having me home again, and I get included in all things again. I am down a gym and learning German to keep myself occupied in the evenings when no one is around. I do have to get used to the fact that most of my friends have partners or kids now, but I suppose that's just my age now...or friends are moving away from Southampton. It is great to be working again and earning for sure, I can commit to doing cool things again! I do still need to get my drum kit out of my loft though!
Seriously though, I still get asked the 'subject/heading' all the time! And I'm really starting to question it myself too! I haven't giving up the bug to travel, and I am really looking into heading back to Australia, but I need to wait to see how things go in September.....
......Oh, Und mein Deutsch ist viel besser.....oder........eine klein besser!
Thanks Dad for just walking in my room and giving me a close off....."I can't have been that bad of a Dad if you're listening to Pink Floyd!".......
Bring on September is all that I can say to that, und dieses - Immer noch fehlst mir, und ich kann nicht warten sehen dir und Roger Waters' The Wall
And finally hanks to all that have still be reading my blog including a lot of people from Latvia over the last month.....and myself.....I've started reading my blog from the very beginning!
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