Back in Manchester

Well, I've finished looking around London and now I'm back in Manchester!

More than two weeks into the trip, and I'm ready to come home. Yep, I'm being a fart-head party pooper, and I should be enjoying myself abroad learning about another culture yadayada, but I have had a bit too much vacation. I've seen wonderful sites, and met very wonderful people, and I've done everything that I wanted to do so now it's time to go home. The only thing left is Liverpool. Well, I can't say the *only* thing; there's plenty here worth seeing. I just miss my home.

In London, I was sitting on Gabriel's Wharf (by far my favorite place in London) writing postcards, and a man came over to me. I was a little apprehensive about his approach, since it was after dark, but it seemed like he just wanted to talk, so we talked. With my accent, people here are good at picking up that I'm American (they like to play the "Guess which part of Britain I'm from by the way I speak" game) and he asked me what I was writing, so I told him postcards back home. And we sat there and talked about Ohio for about twenty minutes. There I was, in one of the most beautiful cities in the world, and I wished I was back in cow-town Ohio.

Part of it is financial. The exchange rate is just about £1=$2. However £1 works and acts in Britain the same way that $1 works and acts in the US. So my $100 US, when used here in Britain, act just as $50 US would at home. This means that everything from public transportation to eating puts a serious dent in my budget, even when I am just lounging around Manchester doing sudoku puzzles.

But most of it really and truly is that I am homesick. I've had a break from life, and now I miss it and want to get back. My babies, my family and friends, and all the obligations that I was taking time away from. I thought I needed a month, but two weeks would have been perfect.

One thing I want to say, so no one gets the wrong idea, is that England is beautiful. I in no way regret having made this trip, and I highly reccomend that everyone come here sometime. Even the small towns have so much character and history, there is nothing negative about this place at all. I've had a blast. and now I'm ready to go to the airport and fly home. Unfortunately, the airline refuses to change my plane ticket, so here I sit and wait.