Back in the U.S.A.

I finally arrived by in San Luis Obispo last night, after visiting Oxnard, London, Windsor, Hampton Court, Oxford, Cambridge, Stonehenge, Bath, Paris, Rome, Florence, Pisa, Venice, Kentucky, and Las Vegas. It really was great to see everyone again last night; it was a blast. But I'm definitely longing for my traveling days already. Only three days removed, and I'm already missing them.
But I am looking forward to my next trip. I really want to visit Spain, Portugal, Germany, Switzerland, Austria, Victoria Falls, and Australia. There's also several cities in America I want to see now: Seattle, New York City, Chicago, Boston, San Francisco. So it's slightly uplifting to sort of mentally plan for those.

I just made myself a cup of tea. Just the aroma of it calms me - and reminds me of London.

As sad as I am to be back in America, this has been the summer of a lifetime. First to be able to live in England, take classes, and truly experience British culture in the city of London. Then to visit a country I never really desired to travel to - France - and love it! Then to backpack around Italy - a country I've dreamt of visiting my entire life - by myself! That was incredible; I cannot believe how much I learned about myself and matured just in those ten days alone. Then visiting my grandparents in Kentucky. Then having another family vacation - the first one in three years? - to Las Vegas. Pushing my dad around Vegas in a wheelchair was an experience in and of itself! The second day we were there, we saw The Beatles LOVE Cirque du Soleil show - absolutely, single-handedly, the greatest, most amazing, awe-inspriring show that I have EVER seen. Between London and Vegas, I saw twenty shows this summer, and that was by far the best. It was incredible. Last time my parents and I went to Vegas, we saw Phantom, which was amazing, and Blue Man Group, which was cool but not nearly as good. This time we saw LOVE, which was amazing, and Phantom again, which was still cool but not nearly as good. So I guess we'll have to go back to see LOVE again but precede it with some new amazing show, but I seriously doubt that ANY show could overshadow that.

So -- this summer has been epic. And I am quite down to have arrived at its conclusion. However, I'm going to try and see it not as a conclusion, but as a culmination. I've traveled the world, experienced new and different cultures, and seen things that people spend their lives dreaming of. Now it's time to digest all of it, glean what I can from it, forever cherish and remember it, and look to the future. Buckle down now for another round of classes; get the business done today so that tomorrow I can plan for what I want, where I want to go.
Today I will continue focusing on making myself into the person that I want to be, to make the best of the situation that I am in. Tomorrow I will revisit Europe. Who knows - perhaps relocate. No one knows what tomorrow shall bring.