Tuesday, November 26, 2013

M is for Mawiage


Ex. Mawiage is what bwings us togeva today.

I feel weird blogging about it because it wasn’t about me or my experiences. It isn’t even about my adventures abroad or new places I’ve been. To be fair, I hadn’t actually been to Michigan proper before this last weekend, but I don't think it goes under the category of "adventures abroad".

Anywho, my brother got married a couple weekends ago to a fantastic lady and yes, I went back to America for it. I feel like every time I told people my plans for the weekend, the conversation went:

“Yeah, my brother’s getting married, so I’m going to Michigan for the weekend.”
“Michigan… like in the States?”
“…Yes.”
“Wait, so you’re going back to the States.”
“Yes.”
“For the weekend.”
“Yes.”
“That’s crazy.”
“Yep.”

To be fair, it was crazy, but if you think about it, there’s no way I wouldn’t go back. My brother is one of my favorite people, and this was the best day of his life. I wouldn’t miss it for the world. And, to be honest, I was really looking forward to spending some time in the States and seeing my family. Since I wouldn’t be home for Thanksgiving, a wedding was a pretty good family-time substitute.

The wedding itself was magical. It was so beautiful and I may have cried a few times. I still get warm fuzzies when I think about it. Words cannot express how happy I am about them finally being married.

But let’s remember that this blog is about ME. I mean, really. Let’s get back to what’s important.

As you can imagine, culturally, it was surreal. As soon as I arrived at Chicago O’Hare, I became acutely aware of the cultural differences between the UK and the Midwest. My mom’s family is all from the Midwest, so I already kind of knew where I was going, culturally, but it was still pretty different to where I've been for the past three months. Also, my family is from Indiana, where they kind of have a little drawl, but once you get to Michigan/Minnesota/Ohio area, there’s a LEGIT accent. I keep telling people here that Americans don’t have regional accents – to everyone I’ve said that to, I was very wrong. I lied to you and I am sorry.

The main thing I noticed was that I felt a general sense of interpersonal disconnect, much like how I felt for the first few weeks here. When customer service people in the Chicago airport wanted to make conversation to be friendly, I felt uncomfortable and would share very little about myself because strangers in the UK don’t make conversation, and I’ve gotten really used to saying the absolute minimum to new people. Just in my interactions with anyone, it was hard to adjust back to where I was three months ago. After some awkward conversations (the awkwardness being my fault), I would walk away thinking “What is wrong with me? Why was that so hard?” It helped that Midwest culture is extra friendly and inviting. It didn’t take me long to adjust, but I needed more time to do that than I thought I would.

By the time I had to go back, I was finally in completely familiar territory. I was hesitant to put myself back in a place where I don’t entirely belong, but to my surprise, when I got back, I felt the sense of relief you feel when you return to the comforts of home.

Probably because I hadn’t slept well in 40 hours and there was a warm bed and lectures I could skip. Who knows.

Wednesday, November 13, 2013

M is for Mad (adj)


Ex: It's mad that I'm already thinking about how soon it is till I go home.

I would apologize for not posting for a while, but really nothing exciting has happened. To catch you up, I spent a weekend in Edinburgh, which was super nice to get some quality work done on my essays (“quality” meaning “some/any”). It was also nice to be at church since I hadn’t been in a few weeks. Then last weekend I went to London to visit some friends, which was really fun but not life-changing/blog-worthy. Also one of the problems with living in Edinburgh is that they try to keep their slang to a minimum in case someone makes fun of them for it so it’s really hard to come up with new slang for every blog post title and I’m embarrassed by lame titles like this one.

So anyway, as my flatmate Marie points out to me almost on the daily (Hey Marie!), we only have two and half weeks of lectures left, followed by a week of revision/studying/writing essays, followed by two weeks of exams, after which I will be going home.

At this point, it feels like everything I’m doing is tainted with the knowledge that I’m leaving. Like I just started going to the weekly swing dancing venue in Edinburgh and all I could think while I was there was that I would only be there for like a month and is it even worth it to get to know people there? I only have two weekends left where I’ll actually be in Edinburgh, so only two more times that I’ll see everyone at my church. Only a couple more times I can go to pubs with my friends when we know we’re all free.

I really like Edinburgh and I feel like I’m finally adjusted to living here. I have friends and a routine and I know to get around the city. Switching on outlets before using them has become automatic, I look the right way when crossing the street, and I’m used to everyone having British accents. And I’ve FINALLY learned how to respond to “Alright?” (don’t laugh it was a huge step for me). I’ve learned about the little things that make Edinburgh what it is, and I love so many little things about it.

At the same time, I really miss home and Puget Sound. I miss the music building and I miss Denny’s and I miss going to a small school and I really miss my friends. Just registering for classes and having friends in every single one made me excited about being back.

I started the semester excited about living in the UK for a period of time to try it out, and I think I’ve lived here long enough to get a feel for what it’s like, and if I’m honest, I had a really romanticized view of British life. Now that I’ve lived here for a little bit, it’s become a complex place with problems and awesome aspects and real people. It’s really cool, but as I think about where I want to work even next summer, as far as exciting opportunities go, I see America and the UK on the same level. Which is something I never thought I’d say.

What it boils down to though, is that it’s the people that are drawing me in different directions. I’ve met amazing, amazing people in Scotland, and I feel like I don’t have enough time to really get to know them. On the other hand, the time difference makes it really rough skype friends at home, and I miss being surrounded by people I already know and love.

I guess what I’m trying to say is that I hate having friends. Seriously why you gotta make life so hard you all suck

The upside is that I actually do have a solid month left, which is more time than I think it is. As long as I remember it is too early to be thinking such sad things and ignore my inevitable return to the states, I should have a grand month. 

Tune in next time when I talk about being in Michigan for a weekend because of GORDON’S WEDDING (I KNOWWWW)