Happy New Year!

My first day of 2015 has been lazy to say the least. I’ve probably eaten my weight in macaroni and cheese and watched a couple seasons of “How I Met Your Mother.” But now that the end of the day is near, I decided to take a few minutes and reflect on the past year. It’s been an incredible one. I spent four months in London, traveled Europe, spent my entire summer in LA, went to Nashville, drove up the Pacific Coast with one of my best friends since first grade, I ran my first 5K, moved back in with my parents, I got a phone call from the Ellen DeGeneres Show and Taylor Swift put out the best album I have ever heard.

I started 2014 off in London, how crazy is that? I still can’t believe that I spent four months in a city I barely knew thousands of miles away from my home. I always knew London would be something special for me, but I never could have guessed I would walk away with so many friendships. Not a day goes by that I don’t speak to someone who went on that trip with me and I cannot be more grateful for each and every one of them. Not to mention the other friends I made along the way, they may be thousands of miles away, but I still speak to them on a regular basis.

London was filled with so many firsts. I stayed in my first hostel, I went to four new countries and I ate Indian for the first time. I spent my days roaming the streets trying new restaurants, exploring parks, strolling through markets and making memories with my new friends. But eventually my wonderful life in London came to an end and I had to go home. I’ve never felt such a mix of emotions, I was excited to see my family and friends but I wasn’t ready to leave the city I fell in love with and more importantly my new friends.

Luckily I didn’t have much time to be upset. I was only home for two weeks before I flew out to the West Coast, where I spent my summer. It might seem impossible, but living in Los Angeles was more life changing than London. I loved London, small things went wrong but at the end of the day I could step in dog poop and not even be mad about it because I was in London. But Los Angeles… I hated the place. I hated driving 20 minutes to get everywhere, I hated how far away the beach was and I hated listening to everyone talk about themselves. You’d think I would have had the most miserable summer living in L.A., but I didn’t because I made it work. It forced me to focus my energy on bettering my health. I spent endless hours doing yoga, hiking and running. And luckily I love everywhere else in California, so when I was having a rough day, I could drive to the coast with my new friends. There were times I wanted to quit the program fly up to San Francisco and spend the rest of my summer with my Dad’s cousins, but I didn’t. I stuck through it and I am genuinely proud of myself for it.

Then there was coming home again, but this time for good. For the first time in four years, I moved back in with my parents. It meant going through all of my things and giving away about five trash bags of clothes. It meant making another adjustment. Many people factor in culture shock when moving to a new place, but they forget about the culture shock of returning home. Not only did I move back home, but I was out of the city, away from most of my friends and living with my parents. It may have been the biggest adjustment I have made all year. But after figuring it all out, I am appreciating home more than ever. 

So thank you to everyone who has been in my life this year, old and new. You have all made it the most wonderful year I could have ever dreamed of!

Cheers!

Emily