10 Reasons Why I Can't Wait to Get Back to America

On 1st September 2010, I packed my bags, said goodbye to my parents and went away on the biggest adventure of my life- my year abroad in Minnesota. I'd never flown on my own before, and my first day involved three plane journeys, I'd never been so far from home before, I'd never left everything and everyone I loved before for more than a couple of weeks. But that year was the making of me. When I came back in June last year, I was a completely different person to the one who had left, with all these life experiences ticked off my list. This last year at home has been one of the hardest of my life, but I hoped to find comfort in the decision to move back to America for one last Summer. In November 2011, I applied for Work Experience USA, a program that would allow me to be placed in a job for a summer, and in March 2012, I accepted my placement at Breakwater Beach, New Jersey.

In many ways, I am terrified. Scared to leave my family and friends behind again, scared to leave other potential opportunties, scared that this experience could never be as amazing as the one I had last year. Scared to move to a new place, scared to be alone, scared to have to build my life up somewhere new. Scared that I won't have as much time to blog. But in a lot of ways, I am excited. I'm excited to get back to all the things that I loved about America (I just re-read this post from my year abroad and it's made me excited to get back). So I decided as my last post before I move back to the US, I would list all of the things that I am excited to get back to in America in the hope that I'll stop being scared, realise that I've done all of this before and it wasn't so scary, and be excited about the amazing adventure I have to look forward to...

1. American accents

As detailed in this post. I am a sucker for an American accent. If I hear one in the UK I gravitate towards it and before I know it I'm asking the person where they're from, just to hear them speak. I have been warned that I'm not allowed to fall in love with any American boys this time though!

2. Friendly Strangers

Maybe it's just a Minnesota nice thing, but people would always stop and chat to me last year when they found out I was English. It was lovely. I hope it's the same in New Jersey and the other places I visit.

3. Sour Patch Kids

During the last year I have had five bags of sour patch kids sent to be from American friends. I can't wait to get back to the land of SPK!

4. Hungry Girl recipes

I am a huge fan of Hungry Girl and have two of her cookbooks, but you can't get a lot of the ingredients out here. I can't wait to get back to 45 calorie bread, fat free cheese and the ingredients for my favourite tuna salad recipe!

5. Travel

I am definitely one of those Brits who doesn't take advantage of Europe on my doorstep, but I love to travel when I'm in the US. Last year I went to New York, Chicago and San Francisco and this time I'm doing a 22-day Road Trip from New York to San Francisco and then going back to Minnesota on the way back- I can't wait!

6. Target

Or Tar-Jay as my friends and I call it. Seriously though, how awesome is Target? I'll never know why we don't have them over here yet! I also can't wait to get back to Sephora!

7. Ice cream shops

During my year abroad I developed a serious love of ice cream, in particular Cold Stone. Ice cream on a hot day? Heaven!

8. Mexican food

If you've read my About Me page, you'll know that I love mexican food! I make fajitas and enchiladas a couple of times a week at home but mexican restaurants aren't great over here. I've already spied two out without a few blocks of my apartment!

9. Megabus

Last year I got the Megabus from Minneapolis to Chicago. Yes it was full of screaming children, angry phonecalls and teenagers who would not.shut.up, but it was $70 return and the experience was totally worth it. I've already checked where my nearest Megabus stop is (it's about 2 hours away), and I can get to Boston in 4 hours and Philidelphia in 2. I know we have Megabus over here, but I love travelling to new places cheaply in the US.

10. Red Lobster

Mmmm I just love Red Lobster. So cheap, so yummy and I could eat cheese biscuits until I died.

Of course, there are a million things I'm going to miss about England. But everything will be there when I get back. I just want to enjoy the next few months of my life and this amazing experience. See you on the other side!

Charlotte x


edit: Also wanted to say a quick thank you to all of you who commented on my post yesterday who live in the NY/NJ area. Your comments were so helpful! I've kept the pants and outwear in just in case I need them for my roadtrip (which is September- October) but I managed to squeeze in a few more skirts as some people said I would need more light day wear. Thank you so much- I'm so clueless!