I'm not the first to say it, and I definitely won't be the last: returning home after living overseas is weird.
While abroad, you have a local cafe, maybe a few dance classes each week, a particular sort of biscuit you're partial to that isn't available in your home country. You know which laundry to go to and how much change you'll need, you know not to go outside with toast because a seagull will steal it, and you know the best nachos are at East Slope bar. You adapt to life in your new country, and pretty soon, it starts to feel like home.
Which is all well and good, until none of those little things matter any more because they're not at your actual home and the memories only serve to remind you of what you're missing. However, it's not all bad: being back in Australia has made me appreciate the life I have here (a river nearby! Cheap public transport! Summer!) while living overseas has made me want to see so much more of both my country and the wider world.
To those who I met while I was away: thank you. You have honestly enriched my life so much and I now cannot imagine who or where I would be if I had not met you all. It's impossible to name you all, but I'll mentioned a few of my travel buddies/ exchange friends: Winnie, Erika, India, Michaela, Kassidy, Celine, Leah, Liz, Jackie, Hillary, Hailey, Grant, Amy and Phil. Thank you so much for making my time at Sussex so much fun. I know I have a little family in you all (and all the other exchange students at Sussex) and the experience would not have been what it was without you. I'm writing this now, almost three months since I saw you all last, and I miss you so much but I cannot wait to be reunited with you one day.
Also, thank you to my family who I spent time with in England: The Queallys (Maureen, Jade, Emma, Michelle and Lisa) and Taryn, thank you for letting me stay with you and showing me around your wonderful towns and cities! I was so happy to meet/ spend more time with you and I will definitely return one day. Thanks to mum and dad for letting my stay with you for a week in France, and Alicia for coming along (as well as meeting me for dinner a few times in London) - I have amazing memories from that week and I'll never forget the endless banter and ice cream.
To the locals who were already there and made Sussex feel like home: Laura, Nora, Rachel, Deanna, the Irish girls (Grace, Aisling, Erin, Clare, Chloe), the Ballroom dancers (especially Amy, Lizzie and Megan), the Swing dancers, my flatmates (especially Alex) and everyone who I met while I was at East Slope bar, in classes, and everywhere in between. You all made my time at Sussex so special, especially because I didn't think I'd meet any Brits at all! Thank you for welcoming me with open arms, showing me around, inviting me to your houses and in general giving me such a fantastic experience. You are some of the kindest, most hospitable people I have met in my life and I will be back to the UK to visit you one day soon!
To everyone back in Perth: thank you for putting up with my relentless Facebook posts, blog spam, photographs and so on. Thank you for asking questions and being (well, at least appearing) interested in my travels, and if you're reading this - thank you for making it to the last post of Suitcases to Sussex! Who would have thought that I would actually see this little project of mine through - I hope you've enjoyed reading it as much as I have enjoyed writing it. Thank you for welcoming me home with open arms and putting up with my constant nostalgia.
Coming back to Perth hasn't been the awful reality hit I thought it would be - it's been a new adventure in its own right and while I don't think I will ever stop missing Sussex and England in general, I have new adventures to look forward to and I know that I will be back.
And because it would have been negligent to leave things without a few Taylor Swift quotations:
"I wish you knew that I'll never forget you as long as I live. I wish you were right here, right now, it's all good... I wish you would".
"We found wonderland, you and I got lost in it and we pretended it could last forever".
"Come back, be here".
And, of course: "Long live the walls we crashed through... I had the time of my life with you".
What an adventure!
Until next time,
Laura
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