Mourning England before I have even left…

The past few days have been an emotional roller-coaster. I have left my job, packed up and moved out of a flat that I loved so much in an amazing city and I’ve moved back in to a box room at my parents house. (Only for 10 days until departure day) I never realised just how much ‘stuff’ I had accumulated!

What has surprised me is how nostalgic I am feeling about the UK. I have found myself looking around Liverpool and smiling, seeing it through new eyes. I have been craving English food like Sunday roast, mash, fish and chips and fish finger butties!

I find myself feeling warm inside when I think about how polite we British are, how we have a stiff upper lip and how we cherish good manners. The funny thing is that these are things that have annoyed me in the past! So I have come to the realisation that….

I am mourning the UK (Before I have even left!).

I have been ringing my mother everyday, making the most of what time we have left together. Soon I will be on the other side of the world and I won’t be able to just pop round for a cup of tea.

I am noticing how easy everything is in the UK. We have laws that most people abide by, we have freedom of speech, the shops sell absolutely everything and we never want for anything; we are always guaranteed a life without poverty.

I have realised how lucky I am to have been born in such a beautiful great country. It has it’s flaws of course and the main reason why I want to travel is because I want to experience the opposite of what the UK has to offer!

I want to feel free, for the weather to be warm and sunny, to experience different cultures, for things not to be easy and to speak different languages.

I have started being incredibly protective of the UK too, before if someone moaned about the food I would laugh with them. Now I vehemently defend it! It surprises me how people can judge a whole country on one thing. For example a friend complained that the sausages in the UK are horrible. Further investigation revealed that he based this opinion on the fact the he had a fry up in a cafe once and a sausage roll once. Come on! England has the best sausages! Bangers and mash, Toad in the hole and Cumberland sausages are national treasures!