Home

So now I'm home. The flights back were pretty nasty: the first phase from Denver to New York went pretty smoothly... JetBlue give generous amounts of legroom, but they didn't bring the snack tray around enough. I arrived at JFK airport starving hungry and dehydrating, so during my four hour wait inbetween flights I had to sit... needing to go the toilet but unable to because if I abandoned my bags it'd look like I was a terrorist and knowing my luck I'd come back and find my stuff in the process of destruction.

The flight was overnight, arriving in London Heathrow at 11am. This was pretty good as I got to catch a couple of hours sleep on the plane at the right time, and so I am adjusting to the seven timezone change pretty well. However, the lack of legroom was extremely annoying, plus if the person next to you is sleeping and you need to go the toilet, there's not much you can do about it.

I arrived back in London and struggled through the long lines at passport control. Once I collected my stuff I strolled down the theatrical Broadway style exit to the meeting place at Terminal 3. Around me on either side was hundreds of people waiting, shouting and trying to get the attention of the people they were waiting for. Hundreds of eyes were on me as people realised I wasn't who they were looking for. An odd experience. I eventually found my parents who had come to collect me, and off we went back home.

So here I am. Summer officially over. Life here has resumed. The sad part is that at some point during the last 10 days (I hadn't checked in all that time) the top of a tuning peg has come off my D string on my guitar. This makes me very pissed. I was looking forward to playing some of the songs I've learned this summer again, but now I'm going to have to send it away for repair and a service. Needless expense, and it's going to cost less than the excess on my insurance policy. I just wish I'd checked it more often. I don't know whether I had broken it last week at some point or whether it happened on one of the flights. Annoying.

I feel I've learned a lot during this summer. I feel a slightly different person, more confident in myself, and more able to do certain things. If someone had described my job to me properly before I had left, I am pretty sure I would not have taken it. I would never have thought I had the skills or stage-presence to entertain kids with songs, games and other activities for 1-2hours each night, almost always on my own. But I did it, and it means a lot to me that I stuck it out and in fact did have some talent to carry this off. Plus I got to hike a lot, see some amazing sights, work with some brilliant kids, and learned that American culture is somewhat different to British. It's hard to put it into words, but sometimes the eternal American optimism and fawning patriotism is just way over the top. Still... it's their country.

It was a challenge. And I feel satisfied that I completed it. Five months ago I took a step into the unknown by sending off my application to CCUSA. Now it's over, and I feel like I've grown as a person. This is certainly something to talk about in conversations...