25 Things I Miss about the States

28 September 2008

Notwithstanding the enjoyable day I had on Friday, I've been feeling rather blue for a while. It's not anything serious, just homesickness. I know that I've said this not a few times on this site, but the fact that I am here for the year is really beginning to sink in. And as exhilirating as that fact is, it's also somewhat discouraging because that also means a year without my friends, my family, or any of the mundane delights that the States has to offer. So, since I don't have much else planned except for a visit with Shannyn to the Union Pub to polish off a few quid, reading and research, and laundry, I figured I'd just share my list of twenty-five items from, or things about, the States that I miss. In no particular order, they are:

1. Homecooked, quintessentially American dishes like meatloaf and potato salad;
2. Genuine Mexican food;
3. The right to privacy and a culture where people don't assume the state knows what's best;
4. The freedom to use a restaurant's or a store's restrooms without having to pay for the privilege;
5. Meals in the Dickinson College Dining Hall that last one to two hours;
6. The Writing Center and everyone associated with it, past or present;
7. Morgan Field;
8. My church family in Pennsylvania, the Heflins;
9. Limestone-faced buildings that date to the eighteenth century;
10. A grinder at The Quarry;
11. Mrs. Heflin's chocolate chip cookies;
12. Being able to tell which direction I'm heading based on what mountain range I'm facing;
13. My cowboy hat;
14. Wanting to burn down the Admissions Office after a particularly horrendous session in the Writing Center;
15. Pandora online radio;
16. Sunday afternoons watching football at the Heflins' house near Gettysburg;
17. My mother's homemade lasagna;
18. Family dinners in front of the television watching "Jeopardy!" and "Wheel of Fortune";
19. Being able to field questions to my professors during lectures;
20. Academic writing that's clear, direct, and adheres to a legion of conventions that probably are antiquated and pointless, but still make for some good reading;
21. Hearing little children who speak in an American accent;
22. Sunday afternoon cell phone conversations with my father;
23. Hanging up on my mother because she's nagging me;
24. Late-night study (and bull) sessions in the Writing Center; and
25. The separation of powers and the constitutional principle of "checks and balances."

As I think about this, I probably could fill a list of thirty or even forty items, but I think I'll stop at twenty-five. It's funny really when you think about it. What do you take for granted until one day it's gone? I love England, I love Norwich, and I love studying at UEA; but I can't help but wish that we could import a few of the smaller, more mundane pleasures associated with life in the States. Oh, well. I write more later when I'm in less of a pathetic mood and more in a frame of mind to tell a story or to slice and dice some unsuspecting person.