About damn time...for an update!

Okay, I know it's been forever!  I got a request for an update so I thought I'd oblige considering it's been AGES.

This is going to be admittedly condensed and scattered so I apologize in advance.

I moved to lovely Birmingham, England on September 22, 2010.  It's been a crazy wonderful time so far.  I've been stretched to the max with my studies but am still very happy I made this decision.  Next week I have exams and then onto my dissertation, which will be due at the end of September.  It's hard to believe my classes are already finished!  Sometimes this past year seems to have moved at a snail's pace and other times it seems to have passed in the blink of an eye.

Life in England has been far more positive than negative for sure.  I have pretty much felt at home here from the minute my head stopped spinning from the big ginormous move.  Considering I've done the expat thing before I thought I knew what to expect.  It makes me laugh now to think about because this time around has been so different.  I will ALWAYS love Germany and have a huge soft spot for it but one thing is for certain, it never felt like home.  I am grateful for the time I lived there and may even entertain it again one day but every day living there was a challenge.  I always felt the need to stretch and bend and fit, nothing ever came easy.  Maybe it was the different language, maybe the different culture, more than likely it was a combination of things.  England, on the other hand, has been a much different story.  It fits and I fit.  I have moments where I could just scream when the buses in Brum leave me disappointed yet again or when I am facing a challenge and don't have my mom or my best friend to turn to at a moment's notice but I still feel at home even with the set backs.  It's a wonderful feeling.

I think one of the main reasons for all this "at-homeness" is due to my lovely wonderful and understanding boyfriend, Dan.  Things with us are nearly perfect.  We've had a couple hiccups when it comes to the uncertainty of the future but we know so long as we are both flexible and deal with the future as a team, we will get through it.  It's such an amazingly wonderful feeling knowing I have a true partner in life.

So, that's all for now.  I will try and post more once exams are done and all I have to focus on is my dissertation.  Maybe I will feel less frantic then, let's hope!