Sitting in Heathrow Airport waiting for my departure gate to be displayed is somewhat bittersweet. While I have been away for six weeks and I look forward to my last year of university, filled with football games, tailgates, and spending time with friends, the thought of leaving London behind is one I'd prefer not to entertain too long. It seems like just last week I was awaiting my flight to London in an airport in Detroit. There I met Rachel and Crystal as we excitedly chatted about our impending study abroad experience.
Now that's it's drawing to a close, I can reflect back on my time in the UK. The experience was everything I hoped it would be and more. I think perhaps my favorite part of the entire stay was the time I spent with my family in North Wales. The experience of studying somewhere else was great too, don't get me wrong, but to some degree a classroom is just a classroom, whether it be in East Lansing or London. But to travel to the places where your grandmother grew up and see the places where your grandparents used to spend time together is something completely different. To travel through places with such a rich history and walk through castles 500 years older than my own country is mind-blowing. To meet my second cousins Adam and Ben was beyond cool. I had been dying to spend time with "locals" whether in London or North Wales to see how reality compared with what I had seen in British TV shows. It was so much better! Beside the accent, I will miss the witty British banter and cheeky comebacks. I will miss the comparisons of the English language and well ... the English language.
And on behalf of Adam's friend Owen, I would like to inform "all Americans" that not everybody who is British is from
England (some are Welsh and very proud to be)!
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