Honeymoon Phase Never Ending & The "Ross" Pro/Con List

Here is the problem...  

Apparently for me, the grass is 
always greener on the other side.


When I first arrived in England, the whole group of study abroad students and I went to an orientation at the University of London, where we were told there is a psychological adjustment- a culture shock wave, if you will- to the whole experience. 

8am Orientation

• Honeymoon Stage
  - Everything is exciting, new, and predominantly positive
• Culture Shock/Conflict 
  - Unsure of customs 
  - Overwhelmed, anxious, confused, irritable, hostile
• Recovery and Understanding
  - Flexible, open to new experiences 
  – Better understanding of host environment 
  – Developing social network
• Adjustment
  - Able to maintain home cultural practices/beliefs and accept or incorporate new cultural practices/beliefs

And then you experience all those same things once you come home again...

Here is MY problem though...


When I got to London I pretty much stayed in honeymoon phase the whole time, while skipping conflict/culture shock, and moving right along to understanding/recovery [not so much the recovery though] and adjustment!!


And now that I am home, I am pretty much stuck on Conflict/Culture Shock. . .


As my flatmate Jenn said "every time you mention it another pang of sadness and yearning hits my heart."

this is my jenny-bean.

The Cons of London [if you could even call them that...]:
For the first month in London, I could barely sleep during the night.  Not because I wasn't comfortable or because I wasn't use to the time change... The girls (my flatmates) theorized that it was because Andrew was around 5000 miles away from me and my body could tell the difference.  I thought this plausible, but another factor was that: I am pretty sure if I still had an umbilical cord it would connect straight into the Pacific Ocean.  So, while I must admit that I hardly ever missed home while I was in London- I did miss factors of it: like Andrew, my family, the ocean, my friends...  


The Cons of Home:
It's not London.


This is like the episode in F.R.I.E.N.D.S where Ross is deciding between dating Julie or Rachel.  Rachel has a whole list of cons, but Julie has one: "she's not Rachum"- where Chandler spelled Rachel's name wrong...  Granted this leads to a whole fight between Ross and Rachel, but the remaining fact is that Ross broke up with Julie because in the end- whether Rachel would have him or not- Rachel was the best for him... 

So what does that make London? Rachel? Does that mean London is where I should be? And if so... Would I miss home more-so the second time around?

Life in San Diego

Life in London

Here is the ULTIMATE problem: God has created waaaay too much beauty in this world for my heart to be content in one place...  Therefore, no matter where I live, move, travel, ect... I will always craving more and more of His creation.


Thanks a lot Dad...... ;D