2000 - 2002: My time in England

I don't even know where to begin with this post.....I'm sad I know that. I spent almost all of last night/this morning listening to music that reminds me of those 2 years and I won't lie, I teared up thinking about it. I even broke open the picture album to go through some memories of my first time going to London. To think, I waited until after a year and a half of me living there before I finally went to London. But over the last 6 months that I lived there I was able to spend a couple weekends a month visiting different cities in England and even a weekend white water rafting in Wales. As I look back on the 3 and a half years I spent in the Air Force only my time in England brings back good memories.....but sometimes good memories can make you cry. HA! I'm a baby...sitting here tearing up because I miss England so much......damn you slow songs!

I won't lie, I got sucked into British pop music. It was impossible not to if you lived there. It's all the clubs would play and it was all you saw on TV cause I could only get British TV channels. I fell in love with bands like Steps, S Club 7, Westlife (OMG a boy band!), Craig David, So Solid Crew, All Saints (OMG a girl band!), Atomic Kitten (another girl band!), and Blue (another boy band). I couldn't wait for Saturday and Sunday mornings when "Top of the Pops" came on because I got to see these bands live. Long before American Idol there was Popstars and the first 5 people that won went on to create the band Hear'Say and well, I loved them too. S Club 7 even had their own TV show and yes, I watched it even though it was meant for teens. As cheesy as this music was I was a sucker for it all. You should really go look up some of these bands....although I doubt you'll find them as alluring as I do.

I even got hooked on a few British soap operas like EastEnders, Hollyoaks, and Brookside. I'm pretty sure some of them still play on BBC 1 (if you get that channel).

Perhaps the thing I miss the most about England was the culture and the beauty of the country. I had never lived in a place where the grass and leaves on trees were green all year round. The people were so interesting and I LOVED their accent. The further away from RAF Lakenheath you went the less the people there were accustomed to being around Americans. When I went to Bala, Wales to spend the weekend camping and white water rafting we spent one night hitting up the different pubs in town. We literally had a group of 20 Welsh people following us from pub to pub buying us drinks because they weren't used to Americans being in town. They treated us like rock stars and I won't lie and say I didn't like it. It seemed like every pub/club we went to was the most hopping place in town because of the entourage we had following us. None of us guys refused any free drinks and before the night was over we were all drunk off our asses. I don't even remember how I got back to the campsite. I do remember getting separated from the group and stumbling my way to a bench that I might have passed out on. Ohhhh, those were happy days!

RAF Lakenheath was a great base to be stationed at. I almost made a HUGE mistake and traded my base with one of the guys that was in my tech school class for $500. I was only 20 at the time we got our assignments and the thought of going overseas when I had never even been to Mexico seemed really scary to me. I was so afraid of being that far away from home for the first time in my life. Had I not called my parents and had them talk me out of trading assignments I would have never experienced life in England. I also would have never become friends with some of the most awesome people I've ever met. I only kept in touch with one of the guys though and we are still in contact now. Luke if you're reading this I just want to thank you for putting up with me for 3 straight years. I went through some hard times and you were there for me the entire time never judging me or looking down on me for the mental breakdowns I had. Had it not been for you I'm not sure I could have gotten through some of the things I went through. I owe you a lot buddy and I'm gonna come see you sometime soon!

I'm conflicted right now though. I have one side of my brain telling me it wants to move back to Austin and then the other side begging me to move to England. Now I know living in England is most likely not a possibility but it doesn't hurt to dream. Who knows, I could end up living there again before I die.....that would be nice. Most of all I want to take a trip back to England so I can spend a week there reliving some of the best times of my life. I think it would be good for me to revisit the start of my adulthood. I went from being a scared 20 year old kid afraid of leaving the states to a fearless 22 year old ready to take on the world.

How naive I was back then though. Thinking life would be easy and that I was destined to achieve great things. I left England in May of 2002 with high hopes for a successful future. But everything changed over the next 7 months. However the story of my last 7 months in the Air Force is for another blog that I might post on another day....who knows?

I miss the accents, the culture, the music, the TV shows, the countryside, the Air Force base, the friends I made, the foods I ate. I even miss driving cars with the steering wheel on the right side of the car on the opposite side of the road as we drove in the states. The constant rain, the cloudy weather, the cool temperatures...it was gloomy weather but I loved it nonetheless. Living in England was like living in another world. A world so far away from everything I was accustomed to. It was a world that took me on adventures unlike any I could have experienced in the US. A world with castles and churches that date back to Medieval times. You don't need a time machine to experience history. You need only fly across the ocean and visit England. If you ever get a chance to go then you should go. It's a country I feel EVERYONE should visit at least once. And hopefully you'll come back with great memories like the ones I have.