Set the scene. A 20 year old girl boards a plane from Corfu to Manchester. She feels sad,happy,nostalgic and sad a few more times. She looks out onto the country she has called home for six months, from the top of the plane steps. The painful goodbyes lingering in the air. She steps on the plane, she's going home.
Dramatic I know.
But it is truly how I felt when I was leaving Greece and ultimately the life that I had grown accustomed to.
I had been living in Lakka, situated on a small island called Paxos, working as a waitress in a cocktail bar. Jokes. Greek Taverna.
Being on a small island for half a year is such a strange, but pleasant experience. Strange because the most traffic I would see is about five cars trying to go down one small side street. Pleasant because everyone would say hello when they saw you because everyone knew everyone.
Learning to wait on people, especially in a foreign country, was a bizarre experience. The etiquette, lifting heavy trays, taking orders from customers and then giving them to the kitchen. And I RAN. Like literally, ran. The heat was another challenge altogether.
But coming home is such a mixture of emotions, I can't put my finger on it just yet, even though I've been home a month. It's a bit like I haven't been away at all, but every bit of me is screaming to go back. Don't get me wrong. There were times, especially towards the end, that I really was done and just wanted to leave. But then again, there aren't any beaches in Salford. Sadly.
Paxos is such a small island, anything that happens there is as if it is the biggest thing that's ever happened to you. It becomes your whole world because of its intimacy.
Being home has been such an adjustment for me, and I'm still trying. Being thrown head first into third year of university is stress like I wasn't expecting. Catching up with the lectures that I has missed and finding my feet again was even harder.
Sometimes I wish I could just pack everything and wave goodbye to Liverpool for good. I don't feel like I belong here at the moment and it's so demotivating.
Basically, as cliche as it sounds, I guess I'm a little lost at the moment. I'm just waiting for the light bulb moment to wake me up and get me back to me.