Returning Home

A month to go until I return to the UK, hmm... It doesn't feel like it's been six months and I know everyone will be asking me the same question, one I've been asked a hundred times since I got here:

"How are you liking the US?"

To be honest I'm still not sure how to answer. There are things I miss about the UK that I know are unavoidable and have nothing to do with the US; my family, my friends, knowing where the hell to buy stuff. Then there are things that I miss that I just can't seem to find here, good chocolate instantly springs to mind. On the flip side I know there are things I wont be able to get in the UK that I've come to love here, decent Mexican food for one.

So the basics, work, home, money:

Work has been good and the new job is more fulfilling, I liked my job in London, but I feel like I'm learning and growing more here.

My accommodation is a massive upgrade, not to sound ungrateful to my brother who let me live in his flat, but I have about ten times the space here for only a small cost increase.

Cost of living here is significantly cheaper than the UK though the fact that all US bank notes are the same shape and size has taken some getting used to.

What else? Okay so I like the fact that I can still smoke in bars in Virginia , but I'd rather be drinking in pubs. I like the convenience and service ethic here, though remembering to tip is still an effort. Making myself understood is sometimes hard as keep using phrases that people don't understand like being pissed; in the UK = Drunk, in the US = Angry, but the girls seem to like my accent.

Finally the thing that has been most surprising. People here (in general) are so much more optimistic than on the average in the UK. There is a sense that the 'American Dream' is achievable for everyone.

When I've told people I'm writing again, with the hopes of actually becoming a novelist, no one has told me how hard it is, that I'll need a good slice of luck as well as talent, that even if I get published the chances are I'll need to keep a full time job or any of the other things I would have expected to hear in the UK. It's refreshing, but I do wonder:

Are people in the UK being realistic or cynical or is it that people in the US are insincere or blindly hopeful?