I spent my final two days in America back in La Jolla. Compared to Miami weather, San Diego was very cool and comfortable. The city blessed my last days with more sunny skies, as usual.
In the afternoon after arrival, Kevin (Korean American) and I chilled out at La Jolla Cove one last time, having magical In-N-Out burger for the last time too. I'll be missing this place.
That night, I saw my volunteer host family again, and had some great conversation over delicious dinner at a sushi restaurant (not very well-known but incredible - Sushi Ota).
The next day, after loading all my belongings into Jeremy's (Korean American) car, a group of us hung out at La Jolla Shores Beach to have lunch.
After seeing the last of amazing La Jolla,
Jeremy and I headed north towards Los Angeles, where my flight was scheduled to depart late that night. On the way, we indulged, road-trippin style, by having Jack-in-the-box followed by Krispy Kreme donuts. Mm mmm.
After stopping over at Tahiti briefly,
my arrival back at Auckland was very interesting, as the New Zealand accent sounded like a really weird dialect of English.
It took at least a few days to wipe the reverse culture shock away, and with it, the climate shock of winter as well. Seeing family and friends back at home (Rotorua) and back at university (Auckland) were great. I still have the occasional American accent inadvertently thrown into conversations, and my road and shop names are confused at times too. It's kinda cool to be back as it is time to move on, but it's gonna take a little while to alleviate this enduring California-sickness. There are too many good memories for this to be an easy thing to do.
America exceeded my expectations in many ways, and surprised me in many ways too. Without a doubt, I'm happy with what the past six months have taught me. The amazing people that I met will never be forgotten. All the little things while studying at UCSD as an I-Houser won't ever be either. I'll always be a strong believer of the fact that traveling makes one wiser, and with great enthusiasm, will continue what I have started - exploring the world!
1 comment:
hey ian!!
i haven't read your other posts yet, but i'll be doing that over the next few days/weeks (i'm in finals right now and going to japan for 11 days afterwards, so i'm not sure how much internet access i'll have!). but your last photos of la jolla look GREAT...i've never stayed in san diego over the summer so now i know what it looks like thanks to you. =) i'm glad you enjoyed your last in-n-out (and do you have krispy kreme in NZ?) and your whole 6-7 month trip in the US...and i hope kevin and jeremy were good hosts to you at the end. =) the whole last year for me seems so surreal but i'll never forget it either!
~esther
p.s. sushi ota is actually very famous among san diegans...oftentimes the wait is over an hour, and they don't take reservations. i'm glad you found it to be good! i just made my own sushi the other day in korea...'twas fun but prob not as good!^^
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