Five things I miss in the States

1. Driving: I’ve never been a huge lover of driving, but boy do I miss it here. Being able to get in the car and go wherever I need to go as soon as I need to go. Or just drive around the neighborhood for a while. Not having access to a car here hasn’t really been that debilitating, yet I miss the freedom of driving myself. Taking the bus or subway (or taxi if I’m running extra late or just lazy) isn’t the same.

2. Speaking my native language: Obviously being able to speak English anywhere and everywhere, and having people understand me is greatly missed here. Some days I just don’t want to talk to anyone because I either don’t know enough Korean to make conversation or no ones even tries to talk to me. It sucks that my Korean language abilities are still so low yet I’ve been here for nearly five months. I really want to learn Korean because I think the language is really interesting and I obviously live in South Korea, but learning a new language is just so hard!

3. Kombucha and hummus: I adore the taste of hummus and kombucha and I’m so sad they’re not a thing here! I could always count on a kombucha to make me feel good after having an upset stomach or just for the fun of drinking. And hummus was the best sort of snack out there. Especially Cedar’s original hummus (or hommus, however it’s spelled). Anyone know of anything similar to kombucha or hummus in South Korea?

4. Family, friends, pets: although I’ve made new friends here, and FaceTime my parents almost every weekend, it really gets lonely here sometimes. Especially with the colder weather and drearier days, I could really use some nice hugs or animal snuggles. I’m not an overly physically affectionate person, but man, I would love someone to just hug me for a few hours right now. And I haven’t made any friends who have pets, so no animal snuggles there. It’s a struggle some days.

5. Tucson: I just miss my city back home. Though I only lived there for five years of the 18 years in Arizona, Tucson became my home during college and the year after. I miss the city and the people there. I miss the Desert Museum and getting to walk around seeing the animals. I miss the warm, dry weather. I even miss my college campus, which is crazy! I guess I just miss the ease of knowing where I was everyday I woke up and could go about my business with no worries of getting lost. I miss going to Barnes and Noble on a day-off to look at the books and probably spend too much money. I miss going to Sprouts! Oh how I miss Sprouts! I miss the River Walk outside my condo that I could take my pup on for walks when she came to visit. I miss seeing late evening Marvel movies with my friend or grabbing In-N-Out when I was craving a burger. I miss the beautiful sunsets. I miss the cats I used to live with—Titan and Echo, I love you! Also the couches I would spend days on, just chilling during vacation. I miss the Super Target on Oracle and Roger. I even miss the long drive I used to take to my school for work every day. Oof Tucson, I miss ya.