E+8

If I've ever made a mistake over and over again in this life, it has been allowing my preconceived notions of the world to shape my thoughts and behavior. I came to England expecting some highly Romanticized world to unfold before me, and now that I have been here a full week I have found that such a world does not, in fact, exist, and though I thought I had destroyed that Romanticized imaginary Cheltenham when I initially decided to stay home several weeks ago, the world lives on, and continues to take precedent over my reality.

So, as my reality has been increasingly poignant in the past several days, I feel myself jolted out of that preconceived notion of my future, and rather in a very foreign milieu, one that could take weeks getting used to. The secularism of this country is partially to credit for a sense of apprehension I have been feeling lately, and not on a small scale, but something I think can be attributed to the collective conscience of the masses. I don't feel at home, yet. I hope that soon, probably coinciding with the beginning of my classes on Tuesday, that I can get in the groove and become more comfortable in my time and place.

Wondering what would happen in the United States abandons religion like Europe did. I'll think about that more and probably write about it later.