Hello.

Starting fresh is always kind of weird.  The blank slate that invites you to write whatever you want on it, to make a new impression.  To rid yourself of the old and encourage a different approach, unfamiliar ideas, excitement and intrigue and adventure.  And while it's awesome and thrilling, it's also terrifying.  While it can be cathartic, letting go of what you know, the familiar and the comfortable, to immerse yourself in a new world is a scary thing.  Frankly, it weirds me out, in both good and not-so-good ways.

In July, after weeks and months and years of planning, I moved all the way from a little town in Kent, England to New Jersey, America.  That's just about 3,500 miles.  A whole ocean away.  Pretty darn far.

All the way from here --------------------------------------------- to here!

As far as moving goes, it was smooth sailing.  Or flying, rather.  I got all my bits and pieces organised and shipped in plenty of time.  I saw my family and friends and said my toodle pip's and arrived in one piece.  I was so excited to get settled and start over, see where this chapter of my life was going to take me.

I've been in America for almost eight weeks now.  I still feel like I'm starting fresh and it still feels kind of weird.  It took a couple of weeks for me to venture out on my own, scared I'd get lost and never find my way home again (though let's face it, all the streets around here are numbered, so it wasn't hard to figure out where I was!) and I'm not yet over my 'paying for things' anxiety; I never know how much tax is going to be charged on top of whatever I'm buying, so I tend to hold my breath as the final number appears on the till.  I've yet to figure out what clothing or shoe size I am.  I'm making a very little dent in my America experience and, while I thought I'd get all this stuff out of the way quickly and immerse myself right away, I'm finding that I like taking it at my own pace, not rushing to do everything at once.  After all, this is my fresh start, and I ain't gonna rush it.

Being in a new place is what inspired me to create a new blog for myself.  I figured that if I'm making a fresh start with my world, I should go the whole way and start documenting it from scratch, too.  It's exciting and it's scary.  Anticipation and trepidation.  My journey is only just beginning.  It'd be awesome if you'd like to come along, too.

Love, K.