Goodbye USA

My first blog post from the UK in nearly a year. That's right, my time in the US has now officially ended. A lot happened between the last post and this one.

I made my third and as it turned out last major trip outside of Chicago towards the end of August, which was a 3 day trip to San Francisco. Parents were on holiday in the West Coast (because we never made it over there when we lived there) and as I could only make a weekend out I was given a choice, Los Angeles or San Francisco. I feel I made the right choice. My trip to the bay area also brought me in contact with something I had almost forgotten existed. Hills! There aren't any in Illinois. There are plenty in SF, reminded me of Sheffield. I quite liked San Francisco, it's a very different experience to Chicago. The highlight was the trip to Alcatraz. I highly recommend it but you MUST book ahead i.e. several weeks before you actually go. The audio tour that you can take is highly recommended by me as it gives you insights into both the prisoner and guards point of view.

My final days in Chicago were marked by numerous dinners, concerts, and general nights out. My friends organised a "Sending off the Brit week" which involved a different activity each night from martini bars to unique Chicago eating to concerts. Thank you to all my American friends for the amazing send off from the official goodbye party to the pizza night on my actual last night.

My official last day of work was Monday and I flew out on Friday night so I had a few days left to see some parts of Chicago I hadn't seen yet. This included the Museum of Science and Industry (a brilliant place with an excellent exhibit on the science of storms), the Sears Tower (well actually the Willis Tower now but no one calls it that), Lincoln Park Zoo, a trip to see the Blue Man Group (Brilliant, just brilliant) and the Chicago History Museum.

Well I've been back in the UK a day now but true to recent form it has been busy. Landed at Heathrow at 7am, meet Mom and Dad and then got on a train to Manchester to see the old Uni lot at Kit's belated Housewarming/birthday. Was good to see everyone again even in my jet-lagged state. Still recovering a little now. Last time I wrote a post after a similar period of activity I discovered several odd mistakes when I re-read the post a few days later. Looking forward to seeing what mistakes I've just written now.

Well that's the update. At the moment it looks like I'll be sent to Mexico for two months on Saturday. Watch this space.

Till next time.