Fish Out Of Water

I don't know if it has to do with the fact that I've binged watched some particularly traumatic Grey's Anatomy episodes today, or if because all I want is cold weather and a pint of Guinness, but today is the kind of day that makes me miss London. I'm sure most, if not all, of you will be in agreement that I've done it to myself but when it's a 100 degrees outside and all you have is watery, sad, gluten-free beer, a girl gets a little desperate. I'm sure you've all gathered, due to my basic need to post about it every-freaking-where, that one year ago to the day I moved to London. That being said, I've spent my day in one of the most exquisite form of self torture. I Skyped my old flatmate, listened to Sam Smith on repeat, daydreamed about biscuits( I attempted to have tea but it's way too hot for hot tea), and even regained my mutilated, half there/ half not there British accent. So I'm not really sure of where today's blog post is going, or what direction it may take, but I can promise you that there will be nostalgia, slight narcissism, and a wanderlust that is verging on pathetic.
One year ago I was on a plane somewhere across the Atlantic, but that's not exciting so I'm going to skip ahead. Or around, whichever. I think that for most words and colloquialisms, their definitions are relative. For example, when I hear the words, "out of my element" do you know what imagery comes to the front of my mind? It's an image of my parents waving to me from a taxi cab outside my flat, it's me standing there in the rain with two suitcases that weigh at least as much as I do. That's what I define as "out of one's element" or "fish out of water". Frankly I never pictured or defined those phrases as having a happy definition, I mean a fish out of water is a dead fish so you can understand why. But the moments when I most felt like an outsider in my life, turned out to be some of my favorite moments, like when people stare because of your accent, or when you leave the house without an umbrella because, well, you're from California. Or the times when you call Maltesers, Whoppers and everyone thinks you're insane. Or when people ask how you managed to lose all five fingertips on one hand, in presumably, one go, or when they ask how you can be 21 years old and so utterly, God-awful at video games. I think it's those moments that define who you are, I think that it's when you don't fit in that counts. I happen to like who I am when I am a fish out of water, because when I'm in the water I get caught up in a hundred different currents that push and pull until you drown in them. I guess what I'm saying is be out of your element, be a fish out of water. Well, no actually, don't be a fish out of water because then you're a dead fish. But maybe be a fish out of water for a little while, just long enough to leave you gasping a bit, until you flip flop your way into a new and exciting part of the water.
P.S. I think I may have overused that metaphor...oh well, just keep swimming friends!