Move successful!

So I write to you all now from the hot and sunny and beautiful California having successfully made the journey across the pond. I won't lie to you, the journey did start to eat away at my soul at one point, but 21 hours after leaving my home I was tucking myself into my new bed complete with improvised sheets.

Even on the plane you can see the differences between here and home. England's fields and roads are so misshapen and curvey, twisting around the landscape, they have such character. The USA is so different from a birds eye view; everything is so square, the roads are perfecly straight, and the crossroads at perfect right angles. Ths doesn't change in the car, you can drive straight with no turns for miles.

Here, everything I need is on two main roads. One road has malls, supermarkets, banks, sports stores, mcdonalds', and even a Taco bell along it. You could drive down this road for 10 minutes and there are shops after bars after restauraunts; but its not a "strip" like you Brits will imagine, each shop is huge with its own carpark, and half of them with have a Starbucks attatched. They are so spread out, and they have so much space there are no buildings higher then 2 floors. The second road has a small strip more similar to the English imagination, and it's also  the main road that my University sits on.

I live in a gated community, that means I have a remote to open a big gate to get into my road, and so my road is pretty quiet and looks really nice. These gated communities have rules for all the residents to keep the place looking lovely. There's a few of these communities around where I live and some have huge houses! Infact my own house is pretty big compared to houses in the UK. The whole area has beautiful lakes with fountains between the houses, and the rich people have docks backing onto their gardens with boats.

The weather is lovely here, but it is hot. Even the breeze is just hot air. It feels like being on holiday in a really hot country, when you step out the door and the heat just hits every bit of you, but then the are is so green. The place is surrounded by green grass and tress, and so you don't get that 'hot country' look of brown dirt and beige buildings. All the buildings are brick, like the brick houses at home, but are surrounded by palm trees.

For those concerned about me and how I'm getting on, I won't lie to you the first days were tough and I got very homesick. Today though I have managed to man up and get on with things. I bought an $88 (about £50) bike from Walmart and rode it to Uni today. Campus is beautiful, and I've met the field hockey team now, so I've come home pretty pleased with myself after being all grown up and sociable.

So thats my experience of my first 3 days here in the USA, and I will try to keep you updated with things as the weeks go on. :)