When you live in a foreign country, it’s always good to leave for a weeks if you can. It helps you appreciate where you have chosen to live. Leaving can also help remind you why you chose to live there in the first place. I love Korea but sometimes I need a break.
This summer, I had an incredible time with family and friends in Italy and England. Along the way, I discovered a few things:
1) Losing your luggage for FIVE days certainly makes you realize how little you actually need. 80000000000000 pairs of shoes? Lovely but unnecessary. 3 extra pairs of shorts in case something happened to the pair I like best? What exactly did I think would happen that would necessitate THREE extra pairs of shorts?? All you really need is two full outfits. One just wouldn’t be enough. You’d have to run around naked while waiting for your laundry to finish.
2) Tomatoes taste better in Italy. They taste like sunshine. Amazing.
3) You should never leave home without your pink handbag.
4) Just because it’s a funny colour doesn’t mean it’s not delicious. (This is the alcoholic beverage of choice in my brother’s town. I can’t remember what’s in it but it will certainly put hair on your chest! 😀 )
5) Pasta comes in all sorts of interesting shapes.
6) Every town should have a water dispenser outside the town hall. Fizzy on the left, still on the right. Just bring your own bottles!
7) In Italy, you need to wear gloves to pick out your fruit and veggies.
8) It’s very hard to bike after one of the aforementioned bright red drinks. Especially when you have gelato in your basket and enormous pizzas strapped to the back. 😀
9) Pizzas in Italy are AMAZING!!!!!!!!! (And so is my sister-in-law.)
10) Hibiscus margaritas are surprisingly delicious. Who knew they even existed?
11) Fish and chips taste better (a) in England and (b) when you’re three feet from the sea.
12) The weather in England certainly makes you appreciate the sun! On the off chance that you actually see it…. 😀
ihatecockroaches 
I noticed the same thing about tomatoes in Italy – actually all of the fruits and veggies just tasted better there!
It’s true eh? Everything I ate was delicious! I’d be FAT if I lived in Italy all the time… 😀
What an awesome vacation!
It was! 😀
You failed to mention: italian men in speedos, mustard coloured alfa romeos, islands of silence, ferries with no guardrails, italian mapping being ‘wrong’, 74 year old new-best-friends, zebra-mosquitos, lingerie shops on every corner (!) and much, much more!!!
Or maybe I blocked them out….. 😀 Why is Italian mapping wrong? Were there lingerie shops on every corner? I didn’t notice. It’s like that in Korea too.
the photo with the pastas is really cute!:)) I really enjoyed your post! Brings back memories from the time I went to Italy. Haven’t been in England yet, but it’s on the list! 😀 Greetings!
My parents actually live in England so I’m a bit biased, but England is great! ^_^ You should definitely go.