Moving away is always a strange event. It definitely takes neighbours to make somewhere feel like a neighbourhood.

I am always fascinated by how a person’s country effects their sense of geography and distance.

I grew up in the middle of England and first went to University the other side of London, 3 trains and 3 hours away and I spent the whole time feeling homesick. True, I made friends and fell into a relationship but I really missed my friends and family back home.

For my post-grad study I moved to the north of England but only 1 train and 40 minutes away and I felt so much better. When my friends all came back from Uni I was there with them instead of reading a series of increasingly drunken texts alone in my room!

I couldn’t imagine what its like to move 3 time zones away. I have a friend who lived in Turkey for a long while (and has since moved further east!) and thats probably the same distance as east coast to west coast. We saw him physically maybe once in 5 years.

People in the USA seem to just take this in their stride and not be bothered about jumping on a quick flight (or driving the whole way?) to visit.