Shayla vs. The World

It's officially been over 6 months since I have been home. This is the longest I have ever been away from my family by far. This time last year I was home enjoying summer in Iowa and all the usual activities. This year I'm receiving pictures of those activities and messages saying everyone misses me, and I'll honestly admit it's getting really hard. It's hard for me to admit how homesick I am. Not because I'm stubborn, or am trying to act cool about the whole ordeal, but because I fear if I admit to myself how homesick I am, this place will no longer be worth it and I'll want to go back. Right now, deep in my heart I can tell I'm not done with this place. Not yet (and maybe I never will be, only time will tell that one). So it's easier (and a lot less stressful) to just deny how homesick I am most of the time. But, there are times when feelings do need to be addressed. For me that time is now. I am really homesick. And the stubborn part of me painf...

People are always asking me where I am from. Every single time I'm asked I always make the person guess before I answer. It happens most often at work so there are times when I get an entire table of guesses. It quite genuinely interests me where people think I may have come from. I've discovered because of picking up on various different accents I'm surrounded by, I have quite a strange one myself. People have guessed both Scottish and Irish before; and the other day I got Norwegian for the first time. About 95% of the time people guess Canadian. I feel all of these are justified as I majorly struggle with my O's. Australian's pronounce their vowels quite differently sometimes and I can't quite manage to match how they say their O's. Every single time they guess Canadian and I respond "American" they feel the need to give me this explanation. "I almost guessed that! I'm never sure, and so I always go with Canadian because it's the s...