I actually never finished my blog so I might as well do it now. I'm too lazy to write a whole chapter about New York. But in short: New York is an amazing city. It's huge and therefore pretty overwhelming. The moment I walked out of the subway station I looked up and my jaw dropped. Being completely surrounded by insanely tall buildings is pretty intimidating and it made me feel so small yet it was so beautiful. All the lines, squares and other shapes of the buildings perfectly lined up together making beautiful structures. For the first 20 minutes in the city I did nothing else but look up admiring this amazing city vibe. I wish to go back there.

Anyways. I've learned a lot on my trip through the USA. America's culture is not that different from the Europeans because it's both Western. But there are still a lot of small things that are different. Actually America is kinda weird in a lot of things :p No offence. It's just... slightly different. So here's the list of things I learned from traveling and being in the USA:

1. Almost every car in the US is automatic.
2. All the toilets flush differently.
3. Bagels are THE BEST and why aren't they a thing in Europe. Man I could just live off cinnamon bagels.
4. Poptarts. Just poptarts.
5. You can buy guns at walmart. Not to forget anything else you can think of.
6. Gas is super cheap in the US.
7. Public toilets are free!!
8. Everything is very spread out. Just the whole construction of a place is way less compact than in Europe.
9. You're gonna gain weight in America because everything is bigger obviously. It's true. The portions of food you get at restaurants is just... so so much. And don't get me started on the size of the drinks .-.
10. 
11. Speaking about drinks, they are super cheap.
12. Refills are annoying when I'm going out to eat. Sometimes one big ass glass of soda is enough for me. When I drank like half of it I don't want it refilled! It's too much for me. And yes, very generous if they ask if I want my glass to be refilled. But when they just grab my drink away from me without asking, no thanks. They keep refilling it too so I'll never finish my drink. How unsatisfying and what a waste of soda!
13. Omg tipping is so weird. We're just used to leave a little bit of our 'left over' change behind when we go out to eat. Just a couple of euros. But in America you actually have to tip 15% or 20%. Less means that something was wrong. So even when you think the restaurant wasn't really good you tip. Because not tipping at all is a realllly bad gesture. You even have to tip at a bar when you just buy a drink. I still don't really get how it works.
14. When you order a drink you don't get it in glass bottles like in Europe. You just get the glass of soda itself. Sometimes you can actually fill it yourself at soda machines and it's usually refillable. Also most of the time water is free at a restaurant. You always get it next to your other order.
15. Traveling is SO easy! I was always very nervous on the airport or just nervous to travel in general. Now flying feels like taking the bus. It's just so easy to go from one place to another. There's no stress necessary.
16. The distances between locations are bigger but no one cares. Everyone just doesn't mind to drive around a lot. If we have to go to a place one hour away just to get something, no problem we'll just hop in the car whenever and leave and then drive back again. It doesn't seem like the time matters. In contrast, in the Netherlands we won't just drive to Amsterdam for instance just to get something and then drive back again. It's a whole trip we have to 'plan out'. Traveling through the US made me realize how tiny Europe actually is. The distances between different countries, cultures and invironments are so small. When Americans asked me which countries I visited and I could only name the general western Europian countries, they were like 'If I lived in Europe I would just roadtrip through all the countries. It's all so close to each other!". And that really made me think. Why didn't I do that or even think of that? It's so easy to just drive to a completely different place in a few hours. It really opened up my eyes. Now I see I should take advantage of the short distances in Europe and I will definitely do that in the future.
17. Home can be anywhere. I realized I feel at home at so many places. And actually home is not a place. It's living amongst those who love and honor you. Being in such a place with these wonderful people really creates a family atmosphere. And family is home.
18. Getting things done is fun. When I'm working on something it's so nice to see how something is improving and to see the end result. It just makes working so much fun because you know and see you made a change and that it was worth it. It was always so nice to just get the barn chores done and make everything look tidy. It's especially nice when all the work is done super early knowing you're gonna get the whole afternoon free no having to worry about anything.
19. Responsibility encourages motivation. When you have the responsibility over a certain job, a place, or being, it's easier to actually want to maintain it. It motivates you to work on or for it. When we had the responsibility over the horses, I wanted to do so much to take good care of them. Also we got the responsibility over our apartment which actually made me want to clean and organize everything. At home my motivation to clean is sooo sooo low. It's weird how it changes when you get responsibility over something.

That's about it I guess. I really fell in love with traveling. My first day at home again felt sooo weird. I haven't been homesick at all when I was in the US. But I was homesick when I actually was at home. I didn't actually want to step on that plane to Amsterdam. I didn't want that to be the end of my trip. I didn't want to leave the people I met on my trip, I didn't want to leave the beautiful New York City from which I wanted to see SO much more. I didn't want to leave the freedom I had on that trip, the new experiences I was gonna have. I just did not want to leave. At home everything is just the same. It's always the same. And I learned that I live for seeing new places. And I will do that in the future. I want to see the world and I'm going to.

Being at home is not bad though. I was so happy to see my friends and family again, my dog. It just felt weird because like I said, everything was exactly as how I left it. It was almost like I never left. As if my trip was a dream and now I'm back in reality again. Which is actually true. In reality you can't just go away and live a good life. You have to work for it. And that's what I'm gonna do now. I gonna work and learn so I can go travel again. But first... I still have summer vacation :) Oh what a good life.