While I’ve been keeping in touch with people back home, I started to feel a little homesick this week and realized I hadn’t actually heard anyone’s voice in almost a month. That’s what happens when you can’t always FaceTime or call. It’s not that I’m not happy where I am because believe me, I am, it’s just that I wish I could be sharing it with them too.

The people out here are great but there’s something comforting about being around people who really know you I miss. I don’t know why it never really hit me that hard in Napa–maybe because I still had a few people nearby or knew I’d see them again in a few months–but this time it’s torture.

The Super Bowl didn’t help either. While I was obviously rooting for Boston and overjoyed when they won, it was a bummer not being able to run through the streets to the Commons like we did in ’15. I guess that comes with the territory though. No matter how nice it would be, we can’t be everywhere at once.

Wednesday afternoon we got off work early so I was at least able to FaceTime a few West Coasters, which made me feel like new. And if all goes according to plan I’ll be meeting up with a few to travel Croatia, Scandinavia and Ireland in 100 days so I really can’t complain.

Also on the bright side, work’s been picking up! It’s a lot of vineyard management right now since the grapes are just starting to turn, but it’s nice being outside so much. The spiders and minor cuts I could live without but I knew what I was getting myself into.

Not to mention the weekend adventures! While Clare itself is charming, since we have the time we’ve been traveling as much on the weekends as possible. I’ve written about the Coonawarra trip but haven’t even gotten to Barossa or Adelaide Hills yet so stay tuned!

On the dark side, life in the states seems insane right now. It’s impossible to keep up with things at the rate they’re happening, but what I’ve gathered is enough. Muslim bans? Pipelines? Walls?

Let’s just say we watched Valkyrie the other night and it didn’t seem too far off.

Tl;dr miss you America. Stay strong, keep fighting for what you believe in and I’ll see you on the other side.