Hi, I’m Kate.
In case the title of this blog was ambiguous, I’m British. This is me.
I like coffee and hot places.
“British?!” I hear you interject. “Aren’t the Brits known for drinking tea and surviving cold, wet weather?” Indeed, you’d be right. That’s why I’m going to stop you right there and clarify that my “Britishness” ends at my accent, and my passport. Coffee in hot places = happy Kate.
It also makes for a much better photo.
This photo, on the other hand, was taken in London during the summer.
If the disgruntled look of distress isn’t clear, I can confirm that this isn’t my happy face. No amount of tea makes up for how I felt at this moment. So if I have to sacrifice good ol’ British tea for hot foreign weather, then get me on the first flight out of here. And that’s where my story begins actually. Albeit, not quite so dramatically. Though, ironically, this photo was taken just before I got my Visa at the American Embassy. It was like Britain’s middle finger response to me leaving the country. But I digress.
So, who am i?
When I named this post, I thought I’d just put together a no-nonsense, impersonal blurb about myself:
i.e. 22 y/o British/Filipolo* female; studying at Grad School in the US; currently coming to terms with the ridiculously huge gaps in bathroom stalls and the size of burritos at Chipotle.
* The distinctive fusion of Filipino and Polish ethnicities
However, while pondering about how I could introduce myself (without sounding like a lonely, miserable alien who had made a rash decision to move to America, and subsequently document her painfully normal life on the internet), I realized that the question I had given myself wasn’t actually that simple. In fact, “Who am I?” suddenly became the most difficult question in the world. Well, after “Why is that person watching me through the gap in my toilet cubicle?” and “What is cilantro and why won’t you accept that I don’t want it on my burrito?” Once again, I digress.
“WHO ARE YOU?! ANSWER THE GODDAMN QUESTION!”
Sorry, but I can’t.
A new country, new surroundings, new cultures, and new communities have thrown that question up in the air and now I find myself embarking on a journey where I’m asking myself that very question.
I’ve been here for three months now, and so it’s time to take a good look at my new environment and document some of my new experiences. And eventually, maybe I’ll start to figure out the question: who am I?
But for now I still want to know why there is so much goddamn cilantro in my burrito.
This whole “find myself” journey thing might take a while.
katebritain 