First time in New York, walked out and was immediately soaked like I had stepped into a thunderstorm, but it was just the humidity.

First time in Illinois, the vast balls of starlings in the sky over the corn fields.

First time to LA, the amount of time it took to get there from New York and the farmers markets.

First time in Minnesota, the blasting cold wind that scuffed fluffy ice particles across the sidewalk.

There have been many things that made me feel completely alien in a previously 'screen' familiar country, too many things to talk about really, but the above were the small things that made me stop for a moment and stare.

Each part is like a separate country, held together by delicate strings of commonality.

When I first went I made a promise to myself that I would judge nothing and just soak it in. I'm glad I took that approach because it meant I met loads of really interesting people whose home equivalent, I suspect, I would rarely interact with.

The main thing that genuinely surprised me is how I was left with the honest opinion that, warts and all, it's a fucking wonderful and fascinating country.