Culture shock?!

Culture shock is a
condition of confusion and anxiety affecting a person suddenly exposed to an alien culture or milieu (Dictionary.com).

Spending 12 days away from home in a modern European country where English is an official language and whose culture we have heard of and studied will not surely trigger such a shock.

The shock which I experienced was on my exiting of the plane, on my realisation that I am back home. It is not really a culture shock, it is an Environment Shock.

• Every day in Wales, I woke up to the chirping of birds, saw hundreds of them flying around, hunting and nesting (many of these are locally stuffed and displayed and form part of a hunter's pride).
  
• The weather in Wales was hotter than usual according to the locals, but nonetheless, everywhere was green. Back here all is dry and seaminlgy lifeless (though in fact it is not).
  
• I hear people say that we Maltese are the kindest...well than how do you describe the British? They are the first people to start a conversation, with the icebreaker being often the weather. They love our country, for its weather, beer especially Bugibba. In fact, they rarely go much away from there. They are also patient and kind.

I really love Wales and the great outdoors, together with the preservation and conservation of what nature and our forefathers have left us. I admit, I saw signs of degradation, present and past, such as the wide stretches of forest land cleared to accomate grazing fields as well as logging. But still, I felt as if I have spent more than 12 days there. We all did.

I am under culturo-environment shock!