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We interrupt your scheduled blog for two important announcements from our sponsors!
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Now, back to your regularly scheduled blog…
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At this point I have been back in the States for a week. Any lingering effects from jet-lag have probably worn off, although I don’t know for sure. My jet-lag was such that I fully woke up around 7:30 or 8, regardless of how much sleep the night held. And as I have been getting up at 6:30 this week in order to go to work, I haven’t been able to see if I can make it to 9.
Some say the reverse culture shock is worse than the initial culture shock of entering a foreign country to spend a small or decent-sized chunk of your life. Maybe it’s just a carry-over from the laid-back, take-things-as-they-come lifestyle I cultivated in Europe, or maybe I’m suppressing the shock, but my re-entry has not been too terribly traumatic. Granted, there was some internal resistance to the idea of leaving, however wonderful I knew it would be to see family and friends again. My arrival into Chicago’s O’Hare stood in stark contrast to Brussels and everywhere I had been the past four months. I lapsed into generalization: lumping Americans into the overweight-from-fast-food, poorly dressed, mono-lingual stereotype some Europeans have come to hold. Not to say that I have become European in my ways of thinking (…I don’t think), but I did find the (generalizing again) thin, well-dressed, multi-lingual stereotype of Europe to be fairly apt. When boarding the inter-airport train that ferried passengers between terminals, I mused how some (myself previously included) would find that a novelty, whereas in Paris (and my brief stay in London) the metro was just another part of my daily routine. I overheard a few people speaking in French and almost grinned.
My first few days I holed up at home and avoided the necessary evil that was/is thinking. And since after that I’ve been working and life seems to have picked up right where I left it (along with a significant temperature drop), I still haven’t really gotten around to contemplating the following fact:
I went to Europe. The whole idea of studying abroad actually became a reality, and that dream which I spent 3 years anticipating and planning is now over. I went to Europe and travelled and survived.
Change has never made the shortlist for one of my favorite things. In some ways it grows easier, being more acclimated to it as time passes. But in other ways, the changes just seem to get bigger, and thus the ratio producing unpleasantness remains the same.
I don’t really know how to sum up, much less explain, the last four months. Actually I think it an impossible task. My life went on, much like yours did, and four months passed. It just so happens that I was in Europe for the duration.
Now I am back. The shoes I wore before I left still fit, but I walked a lot more in France and England and Italy; they aren’t as comfortable anymore. I think it’s going to take a little time to figure out whether I just need to keep wearing them until they re-form to fit perfectly again, or do the Europe shoes need to come out and get used to the feel of the clutch pedal and snow and grass.
(I’m looking into Australia and New Zealand, if you were wondering).
comments away!