I've been back for three and a half months now. Which is almost as long as I lived in Amman. And a third of the time I was gone.
The last three and a half months have flown by without much to remark on. I spent most of the summer fitting back in and pretending I wasn't a disaster. I don't think I fooled anyone. School has been going on for a little over a month. We finished putting together issue no. 6 of The Sun Star last night.
Life keeps going on.
I read a lot of study abroad blogs.
I like watching the posts go by in this order:
I wish there were more returned-from-study-abroad blogs. So I could keep tabs on how I was doing. As far as I can tell this is the order:
The last three and a half months have flown by without much to remark on. I spent most of the summer fitting back in and pretending I wasn't a disaster. I don't think I fooled anyone. School has been going on for a little over a month. We finished putting together issue no. 6 of The Sun Star last night.
Life keeps going on.
I read a lot of study abroad blogs.
I like watching the posts go by in this order:
- I LOVE IT!
- Um, do I love it? Now I'm confused and foreign.
- JK, totes love it again.
- Now I'm leaving... FEEL ALL THE EMOTIONS.
I wish there were more returned-from-study-abroad blogs. So I could keep tabs on how I was doing. As far as I can tell this is the order:
- Whoa. America. Hot water. Cool.
- I miss ALL the things.
- I'm actually pretty lost and heartbroken and upset and NO ONE UNDERSTANDS ME.
- Ok, I'm so busy, I don't have emotions to expend on this anymore.
If you studied/lived/served/danced abroad and came home, let me know how you're doing. Let me know that I'm not crazy or that I am crazy or that you just miss the way your roommates would cheer you up with horrible movies and hookah or that you hated everything and you're happy to be home or something. Tell me something.
It's pretty much as you say, Elika. People say something funny that reminds me of something similar, I say something that brings me back to a good/bad moment, while telling stories to others about the trips; it's all just nuts.
ReplyDeleteYou're totally right about one thing for sure though: people who haven't lived abroad just won't understand a lot of the stuff the cool peeps go through during/after these things. Arguments, disagreements, laughs, tears, walks, time spent laying on the beach, drinking in a circle surrounded by friends, afternoon barbecues all went into some of the craziest stuff I've ever done.
But hey, we inspire each other, eh?
-Shaun
I was in Haifa for a year and a half. I miss it all the time, but it DOES get easier, and I appreciate the things I have here, too. Keep on trucking. :-)
ReplyDeleteThat is my order entirely, except the whole through, I just never had the time to stop and assess all the wondrous things I had previously encountered. I can't believe it has been 14 weeks back, already. In that time period I would have so many new experiences if I were still abroad. But here, for the last 6 weeks I have been pressed for time, and before that balancing work and packing. I have yet to find the remedy for balancing my interests, my personality, and cultural attributes with the demands of life back in America.
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