Now that I have been back in the states for a few weeks, I feel like I can give a pretty accurate analysis of the differences. By differences I don’t just mean the obvious: food, people, language. The main difference I have been trying to get used to doesn’t have anything to do with my location. Most “things” are just the way I left them. The TV still has hundreds of channels to choose from. The 40oz drinks are still bottomless. Conan still comes on at 12:30am (eastern that is). You still don’t have to hold the showerheads up in the mornings. Towels still don’t feel like sandpaper. Fresh cleaned clothes still smell awesome. My bed is still soft. People still can’t smoke wherever they feel like it. You can still find any book you want in the library. Everything is still cheap. Everthing is still open from 2-5pm. Everything is still deep-fried. Everyone is still obese. Red meat is still good. Business classes are still boring, and you still aren’t allowed to stroll in a few minutes late.

Really, the main thing that’s changed is me. By the way, gagging at the cheesiness of that sentence is completely acceptable. It seems like everything is the same, but I am seeing it in a completely different way. I never really noticed how hurried everything is. People really like to stare at their watches. Nobody likes to wait. You’re either early, or your late. There is no “on time”.  I never noticed how much stress people put on themselves. I am looking around thinking, “Don’t worry, it’s just a test.  It’s just an extra shift. It’s just a pickle (even though she specifically asked for no pickles)”. People are getting really worked up around me, and I am still in the mellow, Spain-Mode. I’m trying to stay there as long as I can. I know it’s only a matter of time before it all sets back in though… tests, interviews, meetings, projects, resumes, jobs. But, let’s not break me out of my little happy bubble just yet. I am trying to instill this stress-free attitude into my daily life, but it gets hard. That’s the biggest change I have had to adjust to since coming back: trying to stay calm.

At the beginning of the trip, I was always looking for something to keep me busy. I always felt like there was something I had to do, somewhere I had to be. I used to make to-do lists with twenty different tasks I had to accomplish by the end of the day, but after a few weeks abroad I learned to just enjoy the free time. The only thing I had to worry about was what country I was going to go to that weekend.  Right now I am living by something a friend in Spain told me: if you’re still alive, you have nothing to worry about. Actually, I say all this stuff now, but come back to me in a couple months and I will be right back into the swing of the way I used to be. Here’s to hoping I don’t turn out to be like all of those people. Just kidding. Coming back during the summer has been a perfect way for me to transition back to life in the states. If I had to jump right back into another full semester right away, I would be having a much harder timer re-adjusting.  Taking a couple classes during the summer has definitely put me in the position to get used to real work again, which is good. As the guy at the passport agency in Sevilla told me, “Stress is good for you.” I agree, as long as it’s not all piled on at once.

Like I said, I have been back for a couple weeks now, so I felt like I had a good grasp on getting used to America. I say felt, because yesterday I went to the library. I went to a different part of the library though, a part I had never really walked by before, and on the side of one of the shelves it said, “Study Abroad.” So, obviously instead of studying for the test I had today, I started to skim the shelf. I think my biggest mistake was not looking in this section before I left. As I looked through the books,  I saw Study Abroad for Dummies. They have one of those friggin’ books for everything! So, I took that book, and one about the “25 best places to study abroad”.  As I skimmed past the checklists and course recommendations–while silently mocking people who are at that complicated stage of the process, and silently dying on the inside that none of that stuff applies to me anymore—I stumbled upon the last chapter, “Returning Home.” So, I pushed my Managerial Accounting notebook to the side once again, and dipped right into that chapter. With every word I read I was thinking, “YES! That’s exactly what I thought in the airport. I DO hate that about America now!” So, without copying and pasting the entire chapter here, I will try to get its point across. I am in a stage of “reverse-culture shock.” There are four stages, and I am in stage 3: alienation. When have you ever read the word alienation, and it be a good thing? Never! So, I slammed the book shut, tossed it aside, and pulled my Managerial Accounting notebook back in front of me. I unzipped my backpack, reached down to the bottom, and grimaced as I realized I just came all the way to the library without the book I need for the test tomorrow.

But, with a semester like I just had, who can expect to be fully adjusted to their old life so soon? It’s impossible. The things I’ve seen and learned about other cultures make me look at everything in my life a different way. For one, I want to see more. I have this huge fever (cowbell?) and I need to go places. The weird thing about it though, is that I want to see all of America. Going on the trip with a program that took people from all over the country was huge, because it opened my eyes to how different people are in the different regions. There were so many people from the west coast, which I had never really known people from before. It’s like a whole different country within a country. I may just be greedy though. I did get to spend four months in Europe. I got to go to places I have always wanted to go, like Italy. I revisited places I had already been, like Greece, for 10 days. I got to see places I probably never would have gone before, like Portugal. It never occurred to me that Portugal had anything to offer me at all. So naïve! ISA took us there for a weekend, and I was dying to go back. So I did! It was my favorite country of the trip. Most of all I got to live in Spain for four full months. I got to see almost every major city in the country. I learned so much more history than I ever thought I would, and I was actually interested. Everything anyone every told you about studying abroad is true. You become so much more culturally aware. You learn so much about others and yourself. It will be the best experience of your life. It gives you a chance to meet different people. Different in the best way too. My best friend from  the trip is the exact opposite of me. I live in the east. He lives in the west. I love the beach. He loves the mountains. I like movies. He doesn’t own a TV. My family is notorious for eating meat, with side orders of different meat. He is a vegetarian. The list goes on and on. It’s sickening the way he lives, actually. Vegetarians give me the creeps…

So, now it’s time to move on with life. What to do? Where to go? When? So many unanswered questions. So, what am I doing about this want to see new places, you ask? I’m not just all talk. Last weekend was Chicago, where I used to live, so that doesn’t really count. Next week? Boone, North Carolina. It’s not a new state, but it might as well be. My roommate Isaac lives there, and we realized how little we know about eachothers’ side of the state. I know nothing about the west, he knows nothing about the east. (Side note: it’s not just me. Isaac is in Washington state right now, he’s going to Alaska, and he’s living in Africa this summer with his family) After Boone, I have a few more days of classes before I head out to the Caribbean for a week. From there I fly straight to Chicago again to see family, and some friends from the trip. From there? Seeing as I turn 21 during the cruise to the Caribbean, I will celebrate adequately in Las Vegas. From there? Montana to visit aforementioned friend from trip, Don Juan. From there? Classes start up again. They have to eventually. I don’t know how to end this blog though. I did lapse on it for a couple weeks, but I was trying to soak up all my time in Sevilla while I could. I’m glad I did it, though. My paper journal lasted about 3 days before I gave up on it. Plus, I can’t lose this one now. Thanks for reading, and I hope it helped! Who knows though, this might not be the last blog. Maybe I’ll go abroad again. Maybe… Chile? South Africa? New Zealand? We’ll see.  I’ll keep you posted.