I'm Back...

I never got around to posting my “I’m Back” status on Facebook, but I am back. This is so weird to be typing what will be my last post from this “adventure” (unless I get the pictures from my class trip to Croatia and have to document some of that here). I have had what is undoubtedly the craziest, most fun, challenging, unique year of my entire 18 years of existence. I am still shocked to hear people speak English when I walk through the mall. I am still so confused by the fact that I can just call up my friends and family on a whim….and see them. I am still excited to see Reese’s on the grocery store shelves, and be able to buy literally anything I want to in my local Meijer!

Although I could never summarize year in a little paragraph I have some high points for you all.

·         I met and became like a LARGE family with a group of people from all over the world…who have couches I can sleep on: hence I have amazing new friends and places to stay/reason to travel all over the world!

·         I can speak another language, which is something I have always wanted to do.

·         Being able to travel to 11 (12 if you count airports) new countries!

And so much more, please just know that!

Although I am really excited and amazed at our country and all of its splendor, my family, and being around my friends once again I have to tell you that the whole reverse culture shock thing is all too real (still… almost a month later). In my first weeks back I pretty much ignored everyone I know by going on my church mission trip and working to meet new people, ducking into random buildings at the fair, and generally being a hermit. I was all too aware of how loud everybody here is, how much people here hug all over you, and how casually the normal American dresses for a day out. I am slowly but surely getting back into the swing of things, but I promise it might take a while.

So as I sit in “my room” here in the USA surrounded by the contents of the suitcase I cannot bring myself to unpack I am thinking about the great adventure which started one year ago today, all of the incredible friendships I gained this year, and how much I want to go back to Austria and at the same time explore the rest of the world. I am totally in between in my life. My friends have spread to the wind and away from each other. I recently went to the fair…without an animal to show. That was WEIRD! But I survived and   Although I am really not sure if I will ever be able to wear a tee-shirt out of the house ever again, or hear some music from my year without welling up in tears I know that I am SO GLAD that I took the leap and spent a year in Austria instead of doing what I was “supposed to” and I wouldn't have it any other way.

So that's it for now. I guess  I need to sign off. unpack my suitcases, and move forward with my life into more of the unknowns. Even though I know I will not be living as much of a day-to-day adventure, I am excited to see what is next in my life, excited to see what Central has in store for me as a business major, and terrified of what the future might hold; just as I was when I went to Austria and before the beginning of every. great. experience. ever. Here goes nothing...

Four Questions

Since I have been back and slowly readjusting myself to the world I am constantly being asked four things,

1.    How was your trip?

      2.  Are you happy to be back?

      3.   Can you speak German/do you get to test out of lots of college classes?

      4.   Were you homesick?

Let me shed some light on all of these questions

      1.  Which trip? One of my visits to Italy or German? Euro tour? Croatia? My year in Austria was NOT a trip. I went to school, lived with a family, and experienced everything you would in an entire year of life and overall it was INCREDIBLE and I feel so incredibly blessed to have been given the opportunity to go to Austria and live out a year of my life!

      2.   I feel conflicted at best. After a year away I have a whole group of people who are important to me that I did not have a year ago. I miss them A LOT! My friends and the people who acted as my family, both my host family and the other exchange students, are people who I feel missing in my everyday life.

      3.   Ja…. And nope. I worked on forming a functional use of the German language and maybe skipped some of the grammatical subtleties to study German at a higher level and filled in my gaps with dialect. I could go on all day about how our system of learning a language in American is fundamentally flawed, but that is a topic for another day.

      4.  The simple answer is no. See number 3. The group of support people I had in Austria was beyond incredible and I was often so busy I did not have time to be homesick.

Now that you have all of those answers I would LOVE to talk to you about how the culture differs from our own, how the food was, what my daily life was like etc… Excuse my sassiness, but I just needed to put that out into the universe. I hope you don’t all hate me now…