We're nearing the end of spring break, and similar to this time last year, I feel things are slowly but surely coming to a close. There's a basic countdown of things that most seniors have in mind after spring break, and I guess I'm no exception. It goes something like this:
- Scholarships
- Prom
- Graduation
- Summer
- Work for college money
- Use said college money to go out with friends and/or buy tacos
- College
It's strange because a year ago, I wasn't thinking too much about these things, apart from deciding which college to attend. I was busy working on my Spanish, traveling to different places, and making the most of my exchange year with friends. That's a part of exchange though -- many exchange students say that, "Exchange isn't a year in your life; it's a life in a year." Now, I find that almost too cheesy to even publish in this blog, but there is some truth to it. If your exchange is good, then your host country will become another home, almost as if it's a life separate than your actual home. This is great on exchange, however, when coming home it can make things quite complicated.
It's like this: when you first go to your host country, it isn't like another home. It's foreign and unfamiliar. Coming back to your home country is quite different in the sense that it is home. Even after a year abroad, it is a special part of you where your family, friends, and familiar places await you, yet you still have your host country/second home in mind.
Am I making sense?
This is why coming home can be so difficult. Your heart is in two places but you can only stand in one. Sometimes, jumping back into your life of your home country is hard because the once-familiar seems foreign; some people call this reverse culture shock. For most people, reverse culture shock is harder to deal with than the original culture shock in their host country.
For me, everything went pretty well the first few days being back. Everyone was curious about my year in Spain, and I was excited to tell them. Nuria arrived in Iowa the day after I got back, which was both exciting and strange to be on the other side of hosting. I got back into working and running with the cross country team, and school actually started about two or three weeks after coming home. It was easy to stay busy, something that we as Americans are notorious for. After a month though, things were different. People stopped asking about Italy or Brazil or wherever it was that I went. For me, it was hard to realize that I was actually staying home. I wouldn't be returning to Spain anytime soon, and Newton wasn't just a vacation. (Isn't it weird how similar the inbound and rebound year are?)
School was much harder, that's for sure! I wasn't used to studying so much! Figuring out who to hang out with was kinda weird -- a lot of my close friends had moved or graduated while I was in Spain. In cross country I was motivated, but physically I wasn't in shape! I didn't gain weight in Spain, however, I did lose just about all my muscle and replaced it with Nutella. My family was pretty awesome about things because they tried to understand what I was going through, even though they couldn't completely. For a while I was consistently thinking in Spanglish still, and a few times I awkwardly blurted things out in Spanglish. My English is definitely worse than before as far as spelling goes, but it's improving. I retook the ACT and scored 3 points lower than my sophomore year. Advice to outbounds: make sure to take the ACT/SAT before you go abroad!! In Spain I would see people and think they were friends from the U.S. Well now I see people in the U.S. who remind me of people in Spain! It can be quite confusing and sad sometimes.
As I near the end of my senior year though, I can say that things do get better. For all my dear exchange students reading this, don't worry, because it will get better, just like it does on your exchange. My study habits still aren't great, but they're better. I'm in track/field right now, and I've almost got all my muscle back ;) (Even with eating Nutella). I've even got some pretty nice friends, if I do say so myself. (Shout-out to some of them at the bottom!) I'm also a part of Rotex, a group of students that have gone on exchange and now mentor current inbound/outbound students. We (in Rotary District 6000) are in the process of making Rotex an official organization. Our ultimate goal is to improve Rotary Youth Exchange.
I could go on and on about the roller coaster of exchange because it doesn't just end when you leave your host country. (For your sake, I won't.) Some people say that after exchange, you are never truly at home. It's a sad truth, but the thought of having another place across the globe to call yours is pretty cool. I can't wait to visit Spain again, but it may be a while. I have to figure out how to pay for this whole college deal first. Until then, I'll continue to Skype and Tweet my friends in Spain, in addition to the other exchange students I met in Spain that are scattered across the globe.
The moral of this story is that life goes on, but it's okay. A lot of changes happen during this stage of life for people my age - for rebounds all the feelings that go along with it are just multiplied by about 10,000. But we survive -- we even have fun with it. Coming "home" can be a fresh start if you make it to be.
Okay, I'll stop now.
Lots of love,
Josie
 |
| Shout-out to some of the people who have helped me the most this year! Ben, Me, Nuria, and Carolyn. Zombies for life! (Get it?) |