Hello again! I’m back for one last post about, well, I hope
you know what this is about by now!
Sidenote: When I published this post, the date said June 13th... I was confused until I realized it's still set to the Central European Time zone... :.(
Sidenote: When I published this post, the date said June 13th... I was confused until I realized it's still set to the Central European Time zone... :.(
So it’s been exactly one month since I got back (cry face again)
and both a lot and a lot of nothing has happened.
I flew to Rome from Detroit, but I had booked a multiple
city flight so I could fly into Minneapolis/St. Paul to visit with family for a
few weeks before I headed back to Michigan to begin reality again. My flight
home was smooth (I watched four movies, two episodes of New Girl, and one
episode of the Big Bang theory), except for my limited one hour to get through
customs and security again at the Detroit airport, but I made it to my gate
five minutes before boarding and landed safely in St. Paul less than two hours
later. I waited for a little bit to get my luggage, and right as I had gathered
it all and sat down, my parents and sister walked up with flowers and big hugs
to give.
I wasn’t exactly tired yet, even though I had been traveling
for 18 hours and had been up for 20, but I started to get groggy as soon as I
got to my grandparents house and sat down. It took about four or five days to
really recover from my jetlag, but I was able to function so it wasn’t really a
huge problem for me!
I hadn’t really experienced much culture shock when I had arrived
in Rome and traveled in Europe, at least no negative aspects of culture shock,
but I was expecting a little more from the reverse-culture shock. There were
some things I experienced, such as the overwhelming smell of fast-food
everywhere, the unattractiveness of buildings and etc., and even the annoyance
of understanding everyone and everyone being able to understand me. But I think
what was least enjoyable upon my return was the feeling of slipping right back
into my “American” routine; feeling that the past four months hadn’t actually
happened.
My friend posted this blog post on Facebook a few days after
I returned, and I of course shared it because I wanted to read it later, but I
didn’t really start feeling these things the article describes until about two
weeks after my return. It’s a really good read, and doesn’t take very long!
I enjoyed spending time with my family both in Minnesota and
Wisconsin for about eight days, and then my sister and I drove back to the
mitten (I will admit, I truly missed driving), I moved in with my best friend
for a long weekend, worked at my old job for four days, and then moved into my
apartment in Mt. Pleasant on May 26th. I haven’t spent much time
there or with my new roommates yet because I have been driving back and forth
between here and Stanwood working at my two different jobs. I will admit, it is
nice to be back at work; I hadn’t realized I had missed it that much. Shameless
plug, stop by the Dreamer Coffee Shop sometime and maybe I’ll be there to
shower you with my European tales – open from 9-6 every day except Sunday!
My extended family members have by far asked me the
best/most interesting questions about my experience, and for that I am really
grateful. Talking about it has been one
of the hardest things to do. I was able to have discussions with people who
have also traveled and care just as much about what I learned as where I went
and what I saw. Of course, they still had to ask the question, “What was your
favorite place you went to/favorite part about the whole trip?” My answer to
that varies somewhat. It’s so hard, nearly impossible, to pick one thing out of
the whole four months and label it “my favorite.” So I would say, I loved
visiting Prague and Ireland because of the varying types of beauty and the
people (plus I am part Irish and Czech), but my favorite place was Rome because
I spent the most time and actually lived there and experienced it in such a
different way than any tourist does. My favorite part of the whole trip? Well,
to put it simply, living in Rome. I am unable to describe it well, but it’s so
different, in neither a good or bad way – just different. You have to learn new
things, change and adapt old habits and lifestyle, adjust to a different
culture, and live.
I’ve also been asked a lot if I would move there for good.
My answer is probably not. I absolutely loved living there, and would
definitely live there for a few years or more, but the Italian film industry isn’t
quite where I want to pursue my career, so that ultimately decides for me.
I mentioned that talking about my experience has been hard
for me since I returned. It’s not because I don’t want to talk about it, or
don’t have anything to say, it’s just hard to say what I mean sometimes. But
for the most part, people don’t want to listen. Don’t talk about it enough and
people forget you were there, talk about it too much and they get annoyed. When I was in Rome… Stop bragging, we
know you were in Europe. I get it, I would be jealous too. But the people I
want to tell the most about it don’t want to listen. So I don’t talk about it
much. And when I do, it’s the pleasantries. How
was your trip?! It was great, I want to go back so bad… I bet, that must have
been so much fun.
Yes, thank you, it was fun.
I’ve been putting off this blog post, because once again, I
wasn’t entirely sure what to say. I know what everyone wants to hear, and all
of that’s true too – my experience was phenomenal, I learned so much, traveled
a lot, and fell in love with Rome (sorry, not any Tall Dark and Handsome’s) –
but there’s a lot more to it.
When I got to Rome, I had a lot of adjustments to make, a
lot of new people to meet, and an entirely new culture and city to learn. It
was new and exciting. Coming home, I fell back into my same old life-style for
the most part, just in a new apartment. I am thrilled to get back to work on
summer productions and screenplays for Central Premiere Productions that I will
be Secretary for in the fall, to join the Alternative Breaks Advisory Board as
the International Breaks Chair, and to resume my volunteer service as a
leadership facilitator for the Michigan Association of Student Councils and
Honors Societies. I am excited to start classes again in the fall, and to see
all of my friends here again. But to be completely real, it is boring. I’ve
gotten used to it again, and it was nice to take a little bit to just be lazy
and recover from my hectic semester, but now I need to find things to do to
fill my time. I’ve always been like this, so that’s nothing new, but it’s
harder now that I know what traveling to a different country every other
weekend is like.
And to sum up everything I’ve said: I have absolutely nothing
to complain about. I had an eye-opening, life-changing experience, and have a
life with routines to fall back into. There are always going to be challenges
(my whole study abroad wasn’t a lounge on the beach, let me tell you), but I’m
lucky to only remember the positives from every experience in my life. Studying
abroad is one of the best decisions I have ever made, and I need to stop typing
now because I’m starting to miss Europe too much.
Observation of the
Day: It couldn’t have been more perfect that a regular at The Dreamer who works
in the English department came in today and had an awesome discussion with me
about traveling and living abroad! The most exciting thing is, I will never
stop learning from this experience even though the actual physical experience
is over. It will live on in my memories. And the thousands upon thousands of
pictures I took. So until my hard drive, backup hard drive, and heart stop
beating…
Arrivederci ragazzi! Buona giornata.
Fino alla prossima volta mia bella Roma.
