How to describe going home from an exchange....

I think about this quiet often. It was not an easy thing for me to do. It was probably the most challenging thing for me in my entire life. Reverse culture shock. Tonight one of the exchange students who is living in Missouri posted a video that put the feelings into pretty good words. It may ever make complete sense unless you experience it on your own, but this is definitely a small glimpse into the reality of reverse culture shock. This is not meant to discourage anyone from studying abroad because no matter how difficult reverse culture shock is the experience is worth every rollar coaster of emotion! This is just meant to let you know its not always easy going home.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mVivIYkP9DI

Born to travel

      As I'm laying in bed foreseeing what I assume will be a sleepless night all I can do is think about how lucky I am to be traveling so soon after my big trip this past winter break. I have been chosen to be a co-trainer at the AFS Returnee Leadership Summit in Washington D.C. Along with going to Washington D.C. for the first time I'm heading out there a couple of days early. I am going to go visit Claire and stay with her there for a couple of days. For those of you who have read my whole blog you'll remember she was one of my good friends in Berlin. We actually met through our blogs! She saw my blog and contacted me there shortly after I moved to Berlin and then we connected and started hanging out a lot!
      The last time I saw Claire was a time I couldn't blog about. There were so many emotions about going home I wouldn't of even been able to put them into words if I had wanted to. Now its much easier to talk about the reverse culture shock! The last time Claire and I saw each other was in Washington D.C. where the CBYX kids had to stay in DC and go down one hallway and the students who were continuing home that day had to go through another hallway. We had been together that last day in berlin when we both left our families and friends and even on the airplane we sat next to each other recollecting on our past year and experience. We never really realized that'd we be leaving each other. We knew we had to leave our families and friends but it never registered that she was going home to Pennsylvania and I was going back to Missouri. We had talked about s both taking a gap year and heading to South America to have another exchange experience, but that didn't work out the way we had planned! We have always stayed in touch here and there. She's actually the one who recommended me for the AFS internship after she had been working there with the Returnee Initiative as well.
      So here we are almost three years after the day we parted from each other in Washington D.C., and tomorrow we will be reunited in Washington D.C.
We both think that this will end up like the sleepovers we had in Berlin whether it be at my family's house, her family's, or Uscha's. I can't wait to see Claire to catch up with her and then add another city to my list of places I've visited.
     After I hang out with Claire I'll be heading to the Leadership Summit where I'm excited to be able to lead many more returnees in the direction of taking on the role of Returnee Coordinator!
     

Sundays I'm Berlin

Sundays in Berlin with my host family are some of my favorite days. Breakfast starts at noon at the earliest and then the rest of the day is spent relaxing and usually watching soccer. I was able to use the Internet this day as well for the first time since I had left Munich. I had 70 emails 20 Facebook notifications, 5 Facebook messages, and about 10 whatsapp texts. Three days without using the Internet made me realize how much I use technology to communicate. It's pretty crazy. I took about an hour to catch up, and I'm pretty sure I still have a lot more to do to get caught up. I hope that I can get caught up while I'm here, but realistically to be completely caught up ill probably have to wait until I get home in the US on Wednesday. I'm excited to go home. I've had a great trip and I want to end on a high note. I'm starting to not feel well and to get a head cold. I'm hoping it'll go away, so by the time I have to fly hopefully my head won't explode. 

Note: I had enough cold medicine to make it through the flights home. There was terrible weather and getting home was another adventure. I ended up having to text my sister Ari to facebook my mom when I'd be home. I was rebooked and transfered from flights all over the place! I didn't end up going to half the airports I was supposed to, but since i was flying internationally I was rebooked. I finally landed at midnight, but my luggage wasn't there. It got left in New York since I constantly switching flights! I'm glad I got home though, and it was definitely a learning experience for when I'll be in the business world and traveling. 

If I have kids they are not going to school in the U.S.

I just realized I never posted all my blog posts... so here they are from January!

Today at dinner ( my first night in Berlin) I met a girl that is learning 6 languages right now. She is learning Turkish and Arabic at home from her parents, and them English, Chinese, French, and German in the classroom. Next year she starts Spanish as well. Sure she goes to a private school, but that's amazing. This girl is also just in the second grade. When someone is that young it is so easy to learn more languages. I wish the US would do the same. This is why if I have kids they will not go to school in the US. They will be learning languages that will help them get ahead in life. When talking to this little girl all I could think about is all the opportunities she will have when she's older just because she knows 6 languages and maybe even more by the time she is done with school. It's so neat that someone so young can speak so many languages!