Winding Down

Everything is pretty much winding down over here. One more week of class and then finals and a lot of things are swirling around my head right now. I'm really excited to be home and see my family and friends but whats more is to just see how I have changed. I'm really curious to see how I will adapt to life back at home as API does a lot to warn us about the transition. Apparently this reverse culture shock stuff is the real deal and they have given us a lot of reading on what to expect and how to deal with it. There are a bunch of statements from past API students on the API website about their experiences with returning to school and home and they aren't pretty. A lot of frustrations with returning to a more fast paced society and feeling as though they have had this experience that no one else can understand. I feel so lucky that I have so much to go home to and so much to look forward to and keep me busy this summer(job, sister getting married, amazing family and friends, etc) and feel that I will be more than fine on returning home. I don't feel as though I need to worry, I feel really ready to go home, a lot more so than a lot of the people here, the biggest thing I feel that I have learned while being here is how great my life at home really is. I love where i'm from, where I go to school, my friends, and my family. I have so much more pride for being an American now and having what I have. A lot of the people here have become "Anti-American" but I feel the exact opposite. I love America! I think it's pretty sad actually. I just don't understand how you can have so much disdain for where you are from. Who knows, this could all change the second I step off the plane but I feel like I have become so much more patriotic since being here and I am really proud of that change! I don't know, i'm just really curious to see myself adapt and see what I miss about my time abroad and what I don't. It will definitely be very interesting, I just hope I don't become one of those people who can't ever stop talking about or comparing their time abroad to real life. Please tell me to shut up if I do.