Tuesday, August 2, 2011

Back in the U-S-of-A!

Welcome back to me! Tomorrow marks one week that I've been back stateside, but I'm leaving for the beach (sorry, SHORE) tomorrow at the crack of dawn and will be gone for three nights, so I thought it'd be best to update before I left.

Just one week ago, I was living up my very last night abroad in Heidelberg, but honestly, the way I feel now, that same night could've been months ago. As everyone said when they returned, absolutely nothing has changed. I'm back into my same old routine, driving places every day, seeing the same people, bummin' around the same house, eating the same food, etc. My five amazing months could have honestly been one big dream-- it's a pretty weird feeling.

The first few days I was home I was staying fairly busy-- out every night (including a night out in DC with Kelly and Kelsey and another for Mollie's 21st!) I was also keeping myself busy by seeing lots of people, buying alcohol just because I can, and unpacking. The last few days have been very uneventful though-- errands, pool, chilling around the house (literally chilling though, gotta stay in the house because it is SO HOT outside... I'm not complaining though...I'd take this heat over the incessant gray skies through which we were suffering in Heidelberg for the last few weeks!)

All this down time has given me a lot of time to think and reflect, though. I am very happy to be home, and to just have a solid few weeks to relax and see the people I missed so much, but the transition to life back here has just been so sudden. Mollie and I went for a walk tonight (one of the things I miss most is just being outside all the time!) and we had a really good talk. She's been back almost six weeks now, but she is still going through the same things that I am now starting to feel.

Basically, life abroad was just a constant going-going-going. We were always on the move, always shopping, biking, exploring new towns, traveling on the weekends, going out to dinner or to bars after classes, grilling on the Wiese... just always being around each other and always taking advantage of everything the city and life abroad had to offer! Now I'm back in my home, where I've lived for nearly all my life, and that going-going-going mentality has escaped me. Mollie and I talked about wanting to bring that back to school with us, though...and reallllly trying to do so. I feel that abroad, we all just saw the bigger picture in every aspect of life and never let any moments pass us by (especially for risk of fomo!!!) The petty drama that so often consumes my life at BC didn't follow me to Heidelberg. Our AJY group realized that we had a deadline on our time, and instead of letting drama be created, we all lived in the moment and were all friendly to each other and were just, as corny as it sounds, one big happy family. Even on lazy days, instead of just sitting around our rooms looking at Facebook, someone would propose an excursion or activity on the group page and people would just show up. Despite doing so much, life was just so simple! As Mollie said she realized after she spent a week in Morocco, happiness is just so simple. Don't let petty acts or occurrences get you down and just take advantage of everything you have.

Now I'm not trying to say that I am just going to go crazy with this whole 'carpe diem' approach to life, because obviously one still has to consider repercussions for actions and demands back at BC are immensely greater than those I had abroad, but I just want to take the same mind set back to school and even try to keep it for life. Being abroad taught me to go for what I want and just enjoy life! People ask me "how was Germany?" Well, I can't really answer that. My abroad experience as a whole was amazing-- as I said, I'm happy to be home but I wouldn't have traded it for anything. The mixture of Heidelberg, the people in AJY, and being immersed in the European way of life all combined to make one incredible semester. It's too soon to say what I learned about myself, but I definitely learned a whole lot about life and how to enjoy it, which I think really says a lot considering I was enjoying life a hell of a lot before I left-- so much that I didn't even want to go! I think the key to enjoyment is pushing yourself into new experiences, even if it's just getting into the city a few times a month to get a change of scenery. I'm going to make a real effort to not get stuck in the BC bubble when I get back and just really capitalize on the opportunities I have for my last year of college.

So there are my thoughts right now. Most of them pertain to going back to school, because that's now where I spend the majority of my time and I view being home for three weeks more as just a little break between abroad and my home in Boston. Now if anyone reading this has interacted with me since I've been home or does interact with me in the next couple weeks, please realize that I am not sad, I am simply reflective. This was a long-ass post, so as you can see, I've had a hell of a lot upon which to reflect!