Finishing another year of college is always a weird feeling, bringing everyone a year closer to the job market or graduate programs, both terrifying endeavors in their own right. Coming to the end of my semester abroad in Spain however, my thinking has been different than normal, completely ready to move forward. Despite having a fantastic experience living with a great family and in a city I now love, I could hardly be happier to return to the U.S., and can't wait for the next semester to start. While entering my senior year is exciting in and of itself, getting back to my home city and country brings with it a number of differences that I've sorely missed, though the changes for the worse can't be ignored either.

While I never experienced any severe “culture shock” during my time in Spain, everyone still runs into cultural differences. A kiss on each cheek as a greeting has never become entirely natural for me, the academic environment was never something I grew to love and the sorry state of what shows and movies are available legally will always make me wince. After six months, just reclaiming the right to watch most content legally on the internet will feel like a gift. Anticipating the next semester, I'm ready to be in a classroom of students who care about the course they're taking. While I've grown accustomed to living abroad, the various, often marginal, parts of the society I grew up in gain some degree of importance after being away for half a year.

Yet, I certainly can't say I won't miss living in Madrid, Spain. The practicality and breadth of service of the public transit system in Madrid surpasses any other I've seen; easy to understand, clean and a generally good experience that is hard to find in any other city. Coming from Buffalo, NY, a small city where most transit depends on having a car, it has been refreshing to see a system that just works and benefits the entire community. The accessible long-range public transit in Madrid makes the city feel that much more open and allows people to be that much more independent, not completely reliant on private transit to just visit the city center.

Even the reasonable drinking age in Spain, now 18, also has a noted effect on how independent you can feel. At least from an American perspective, it serves to underscore that university age adults are part of larger society, and can participate in all parts of the city without any one specific legal right withheld. Returning home while still 20, it will just feel strange not being able to have wine with my parents in a restaurant, or go to a bar with my friends.

Ultimately though, returning home has thankfully always been a happy experience for me. I have friends, family and pets waiting for me, and a city that I haven't seen in far too long. Living in what was at least once a port city, something I've noticed traveling to Galway and Amsterdam is how much I miss such a simple thing as being minutes away from a lake and harbor. I grew up next to a Great Lake, loving the lake effect snow and frozen wasteland in the winter, and beaches in the summer. And I think this one thing I miss, living next to the water, captures all the reasons I'm looking forward to being home. It's a combination of a whole host of simple differences that have coalesced into my life experience. Without even mentioning all the people I want to see, I can't wait to return to the small, simple differences that I've missed, little pieces of my life that I've been without.