Spending a semester abroad comes with many emotions. You pack everything you need into 2 suitcases, and jet off to see the world without your family. You are forced to be independent and keep yourself together, but you also get to be adventurous. You experience the world in a different light, you have the privilege of doing and seeing things that many people won't get to do, and you learn a lot about yourself in the 4 or so months you are gone. You could probably talk endlessly about your experiences, the people you met and the foods you tried and the crazy bus stories that sound like you made them up.
But then, you have to go back to regular college campus life.
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Now what? Your life up to the point of studying abroad was focused on getting ready to leave. And now you aren't quite sure how it's going to feel to put yourself back onto campus and be an American college kid again.
Let me tell you my experience of this, as I sit in my dorm after spending 4 months in London with my First Year Honors Program.
I spent a grand total of one fall semester on campus as a freshman, and then took off for London during the spring semester. And now I'm back as a sophomore, but it feels more like being a freshman. I've had people ask me if I'm a freshman, many don't recognize my face anymore, and I keep hearing of things that happened on campus during the spring that I missed. The people on campus have grown and changed, just as I have.
I guess coming back, I expected everything to be the same. The friend groups, the campus itself, the way I felt about being here. But it's simply not. Some people have transferred out, some have transferred in, there are new faces. I have new responsibilities this semester, I have a different room, and I don't hang out with the same people. I have no knowledge of the annual spring Hall Brawl, or the little things that happened on campus last semester.
I get asked a lot, "you were in London, right?" or "how was London???". Yes, and it was amazing. You kind of become The Girl Who Went To London whom people vaguely know was here at the beginning of last year, disappeared, posted some Big Ben photos on Instagram, and then reappeared a few days ago. Of course, my experiences were so much more than that, but to people who don't really know me, that's all it was.
It's tough not being recognized, and it's tough being thrown back into campus feeling like a freshman again. I've had to relearn the little things: doing laundry downstairs (and not having to pay!), how the cafeteria is set up, where all of my classes are, and just being back into the dorm life. I have to keep reminding myself that I'm not 3,000 miles away, there are no time zones between home and I, and I'll see my family in a month or so as opposed to 4 months.
This is only the very beginning of my transition back into campus, but it's actually going better than I expected it to. Houghton feels like a safe haven after the craziness I went through last semester. And when I have bad days here, I remind myself that I had bad days in London, too. But now? Now I can call my mom and she'll be in the same time zone as me. And that, my friends, is a blessing.
