Looking back...

Well I haven't posted on here since before I left London! Talk about a long time! Well anyway I've been back in the States for almost 4 months now and things couldn't feel more normal. People talked about "reverse culture shock" but I don't think I really experienced that. The first weekend I was back felt a little weird, partly because of jet lag and partly because I had been SO far away for SO long!! The chemistry with my friends and family felt a little different at first but now I can safely say everything is back to normal.

People said going to Europe would change me forever and as much as there are a lot of things about myself I wouldn't mind changing, I hoped they weren't right. And now I can say honestly that I think I am the same person as I was when I left. However, I have gained a few things from the experience. I am a lot braver than I ever have been before. Living in a city like London changes the way I look at taking a day trip to NYC. I used to be really skiddish about getting mugged or pick pocketed, and it is true that those things happen, but there is only so much you can do to prevent them. So being overly paranoid won't help anyone. I also know that I can get around in the city and I don't to worry about getting so helplessly lost that I will never find my way home! I can handle it!

Overall my experience travelling abroad was priceless. To be able to spend a length of time in a beautiful city in Europe for not much more than my regular tuition is something that I will never have the chance to do again. I hope that someday I will be able to go back on an extended "holiday" and see all the beautiful London sites again. But most of all I want to go back to Italy. There is no place I have ever been or dreamed of that could be more amazing. And in the end, I have grown up just a little bit more, taken another step into adulthood and being independent. And we'd thought I'd never get there!