A whole month has passed and I am finally back in the United States. I have to say it feels good to be back on US soil, but I am going to miss the trip very much. After a whole month of going non stop and being with people 24/7, I don’t really know what to do with myself now that I have nothing to do for the rest of the summer. I’ve gotten so used to waking up early and immediately being with 20 other students on our way to a museum. It feels good to have a room of my own and to sleep in but I do miss the trip a lot. I miss the friends that I made on the trip and I miss having something to occupy my time with daily.
At the beginning of the trip my teacher had a talk with us about culture shock and the four stages that you go through when abroad. At first I didn’t really have much of a culture shock. The only thing they really frustrated me was the fact that no where had air conditioning. All of the other little things didn’t bother me too much. As the trip goes on I felt like I became more frustrated with how things were the way they are. I feel like I was in the “adjustment” phase for most of the trip up until the ending. At the end of the trip I started to get frustrated with everything and was ready to go back to America. When I finally landed in the USA I was so happy to be somewhere that was familiar and comfortable.
After traveling to many different parts of the world, I realize how uneducated that I am. Most every single person that I talked to spoke English and It made me feel stupid because I can’t speak another language. It has encouraged me to try to learn a different language. Traveling abroad has also made me want to study more about different cultures and why they are the way they are because they are so different than the American Culture.
Overall, I would say that I benefited from this trip in many ways. I made new friends and memories that I will remember forever. I learned new things and I hope I get the opportunity to go on a trip again like this someday. 