Culture Change

I just wanted to send in a final entry to say thank you to everyone who took the time to read my blog. I'm really happy to be back in America but I think I may be suffering from a case of reverse culture shock. All the luxuries that I always took for granted now seem overwhelming. I donated most of my clothes because after having maybe 5 outfits in Sri Lanka I couldn't understand how to dress myself with so many options.

However, I think my two biggest cases of reverse culture shock definitely come in the form of food and hot water. I'm sure most study abroad students are ecstatic to return to the food they grew up with but for me every time I eat it's somewhat blissful. I think that's because, as I mentioned a million times in previous blogs, my host family and I had a difficult time finding food that wasn't way too spicy for me. The hot water thing isn't as exciting as food but hot showers really do seem like a blessing now. However, I am way more aware that hot water and excess food are luxuries that much of the world lives without.

All in all, I'm really happy I took the opportunity to study abroad. I learned so much about myself and not to mention about parts of the world I had never really studied before. I think studying abroad is an awesome way too step out of your comfort zone and if you have a really big comfort zone make the leap and spend a semester in Sri Lanka.