I have been home for over a month now and I have been at school for a week and a half so I thought it was only necessary that I reflect on my time in Perugia in a blog post. Since I have been back at school it has been pretty difficult. I thought once I returned to LVC that I would just fall right back into my normal self and enjoy school and love being around my friends again. Don't get me wrong I absolutely love being back with my friends and I am enjoying most of my classes this semester. But it just isn't the same. I think about Perugia and my friends a lot and every once in awhile my mind travels back to Perugia and it makes me miss everything about the Italian life so much more. But I know that just as I got acclimated to living in Perugia all the way back in September I will get back to life again in America.
Re-entry is one of the hardest things I have been through and I honestly didn't think it would hit me this hard. My friends at school don't really understand what I did last semester. They don't get the little jokes that I find hilarious or the little tidbits I throw out about Italy or my Perugia roommates. But then I realized that there are people at LVC who do understand, my friends who went to Perugia with me! And when we run into each other on campus it's amazing! It's like I'm in Perugia all over again. We talk about Italy and about the time we went on that trip and it's little things like that that are really helping me overcome my homesickness for Italy.
Another thing that is helping me get through the tough times is realizing all that I accomplished while living in Italy. I have changed a lot as a person because of this experience and when I think about all of the challenges I overcame while in Perugia I can't believe it. For instance, I used to be sad about going back to school and leaving my family. I now know that I can leave my family for an extended period of time and be an independent individual. I learned that I can go into new places not knowing anything and learn to adapt myself. And because of my time spent abroad, I have now thought about a new career path to take. I am looking at becoming a study abroad adviser for a college or university because honestly I don't think I will be happy in a job where I cannot travel. I want to help students who are going through re-entry or who want to study abroad. I want to be the one who convinces them to go to Italy or Australia or New Zealand because of how much studying abroad has changed me.
I have also been thinking about what Italy has given me. Italy gave me some amazing new friends who have forever changed me as a person. Friends from all over the United States who I will never forget. These new friends are so special to me and we have so many memories together that are going to last me a lifetime. And I thank Italy so much for giving me these great people who have really become a second family to me. I miss them all so much but I know I am going to see them all again. And some of them are even coming to visit me at school in one month for my birthday! I think they are giving me the best birthday presents in the world by doing this!
Re-entry is hard but reliving my memories and sharing my stories is a way to get through it all. I want to thank the LVC study abroad staff for convincing me to study abroad because it really has been the best decision of my life. And if I could give any college student the best piece of advice it would be to study abroad because I learned so much more than I could ever learn from sitting in a classroom two or three times a week. So college students, have the experience because it's going to change your life..for good.
Before I go I would like to share some pictures I have edited these past few days. I am really into taking old pictures and editing them and my Perugia pictures are a great way to do this. So enjoy some of the pictures I have edited....
And here it is..a new "heaven must feel like this" collage!
I hope everyone has an amazing week and enjoy the snowstorm that is currently hitting us here on the East Coast. This will not be my last post so check back every once in awhile for more =)
And I leave you now with a quote that I re-discovered the other day that really describes the way I feel about my Italian experience.
"Don't cry because it's over, smile because it happened" - Dr. Seuss
Morgan =)
