Back Stateside

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Well I've been back in San Diego for a week now after 8 weeks of travel. It has been an adjustment and I'm so fortunate that I have the entire month of August off before I return to work and school. I need some time to process what I've been through and come down off my travel high...

My experiment to blog daily in Mexico didn't actually pan out. I was too busy with classes, homework, sightseeing and immersing myself in the culture  to remember to blog here every day. But I have so many rich memories of my time abroad.

Ironically, I injured my knee jogging with my dog on my first day back so I've been holed up at home for almost a week with my leg elevated. This has kept me from driving so I haven't had to venture to the grocery store or rejoin mainstream life yet. Despite this I can tell that I am experiencing some of the signs of reverse culture shock that we discussed in our last MX class. There is so much incredible waste in the US and the consumer culture is weighing heavily on me.

It's hard for me to begin to describe for my friends and family what the past five weeks was like. How do you describe what it's like to be steeped in another culture in a few words? I do know that I desperately want to retain the Spanish fluency I've gained and this will take some concerted effort.

This experience has made me think of becoming a host family for an immersion program here sometime down the road. We had some issues with our host family, particularly the last week, and things git pretty uncomfortable. I think we could be fun hosts so maybe I'll explore having German or Latino/a students stay with us in the future.

Comments

Unknown said…
Hi Mona. I can understand how you feel. I too am finding it hard to express what happened to me in Mexico. I got my new phone just today so the past week and a half has been a continuation of a degree of disconnection. I find myself noticing so much more about the world than I did before. It is difficult to be understood by my iphone toting friends and family. They're actually mad at me for taking the time with the phone and I find myself annoyed by their desire for me to have one.

I'm sorry to hear about your knee. I'm already ready for a reunion..
August 15, 2013 at 4:52 PM

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