People Change, Places Don't

Greetings from the midwest of the US of A! I am home after a wonderful 5 week trip of Europe with Angie. Everything went well, we had no problems, and time generally sped by. We met some very interesting people and shared some pretty wonderful experiences. It was, in a lot of ways, the trip of a lifetime. We were constantly on the move, constantly seeing new places, going to museums, meeting up with friends. While I didn't feel rushed anywhere, Angie and I agreed that in the future, we would probably spend more time in less places. But, for Angie's intro to Europe, our itinerary was a good one.

Ideally I would like to be able to catch up the blog and bring everything to speed right now, but I can't upload my photos until I'm at school (my friend there has my computer), so that will have to wait for a few more weeks. I plan to upload a few photos from every place we went, make a Picasa album, and then post a link to the album in my blog, so everyone can see a good overview of the places we went and the experiences that we had. So, more to come on the trip.

Being home is good and strange and homey and foreign, all at the same time. When I went through customs in Detroit, the guy drilled me, found out I had been gone for a year, swiped my passport to double check, and then handed me everything, stamped, and smiled and said "welcome home." It's a small, stupid thing, but it made me feel like a returning soldier or diplomat or something. Like I had some business in the foreign service, like I was a representative of our country while away. And I was, I suppose, in a lot of ways. It just never hit.

Generally, culture shock has been okay. It's strange seeing all the nature all over the place. It's strange that people live in houses and have yards. It's strange that there are sidewalks and most streets don't have much traffic. It's strange that you can walk around almost all of Ann Arbor in under an hour. It's strange that it's safe, it's strange that there is a bird chirping near me right now. In a lot of ways, this seems too picturesque, too idealized -- especially when you walk 5 min to downtown and find funky cafes and fair trade stores. I don't take for granted what I used to. There is so much space here, so much breathing room. Things are GREEN! It's different. I like it, but it's different.

I miss Spanish, though. I hope I can still speak. I try, but it's not the same. It's strange that everyone here is part of my culture, it's strange that everyone speaks in English all the time. Hopefully at Cornell I'll find people to regularly speak Spanish to. That will help.

Not much else, I'm afraid. I imagined being home would be relaxing, and in some ways it has been, but it's also a lot of catch up on a lot of things. Lots of errands to run and people to see. My friend Sam is coming to visit for a week, then I'm going to Chicago for a few days with the family, then I'm off to Cornell. I'll update more once I'm back at school! (Ugh... this is all going by so fast...)