Hey guys! I have been back in the States for almost a week now, and honestly, I am not happy to be back. I obviously love my family and friends, but I am very bored. I miss the freedom of being able to walk around the city with my friends in the middle of the night. I also miss getting gelato in the middle of the night. My mom thinks I’m crazy because I keep saying I want ice cream during the night but it’s because I’m used to gelato being a part of my study break.

I think myself and others are definitely experiencing reverse cultural shocks. Most of us, that I know of, did not have many difficulties when we arrived in Italy. It was more just having to get used to little things like not leaving tips and asking for the check, but it is different coming back home. The car ride from the airport to Starbucks was the longest I had been in a car since January. Also, traffic is not fun to sit or drive in. Driving is definitely the one thing that will probably take the longest to get used to. I don’t know how, but I feel like I started driving like an Italian which is not the best. It’s probably because it is what I’m used to but my mom probably won’t let me drive for a bit after she rides with me!

The hardest thing about being home is that I miss all of the friends that I have made. I became really close with my roommate Aubrey, and we essentially became travel buddies. I got so used to seeing her every day and we spent our last week together in Greece so not seeing her is not fun at all. It became super easy for me to make friends everywhere I went so I was friends with everyone at the AIFS center, and I might have cried when saying bye to one of them. I also made friends with everyone that worked at Pino’s and I cried because they said they were actually going to miss us and that they couldn’t wait for us to come back and visit them. I’m not that much of an emotional person, but I made a lot of connections and it’s super sad that I won’t see them until next year.

I definitely grew a lot as a person by going abroad and I didn’t realize exactly how much until I got back home. I’m a lot more confident, and I don’t have a problem with standing up for myself or telling people I don’t like how they are treating others. While I might have had to deal with some drama here and there on my semester abroad, it was a good experience and I can’t wait to do it again!

I hope you guys enjoyed reading my blog posts as much as I enjoyed writing them. Ciao!

P.S. I’m still receiving Italian ads on my social media accounts, and it makes me sad.