Hello Internet,
Long time no post! I told myself before I left Argentina that I was going to make a post about what it is like to come home. Now, 3 days before my first trip back to Argentina, would be as good a time as any! Although it has been a year and a half since I got home, and almost 2 years since I first left, all the experiences are still fresh in my mind.
The return camp:
Much like the beginning orientation, the ending orientation was a mix of intercultural experiences. People were speaking in all forms of Spanish, combining it with their first languages, sometimes even their second. At the end camp, the volunteers sort of force you to hang out and do activities with the people from your home country so that you can re-assimilate to the culture. Just like astronauts have to be debriefed after coming back from space, so do exchange students! Many of the exchange students thought the camp was stupid, as did I until I finally got home. Most people had to travel a long time on a bus to get to the camp, and no one really wanted to do forced activities. Everyone just wanted to get home to their families. I mean who would want to spend 36 hours with a hundred emotional teens who just had to say goodbye to their friends and families? But I'm actually really happy we had the end camp. I got to meet a bunch of cool people, have late night guitar sing-a-longs, and spend some time with the other American exchange students that I hadn't seen since Miami.
My first day back in New Jersey:
The first thing I did when I got home was take a shower. Even though I had full bathing capabilities in Salta, showering in your own bathroom is just surreal and we all take it for granted. Then after stepping out of the shower and proudly putting on my new Argentina soccer jersey, I went downstairs to find 20 of my friends in my backyard. I was surprised that so many of my friends had suddenly appeared in my backyard in the time it took for me to shower and change. At the end camp they gave us advice about how to talk to our friends and family when we got home. I didn't really pay that much attention and I really wish I had because the first half hour of the party was REALLY awkward. I had missed 6 months of gossip, so I had no idea what anyone was talking about, I had no idea what songs were super popular, who was dating, what new TV shows there were, or what movies had just come out. And when anyone asked me how my trip was I would freeze because 1. I didn't go on a trip 2. I was gone for 6 months establishing a new life 3. How does one even summarize that? After a little while I got back into the swing of things, and I was able to talk to everyone again and it was all fine. Within a few days I was back to hanging out with my friends and everything was great, I just needed that little adjustment period.
A little side note and anecdote:
Whatever you do, do not try to bring alcohol back home. My host dad gave me some wine to bring home for my father, and I had bought those cute little Fernets for my sister, but to my dismay I was not allowed to bring them into the country. After the 10 hour plane ride, I arrived in Miami with my fellow Americans and the airport was crazy. We all had to get to connecting flights, but first we had to go through customs. Our baggage was slow, and so was passport control! When I finally got my bags I said a quick goodbye to any of my friends that I could see and ran for the exit because my flight to Newark was in 2 hours. But then on my way out, the customs officer stopped me to check my bags. He went through my whole bag and took the time to unwrap everything I had as a present, interrogate me about my mate (he thought I was smuggling drugs), and lecture me about trying to bring alcohol into the country underage. I was sleep deprived and hadn't spoken that much English in a while, so of course I could barely talk, and he mistake that as nervousness and made me feel like a criminal. I finally got out of customs with a ticket -_- and had to RUN through the airport to make it to my flight. Dressed in all winter clothing in the middle of July I looked like a royal mess, and I only made my flight because their had been a storm the night before and all the flight were delayed. I got on the plane smelling terribly I'm sure, but I was finally on the last leg of my journey home! So moral of the story, don't try to bring alcohol into the country if you have to go through any sort of customs, even if it is a gift for a 50 year old man.
