American Adjustment

This picture of the Parthenon is one of my favorites I took this trip. It doesn't even do it justice though.

Well I'm back on American soil! I got back home late Monday night after a long day of travel including screaming toddlers and one cancelled flight. It was so nice to take a shower in my shower and sleep in my own bed! I forgot how much I missed those little things.

Some things were a shock: understanding EVERY conversation around me in English (it was so loud!), green trees and lawns, signs in English, ice water, tons of fast food restaurants, normal bathrooms, that sort of thing. Some things I miss: my friends, our cozy apartment, the yummy food, the beautiful views, those kinds of things.

But, I'm trying to look at my return as just another part of my life. I want to be neutral on the subject, not pessamistic or overly excited. One of the things I learned while in Greece is that life is really just a series of events, like chapters in a book, and what makes those events important are the people you share them with and what you learn from them.

I have learned much more than the archeology of Greece and the history of antiquity while abroad. I've learned some things about myself: the people I like to surround myself with, how I function in a large group or alone, and how much my life here as made me who I am. I've conquered challenges physical, emotional, mental, psychological, and social.

I have said in earlier posts how the theme of this summer has been juxtaposition: the ancient ruins next to modern cities, the beautiful blue ocean next to dead arid land, I have to add one more and that is my American self and my Greek self. I believe I could succeed in both countries but I have found that my home and my choice is here.

So now, as I continue living in central Illinois surrounded by the American college culture found nowhere else, I will learn to look at it differently. Whenever I walk past academic buildings with columns, Niros late night gyros, or sorority and fraternity houses proudly displaying an odd collection of Greek letters, I will be taken back to a summer where I truly and fully lived a chapter of my life.