Final Days

Final days
When I got back to Valencia, I began to study in earnest for my translation exam, but I was so upset about leaving soon that it was difficult. I honestly can't translate the experience into writing because the words I choose are frustratingly inadequate, and because the culture shock I felt when I arrived there was not severe at all. I was prepared for it to be difficult leaving Spain, but I didn't realize how affected I would be, especially because leaving the U.S. was much easier than I’d anticipated. I knew I'd be seeing the friends I'd made that were from Rutgers back in the U.S., but there was something unique to that time that enabled us to have a relationship that was very different from our relationship here. We've all stayed close and spend a lot of time together, but we were all different people when we were abroad. In retrospect, I can actually identify the ways in which I've "re-Americanized" myself, and I'm still struggling with the fact that I miss the way things were. Actually leaving to go to the airport and come back to the U.S. was terrible, and I console myself with the thought that I can go back to Spain when I graduate. Being abroad made me realize how much more I still want to see, and instilled in me a confidence and tenacity which will help me achieve the goal of seeing and doing more in the future.