Sunday, October 20, 2013

Full Circle.

I haven't posted since the day I left. Life just sort of caught up to me, and every time I felt like posting it felt too late or not the right time. But I guess now is the right time. I left over one year ago for Belgium, and my life has been exactly the same but also irreversibly changed by it.

I didn't feel like I was going home when I did. I don't know what it was, but I felt like I was just going to another orientation or something. When I saw my family at the airport, I talked to them like I hadn't just spent a year abroad. Maybe it was the jetlag. I don't know. I had the same headache I had when I arrived in Belgium. After not being able to understand everything for a year, I could now understand everything. It was a blessing and a curse.

Life resumed how it normally was, which was weirder to me than anything else. I expected something to be different, but I still knew where all the cups were, I knew my favorite channels on tv. The things that I had to figure out in Belgium were the things I already knew back home, and that was very strange to me. I was expecting culture shock with the small things like in Belgium, and me actually feeling like I was at home without anything being different was very strange for me. I eventually got over it. I occasionally had to think too long about what to say, and sometimes a French word would slip out, but that doesn't happen anymore. I miss French a lot. I miss Belgium a lot. But it is also so good to be home.


I have been doing a lot since I've been back. I'm enrolled in college, where I am majoring in International Relations. I'm still with my boyfriend (we managed long distance the entire year I was away. I cannot even fathom how we did it, but we did and it is possible). We are dreaming of going to Africa to volunteer. I volunteer with AFS and this past week I went back to my old high school and talked to the students about going. It was wonderful. Everything is back in order again. But AFS has forever impacted my life. I'll leave you with a few photos of what I have been doing lately.










I know that I will probably not return to this blog to write again, because my experience in Belgium has ended, and a new one is beginning. Thank you to everyone who read this, if there were any at all. La Belgique me manquera toujours.



Bisous. Adieu.



Nicole