Reverse Culture Shock

I have now been home from Semester At Sea for a little over a month and am settled into the next phase of my life- living in New York City for the summer before my senior year of college. I’m sitting on a train on my way home for the weekend and although the rocking of the train isn’t quite like the rocking of the ship on the open seas, it does bring back memories of getting rocked to sleep if I close my eyes. I don’t know if it has hit me yet that I literally circumnavigated the world last semester, or that I faced my fear of change and overcame it. I do know that Semester At Sea was the hardest but most rewarding experience of my life and I wouldn’t change a thing about my experience. From laughing so hard tears were rolling down my face while horseback riding through the rainforest of Costa Rica to the real uncontrollable tears rolling down my face in Malaysia when I was so homesick I didn’t think I could make it one more week, I cherish the good times and the bad. I believe that without the lowest of lows there wouldn’t have been the highest of highs.

The rollercoaster of emotions I experienced during those 4 months came from my eyes slowly being opened to the world around me. From realizing how horrible the conditions in India are or how technologically advanced Japan is to noticing the approachability and genuine happiness of the kids in the township in South Africa to learning about the awful genocide in Cambodia I have come to the conclusion that although there are so many atrocities in the world, it’s the human resiliency through these atrocities that makes the world so unique and interesting.

Looking back on the trip I have come to realize that it was not the countries I visited but the people that I met along the way that changed and affected me the most. At the beginning of the trip I was really unsure about my decision to travel around the world because I was scared of the unknown and nervous about the cultures I would be immersed in. Four months later, traveling is now a part of me that will never go away. Recently I have noticed so many people talking about going to Mars or discovering life outside our world; however, I now believe that there are so many worlds within our own world still left to be discovered.

Four years ago I was designing my senior yearbook page. I had a hard time deciding on a quote to put on the page that represented the way I felt about life and where I was in my life at the time. In the end I chose a quote by Louisa May Alcott and to this day believe that I couldn’t have picked a more perfect quote to symbolize my life. On the page, below a picture of myself with the farm in the background, the quote read “I’m not afraid of storms, for I’m learning how to sail my ship”. I believe that I am still learning how to sail my ship but I am pretty confidant I now have the basics mastered.

I couldn’t have asked for a better abroad experience. Semester at Sea gave me the world, and for that I will always be grateful. Thank you for traveling around the world with me. Thank you for taking the time out of your busy lives to read, think about and comment on the things I experienced. Thank you all for your love and support throughout not only this semester but throughout my life. Although my blog ends here, my journey does not and neither does yours. Travel if you have the means to. Explore, Dream and Discover the world around you and know that it is never too late to begin learning how to sail your own ship.