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Travel guide: Lea On The Run – Part 4
Your time abroad comes to an end and it is about time to go home. But as soon as you're back with friends and family, a weird feeling comes up: another kind of culture shock.
Welcome back! – Reversed culture shock
At some point your adventure will come to an end and you will head home. Finally, you can see your family and friends again and give them a big hug. But as soon as you are back in your home country you will notice a strange feeling: the reversed culture shock.
You will experience your home differently. Ordinary things seem wrong and unnecessary. Out of a sudden, the old life is boring and dull – especially when you think that you have experienced something new every day while you were abroad. Your journey has changed you. Your thoughts are probably not the same anymore – how could they? You saw so much and adapted to an entirely different environment. It is just natural that you have grown and feel different than before. You may have totally new ideas and different visions for your life. The actual life at home is so fast, consumption-orientated and political. Suddenly you are under stress again, must plan your future and so much more.
All this may seem very negative and it can happen that you feel uncomfortable and would like to go back to travel again. I feel you! Every time I come back home, I am ashamed in what abundance we live in and how much we own – while all I needed was packed in one backpack. I miss the exotic fruits, the foreign language and new friends and I am sick of everyone moaning about the bad weather and complaining about our politics, without seeing how privileged we are. But don’t worry! After my exchange year in the US I was feeling really homesick and was missing my host family terribly.
This is all normal and part of your adventure. You will settle back in quickly and will realize what you really value in life. You can try to integrate new ideas slowly into your life. Try to live less consumption-orientated for example or be more aware in the way you handle food products. Use the new knowledge which you have gained and enrich the people around you. This will help you not only to leave your journey behind you, but to bring it home with you and combine the world with your home.
