Home, the Long Way Round

In the past few weeks, a lot of people in the YAGM community have shared articles and their own musings on the transition back to American life and the effects of reverse culture shock.  One country coordinator and YAGM alum wrote a blog and told of someone being so overwhelmed with the number of toothpaste options upon returning home, that they got sick in the drugstore. I can't imagine anything like that happening to me. I'm looking forward to having Crest and Scope available as oral hygiene options, but I doubt I'll get sick over such an inconsequential addition. I've been living in not only a very western/first world country, but also in a very affluent area of England. It's quite obvious that I'm living in another country, but as far as the lifestyle I'm afforded, I might as well still be living in America, so I constantly question what my own reverse culture shock is going to be like. Still, I know I am a different person than I was when I left Chicago in August, but so is everyone I know from home. This year hasn't been a vacuum for me to have experiences and everyone I know to be left like a book on a shelf to pick up exactly where I left them. So when lots of the people I talk to say they imagine I'm looking forward to going home, I always respond, "yes and no." I'm looking forward to seeing family and friends, to driving my car, to American pancakes and other foods/restaurants, to having air conditioning, and to temperatures being given in Fahrenheit. But at the same time, I'm not looking forward to leaving behind people that have become as close as family, the view out my windows and around Winchester, British foods, having a week or more off every six weeks when I can easily travel to countries I've dreamed of seeing for years, and public transport that goes almost everywhere (despite how many complaints the Brits have about their rail system). I feel like going home will be absolutely the same as my life was before I left, but I also feel like life will be utterly different. In short, I have no idea what it will be like for me to move back to America and how I will handle it. So I ask that you be patient, be gentle, be kind, and most of all, be loving. I'm sure I'll need as much support coming home as I did in leaving.