Coming Home

After four months in Amsterdam, I finally made it home! After leaving Amsterdam, I spent a couple of days in Rome with friends, and saw my cousin so it was definitely a great end to an amazing semester. However, the journey home was a little more stressful than I would have liked, but I made it back in one piece. I had a layover in Barcelona from Rome before flying to Boston, and I thought two and a half hours would be enough time in between flights, but I was very wrong. My flight to Barcelona was delayed by two hours, so by the time we landed, I had to run through the airport to catch my next flight. Thankfully, I made it, but my luggage did not. Arriving in Boston about 8 hours later and to no surprise, my luggage was not on the carousel. Apparently, landing half an hour before takeoff is not enough time to transfer luggage from one flight to another, so my bags were still in Barcelona. The staff at Boston Logan were very helpful, though and my luggage arrived about two days later. Thank you to my Dad, who was in Boston for work and picked it up for me!

Especially now, there have been a lot of changes upon my return to the US. The obvious one being the timezone change and unfortunately, I did wake up at 6:30am the first couples of days back but that was soon rectified. It is weird to come back after not having seen your family for months. It can feel like you’ve fallen behind and need to play catch up but the important thing to remember is that your family missed you as much if not more than you’ve missed them. You have also changed so returning home is like trying to fit the pieces back together. They will eventually but it will take time. 

I saw my grandparents the first weekend I was back and all of the stress of coming back was definitely worth it when their faces lit up when they saw me. For having thirteen grandchildren, they are amazing about making everyone feel loved. It was comforting to know that even though my sisters had changed, one of my cousins had their first kid, and another had gotten engaged, my grandparents home would always be the place we could come back to. That house would never change (Well, except for the time my Grandpa bought a new chair after 20 years and we all lost our minds but that’s besides the point. Grandpa hates the new chair anyways.).

Having arrived in Amsterdam exactly a week after the inauguration, I’ve kept up with the news and the behavior of this administration but I’ve yet to experience it myself. It was scary to watch the headlines every day and wonder what I was going to come back to. I was scared for everyone back home, trying to check in with people as much as I could. Now that I’m back, I’m wondering what I can do over the next four years. Being white and having studied abroad is a privilege and the best thing to do with it is help others. Starting those conversations with people who have been abroad in other places or international students at your university is a great example. There may not be much that we can do as individuals but talking with other people is a start. 

I’m beyond grateful for the experiences and people I’ve met in Amsterdam. I can genuinely say that studying abroad has made me a better person. Being in a different place and taking with new people has given me a little bit of hope during what has been a rather dark time. Thank you to everyone who contributed to my experience abroad and to those reading. I hope everyone has an amazing summer!