During a much needed Fall Break, IES Abroad organized five days of island hopping extravaganza. It’s very stress free to go island hopping without needing to handle any of the logistics. Fall Break is after the third module and it couldn’t have come sooner. I was stressed out from classes, constantly sick from diarrhea and dreadfully homesick. Honestly, I was feeling depressed and lonely. I felt like I was the only one who was homesick, the only person not adjusting to island life, the only one with problems.

Asking for a friend: is it possible to feel a mix of gratitude to be home and nostalgia to be back in London? I've been back in America for about a week and a half now, and here's what I am experiencing. 

1) Remembering to add tips to bills

Geishas. Rickshaws. Tall wooden pagodas. Live through my Kyoto experience with me...

The bright red pagoda near the entrance for Kiyomizu-dera. 

I have been home now for about a week. I am drinking a morning smoothie while looking out at the chilly, rainy Seattle weather. I cringe as the cold penetrates my skull and I am temporarily paralyzed by a brainfreeze.

I’m not feeling this shock from just the smoothie, however. Even prepped with prior experience, and knowing what to expect, it’s not uncommon to feel a little disoriented after returning home from study abroad.

One of my strategies for getting to know people in Auckland was by joining clubs at the university. This worked remarkably well because I joined the club that would later be voted best club at the university: Fossil Free. The main focus of the club is specific and direct- to convince the university to divest from fossil fuels.

Tokyo, Japan -- the city of high technology and unique trends. But there's more to Tokyo than that. Let me show you what I mean.

You guessed it -- another weekend trip. I visited Hiroshima for the first time in mid November, and it was just as heart-wrenching as I expected. The whole city had a hushed atmosphere, and so many monuments and roads were named with "peace" as a prefix. 

Four months ago, I parted with my parents at security and boarded a plane headed to Europe. I was alone and somewhat terrified, and yet I was brimming with excitement and anticipation of what awaited me in Vienna. Now, I am sitting on a plane headed back to Texas. Again, I am alone, and my family will not greet me when I arrive in DFW as they are still in Europe for another day. I don’t know how I feel. They say the transition back to your life in America after time abroad is harder than the original transition in your host country.