You see the world, try new things, meet new people, visit amazing places, immerse in cultures – then it’s all over. People always talk about leaving, but what about coming home? We talk about the difficult parts while we’re away – making friends, fatigue, new norms, eye-opening events – but these parts you get through. The lows are erased by the highs you experience. The goodbyes are hard but you know they're coming. They are bolstered by the reunion with family and friends you have pictured in your head since first leaving. Then you return home, spend your first two weeks meeting with family and friends, catch up, tell stories, reminisce, etc. You’re Hollywood for the first few weeks back and it’s all new and exciting. And then it all just…goes away. Everyone gets used to you being home, you’re not the new shiny object anymore and the questions start coming: What’s your future plan? Are you dating anyone? How's work? But the sad part is once you’ve done your obligatory visits; you’re sitting in your childhood bedroom and realize nothing has changed. You’re glad everyone is happy and healthy and yes, people have gotten new jobs, boyfriends, engaged, etc., but part of you is screaming don’t you understand how much I have changed? And I don’t mean hair, weight, or anything else to do with appearance. I mean what’s going on inside of your head. The way your dreams have changed, the way you perceive people differently, the habits you’re happy you lost, the new things that are important to you. You want everyone to recognize this and you want to share it, but there’s no way to describe the way your spirit evolves when you leave everything you know behind and force yourself to use your brain in a real capacity, not just in a uni exam. This is why once you’ve traveled all you want to do is leave again. They call it the travel bug, but really it’s the effort to return to a place where you are surrounded by people who speak the same language as you. Not English, Italian or Mandarin, but that language where others know what it’s like to leave, change, experience, learn, then go home again and feel more lost in your hometown then you did in foreign countries. #deep
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