The first thing I notice after being home is how much more relaxed I am. While abroad, I had to constantly keep my guard up and be prepared for anything to go wrong. It’s been nice to be home and not be required to think about extraneous details. I never felt homesick during the trip but was ready to return to a regular routine; get back to everyday life, really. Traveling is excellent, but it’s not life for me. Will I miss Norway? No, I’m confident that I will not miss being in the country of Norway. If I miss anything, I’ll miss being with the group of students that I traveled to Norway alongside. There was a rare comradery and harmony there among my peers that was beautiful.
When I landed in Birmingham, I think I was too tired to appreciate the fact that I was home. But once I got into my bed, I do think it hit me where I was. That’s something that I wasn’t expecting about traveling; it helps make “home” feel more like home. At least it did for me. I noticed all sorts of small things as I adjusted back to American life that made me appreciate it more. Like the fact that we have water bottle fillers here. In Norway, THERE WERE NO WATER FOUNTAINS! And as someone who obsessively drinks water, I found that rather annoying. I don’t know; I guess I just appreciate my homeland more now that I’ve been away from it.
To any of you reading this that may be soon traveling abroad, I’d give you this advice: have multiple forms of payment available. I went to Norway with only a debit card, and literally the first day, a fraudulent charge was attempted, and my card got deactivated. Fortunately, the faculty running the program were super nice. They helped me out with that situation, but it could have easily been avoided if I had had an additional credit card.
Overall the trip was great, and while I don’t have a great desire to travel again anytime soon, it’s obvious that it changed me in a positive way as a person.