Hi Rollins! While everyone, including myself, is getting ready to return back to Rollins for the spring semester, I am trying to unpack from my incredible semester in Israel. I got back home to Dahlonega, Georgia on Tuesday night and have barely touched my suitcase. Part of this is because the jet lag and time difference hit me like a truck, but the other reason is because I am still in denial that I am back in Georgia and not Israel.<\/p>\n
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About a month ago, I received an email from International Programs about reverse culture shock and how that might affect the semester abroad students when returning home. I really did not think anything about it because my small town of Dahlonega is always a culture shock when I come home from Rollins every semester. However, I did not realize the small details of everything I do that became my new normal in Israel but is not normal here.<\/p>\n
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My biggest shock was the lack of security in the United States. In Israel, whenever you enter a mall, building, campus, market, club, or any place with a lot of people, you and your bag get checked. When I first got to Israel, I remember thinking how annoying it was to open up my purse every time I went to the grocery store, but it became second nature so fast. I would walk up to the grocery store, on the phone with someone, and open my bag without even thinking about it. My first day full day back at home I went to Wal-Mart with a friend. I smiled and said hi to the greeter but immediately realized he was not going to look in my bag like I had grown accustomed to.<\/p>\n
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My Wal-Mart adventure led to my next shock: people talking to me and asking me about what I was buying. I went to Wal-Mart to get basic things I did not bring home, and decided to buy baking supplies. Many locals asked me what I was baking, had I ever made this kind of bread before, I should try using insert special oil, all kinds of topics. I was overwhelmed by the kindness and friendliness that I did not realize I had been missing for so long.<\/p>\n
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However, people in Israel were kind and friendly, just in Hebrew. This has been one of the other most difficult aspects of returning home: nobody speaks Hebrew. Multiple times I have caught myself about to begin a question or statement in Hebrew, and then quickly catching myself and switching back to English. Last night, I went to dinner at a hibachi place with my best friend. When I needed more water, I asked in Hebrew and then quickly apologized and said it in English. I was also confused when he brought the check. I handed my card back and asked if he could add 20 percent, because in most other countries you have to add the tip before you pay.<\/p>\n
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Despite all of this, I am amazed at what feels natural and as if I never stopped. For example, I was so nervous to drive after not driving for 6 months. It came back to me as if I drove last week. Simple tasks like pumping gas, taking care of my dogs, checking the mail at the post office, all feel as if I never left.<\/p>\n
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As I repack my things and get ready to head to Rollins, I could not be more thankful for the opportunity I had. Studying abroad in Israel was the best decision I ever made and I cannot be more thankful for the faculty, staff, and family I had supporting me through it all. If I could go back to Israel right now, I would.<\/p>\n
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Hi Rollins! While everyone, including myself, is getting ready to return back to Rollins for the spring semester, I am trying to unpack from my incredible semester in Israel. I got back home to Dahlonega, Georgia on Tuesday night and have barely touched my suitcase. Part of this is because the jet lag and time…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":469,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[38],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-10530","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-tau"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.rollins.edu\/letters\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/10530","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.rollins.edu\/letters\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.rollins.edu\/letters\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.rollins.edu\/letters\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/469"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.rollins.edu\/letters\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=10530"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.rollins.edu\/letters\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/10530\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":14146,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.rollins.edu\/letters\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/10530\/revisions\/14146"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.rollins.edu\/letters\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=10530"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.rollins.edu\/letters\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=10530"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.rollins.edu\/letters\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=10530"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}