America!

Whew, that was the longest plane ride ever... Haha not. So, let's finish this thing up shall we?

I was actually so ready to get back home to AMERICA that last day, ya'll. (Yes, my southern accent is back). That was the longest line ever when I was in line for American Airlines to check in. I swear. The ride in was pretty smooth. In Miami the Homeland Security officer even said "Welcome back" to me. I felt special. Also, I went through numerous security check points and didn't have to go through the new TSA scanner once. Awesome! Though I did notice it took longer to get through security than before in Miami-- and we got there at 5am.

I remember talking to my dad for the first time in months on my American cell phone on the tram in the airport. I was smiling like an idiot and despite it being 5am my dad was wide awake to talk to me. Aww. And, my family was awesome and on time for my arrival. My brother ran up to me and almost knocked me over in the airport and they gave me welcome back balloons. I, also, went home and had welcome back party things all over my room. Its almost 2 months later and they are still up there. What can I say, they make me happy.

I did go through a stage of reverse culture shock where I kept constantly comparing things to how they were in Uruguay and just being confused about the time and where I was as in orientating myself that home is now a tangible and not just a place in the general America direction. I'm still adjusting slightly. That whole thing where they say you come back a different person and not everyone wants to hear about your awesome adventures abroad was totally true. Its kind of frustrating realizing I am no longer friends with a lot of people anymore (I guess we weren't such great friends anyways) and have a whole year of my life where I wasn't here to see things happen and change. But then I start talking to someone about my year in Uruguay and it puts things back into perspective.

I do horribly miss speaking Spanish though. I'm talking real Spanish and only in Spanish. People are just so scared to speak Spanish and its really hard to get people to speak to me in only Spanish and not Spanglish. I've noticed that only the people who studied abroad even feel comfortable enough to do so. Its weird. So, I'm definitely trying to speak Spanish as much as I can by volunteering and working in environments where its necessary to do so.

But I'm actually doing a presentation on my experience in Uruguay next week (Feb. 16th) where I will be speaking in Spanish so I'm uber excited about that.

I don't know I'm just so greatly to be back. Being abroad was awesome, but I'm glad to be back. God bless America :D