7am "Post-Abroad Traumatic Stress Syndrome" Too Soon!

Hello All,

Hangzhou

I've been a terrible blogger...sporadic, gone for 3 weeks. Very irresponsible. This post is completely out of order, but considering the fact that some weird feeling woke me up on a Friday morning at 6:45am (a day that I have no reason to be up at a time to have coffee with the sunrise), I thought I'd blog. I'll probably end up falling back asleep, but for now all I can think about is a weird achy feeling I woke up with this morning. At first, I couldn't really place it. A mixture of confusion, unsettled thoughts, and pins and needles in my arm from sleeping on it strangely. I soon realized that this weird feeling was one of reminiscing/nostalgia about China... so I think so myself, "how can I miss being in China? I'm still here." Then it dawned on me, this is the one month marker point. One month from now, instead of lounging in my hard, by comfy, dorm bed, planning what to do with my class-free Fridays, I will be preparing to embark on my journey (back) to the West.

I'll spare everyone a sob-story of "all the little things I'll miss" and how that day will probably look/feel, but know that it probably won't be too pretty. My friends here will probably kill me if they read this post, we have a "no talking about that day we have to leave" policy. This definitely breaks that rule. But I can't help but wondering, how does 4 months pass so quickly?! Like where in the world did that time go? For us, it's a mixture of Chinese classes, random travel excursions, late nights dancing, dinners at the Houmen, bargaining with the locals, and listening to people whisper "Laowai (Old Foreigner)" as we pass by to only astonish them further by speaking to them in their mother tongue. From looking at this list, people who aren't in China are probably just nodding their heads waiting for a clarification story for each event mentioned. That, right there, is probably one of the hardest parts about returning home from study abroad, but also one of the greatest. The fact that you return home and a part of you has changed, no one can quite place it, but something's different. It's like you gain a new part of yourself from wherever you studied abroad. It's great, because it's an experience you'll never forget. It's hard, because it's an experience that's nuances and quirkiness you can try to describe to your friends, family, and classmates, but will only every entirely make sense to those who experienced it with you.

But, enough of this melodramatic 7am blogging rant. We still have a month left, and there's no reason to be thinking about it yet haha.

Bund Night @ The Roosevelt

While I know I'll be excited to go home and then back to Georgetown, it's hard not to think about the things I feel like I'll be leaving behind in China. We've all talked about how much more relaxed we feel here, how being in Shanghai is almost like being in Wonderland. I'm sure many people feel similarly about their study abroad experiences, which is why they try to prepare us for the "post-abroad culture shock," which I'm now thinking of retitling as "Post-Abroad Traumatic Stress Syndrome." Anyway, like I said, the day will come, I'll be sad to go, but excited to come home to friends and family! Besides, I'm positive that I'll be "falling down the rabbit hole" and be coming back to Shanghai soon. So while it may not be the same, it'll definitely be a quirky, exciting, new unexplored experience, which is really what we're looking for when we decide to travel, right?

tis life,

e