Some Final Thoughts

Well I have been back in America for about four days now and let me tell you there has been some culture shock for sure.  Here is a list of things I have been shocked at since since I came back from studying abroad.

• I am still wearing my purse cross body with my hand still over it - just waiting for someone to try to pick pocket me!
• I still talk about people as though they cannot understand me.
• Wearing shorts and a T-shirt seems completely normal
• There is no sales tax - I went to buy a cupcake with friends last night and it said $2.75 therefore I got $2.75 out of my wallet and then the lady told me it was $3.02 - I was shocked!
• Water is free at restaurants with free refills.
• People are speaking English everyone! I went to the zoo with Kelsey and Scott yesterday and EVERYONE was speaking English!! I have become so accustomed to not understanding what people are saying, and I have also become accustomed to hearing not only Spanish but a variety of different languages all at the same time.

Those are just the few things I have noticed since being back in the states for these couple of days, but I am sure there will be more thoughts as time passes.  Everyone said I would would be extremely jetlagged on my way back to the States.  Well I can say it is not as bad as everyone made it seem.  It might have helped since I only got about 3 hours of sleep on Tuesday night and then I slept for the majority of the flight - about 4 hours on the way home. When arriving home I made myself stay awake until midnight to fight the jetlag.  However, I woke up at 3:30am and could not fall back asleep for about and hour and then I woke up at 7:30 and I was up for good.  So I guess my sleep pattern was a little off.  It is becoming better and better by the day though. 

Friday afternoon I left for Saint Louis to visit friends at SLU and to meet with my adviser.  It is really weird being back at SLU - mostly because I don't have my own apartment I think.  Also everyone is studying for finals and all that jazz.  However, it is really good to see my friends that I haven't seen since last semester even if they are studying. 

Well I think this is the last or close to the last blog for my SLU-Madrid Adventure.  However, I seriously thought about starting another blog, because I think it is healthy to express my feelings - or something like that.  I haven't made the blog yet or anything, but I will post the address of the blog when I actually create it! That is all for now!

Paz y Amor.  God Bless.