Hi, it is nice seeing you! Whether this is your first blog or have followed since the start, I am glad you stumbled on this blog, and hopefully you enjoy the quick read. My time in Sweden has been one that I will cherish for life. From the people I met and bonds I built, I will remember this experience for the rest of my life! This country, and specifically Stockholm, has allowed me to grow in many aspects, and I have had a lot of time to reflect about this experience now that I am back in the United States.
Although the travel period of returning home was brutal, coming home was one of the best feelings. This experience abroad was one of the longest periods that I have been away from my family, so it felt great to come back home into their presence. At arrival, I was very excited to see my family and friends because I packed a lot of souvenirs for everyone, and I couldn’t wait to hand it all out and surprise everyone. Everyone enjoyed their gifts very much, and I had many questions coming at me about my experience abroad. Everytime I step out the door, there is an individual or more to ask me about this, and it catches me off guard because I’ve had so many great experiences. I do not know how to write small snippets, so these usually end up to be very long conversations. Regardless of this, sharing my experiences with others has been one of my favorite things, and it has allowed me to reflect and acknowledge how fortunate I was to experience this.
It has been about a week since I have been home, and I honestly did not think it would be weird to adjust to my usual lifestyle in the US, so the struggle has caught me by surprise. It has been a couple of days since I have landed, and being completely honest, my sleep schedule is not quite back to normal. I find that my body gets a lot more tired/ weak earlier in the day, and this causes me to sleep pretty early most nights. The only issue to this is that my body does not enjoy sleeping in because it seems to send stress signal stop my brain, and as a result, most mornings im up very early like: 5 or 6 AM, or sometimes I will even wake up around 3 AM and then go back to sleep. Beside my sleep schedule, there have not been too many issues with adjusting to my life back in America. I mention this in my other blog, but I am glad that I finished my experience abroad and came home for summer because it’s given me the space and time to decompress and reflect on my overall experience without the stress of school.
Overall, my time abroad was one of a kind, and I am so grateful for this amazing experience! I would recommend this to everyone, and I look forward to encouraging and helping other students at my home institution fulfill their dreams to travel abroad. Last but not least, I am so grateful for the support I received from the Fund for Education Abroad foundation because I couldn’t have done this without their help.
Thank You,
Belize