I have now been back in Miami for 4 weeks and, to say the truth, it has been a little strange. After arriving at my lay-over in Atlanta I surprisingly was shocked by all the people speaking English and the fact that not everyone was Asian. I know, shocking huh? As soon as I was home the first order of business was having a good plate of Cuban food, which I had gone without during my entire stay in Korea. I think the moment I had the first bite of the food I had missed so muchย is when I felt truly home. These
past few weeks I have been relaxing, not going out much or doing much. This is a huge contrast to what my life in Korea is like, but not much different to the life I had before I left. Why do I find it a little underwhelming now? In Korea there is always something new, something new to do or somewhere new to explore, while here I already know everything and it is somewhere that I am used to. There is no novelty, which is probably why my home in Miami, a big and vibrant city, seems so lackluster to me at the moment. I had heard about this happening to people who studied abroad, yet I never thought it would apply to me. I didn’t think I would have any trouble adjusting to the life I had before going to Korea,ย but now I understand. This time around, though, it’s not as hard because I know I will be back in Korea soon, but I find myself extremely sad whenever I think of the time I will actually have to say goodbye to Korea for good.
I try not to think about this too much, and when I do I try to console myself with the fact that I still plan on pursuing my Masters in Korea after I finish my Bachelors, and even if that’s not possible I can always go back to visit. I still have almost 6 months left to learn about and enjoy everything Korea has to offer and, trust me, there are still lots of things left on my “Korea Bucket List”. Yes, I made one of those!
I still have lots of cities to visit, me and my friends are already planning a trip to Jeju Island around May, andย I also refuse to leave Korea without visiting Busan for the second time. I truly, truly fell in love with that city. With thoughts ofย what’s to come, I am enjoying the days of relaxation and familiarity here at home with my family and friends, as well as the warm weather! I cannot explain to anyone enough how much I needed warm weather after spending months in Korea’s winter. Also, in recent days I have understood that, however boring in comparison I might find my home as opposed to Korea, it is still my home and it has lots of interesting and beautiful things to offer as well, which I should not be taking for granted. Right now, as I mentioned in my last post, I am excited to go to Japan next week with my two closest friends from the exchange.
Here’s to making more memories!