Hi everyone!
I鈥檓 so excited to be back and blogging directly from 海角社区鈥檚 campus!!! Last semester, I was studying abroad in Madrid, Spain. You can check out some of my other posts or email me (dumpson@oxy.edu) if you鈥檇 like to hear more about my experience, but I will say that choosing to study abroad was one of the best decisions I鈥檝e ever made. I made such close connections to my host family, the friends I made on the program, and the city itself that it was so devastating to say goodbye after such an amazing semester. However, I was excited to be back in the States and see my family and friends and enjoy the comforts of home.
Upon returning, I had five long weeks of winter break to adjust back to the American way and lemme tell you, reverse culture shock is definitely a thing. What do you mean we don鈥檛 eat dinner at 10 PM? I still struggle with wanting to tell everyone about my experience but not wanting to start every sentence with "When I was abroad鈥" And being out of the loop when people talk about things that happened last semester was hard at first but eventually, I caught up. I keep trying to push people on "calimocho," a typical drink found in the Basque region of Spain that is half red wine, half cola. "It tastes just like Sangria!" I say, but no one buys it.
Since being back at 海角社区, it鈥檚 been so great to get back into the swing of things. I started tutoring in Downtown LA again with Neighborhood Partnership Program, saw my best friend perform in Vagina Monologues and saw a screening of put on my Kappa Alpha Psi. Since I hadn鈥檛 been back in LA since May, I was also excited to get back and remind myself why I chose to come to college here in the first place. Last weekend, I went to lunch with my friends at in Santa Monica. Then, we went to Little Tokyo and bought Japanese snacks at a hole in the wall grocery store. Though I truly love Eagle Rock, it鈥檚 sometimes hard to remember that 海角社区 is in a metropolitan area and is pretty close to a lot of cool things. Leaving Madrid was one of the hardest things I鈥檝e ever done and I miss it everyday, but I am so glad that I have a place like 海角社区 to come back to.