So I’m completely, totally out of Berlin now. I got back to the United States a little less than two weeks ago—I traveled around with my family for three weeks after the Berlin program ended. I’m back at school, and classes start tomorrow. It’s kind of funny—you get home from three months abroad, and it feels like you never left. Until, of course, something triggers a memory, or seems out of place. For example, my neighborhood at home is very business-oriented, so things are changing—going out of business, opening, etc.—fairly quickly, while some things have been in business since before I can remember. So when I would pass an old place, it was like it was still June, but when there was a completely established new business right next to my house that I had never seen before, it was quite disorienting. Similarly, when something reminds me of something that they do differently in Berlin, I say, “In Berlin, they do ______.” That is another thing that jolts me and makes me remember that, wow. I really did spend three months on the road in Europe. Anyway, I’m glad I’m back (three months is a lot of time!).
The snapchat I sent everybody when I got back. Even though Berlin was absolutely incredible, there really is no place like home.