Back home

I am glad to be back in America, where we have ice and free restrooms, but saying that I miss Germany would have to be an understatement. The first day I made it back to the states I immediately put shorts on, which was an amazing feeling. It has been hard for me to get adjusted back into the schedule and it took me a few days to get past the jet lag. I think what I miss the most is not having a care in the world and just being able to walk around the city and enjoy myself constantly from early in the morning to late at night. This trip has opened my eyes to a world view of many things, culturally and politically. One of the stand out memories I have from the trip was speaking to a man in Berlin about America and just listening to his views about our culture and understanding the reasons they feel that way. It is easy in America, especially if you don’t travel, to not have a world view and I think that isn’t an issue over there because of the short distance between various countries and the emphasis that everyone puts on traveling. Everyone one you talk to over there knows at least two languages and that is a sobering statistic when in America not very many people put an emphasis on language. Experiencing the public transportation system over there makes me wonder why the U.S. doesn’t take greater strides to create transportation systems to eliminate the necessity of a car. Overall I felt like my trip abroad was a successful preview of trips that I will take later in my life. I definitely want to go back and spend more time in Europe and even Germany.