After two years of study in the U.S. I am back home to Armenia. I expected to overcome reverse culture shock quickly but I’m still going through a transformation of self after being back for over 6 months. Most of the times I think reverse cultural shock is about viewing how we changed from within and re-evaluating the attitudes towards the world around us. Takes time, patience, love…. more emotions than perhaps reasoning.

This is a really nice article – I see the sunny side going up Thanks also to all who posted their experiences.

I am trying to become re-patriated. I’m going back to school. I have a part-time job. Yet, at some point everyday, I think “This is not my life.” I feel like I am going through the motions for someone else, and the real me is lost somewhere in Asia.

It constantly weighs on me how long I will have to wait before I can afford to return “home” to Asia. I have to stay in school for two years. Then I will have to work for, likely, another two years in order to reduce my student loan debt to a manageable level. Then I’ll work one more year so I can go back to Asia with money in my pocket. So five years before I can go back.

Not to say that I am miserable all day, every day. I like my water fitness classes. I’ve mastered making bagels and decent from-scratch spaghetti sauce ( no canned tomatoes). Ibuprofen is available in liqui-gel form everywhere. And I can find clothes in my size.

Still, what I wouldn’t give for buses and subways. I miss that free time now that I have to drive everywhere.

When I came back from Costa Rica, I couldn’t help but J-walk everywhere I was going……(oops my bad)…

and after my visit to Colorado, I had a rediscovered appreciation for the racial and cultural diversity of LA just as you mentioned.

great work, keep trekkin’!

I’ve been home six months…and am still missing my study abroad times. The beautiful sunsets and wildlife, the laid back lifestyle, the kindness and openness of the Ticos, the beautiful people I met, increased attention from the opposite sex, and the lack of electronics..billboards.. and materialism that is so readily apparent in the U.S. It has made me want to do nothing but either return or join a hippie commune in the center of a forest since I have been back.

Lately, though, I’ve been thinking a lot about what you mentioned.. taking what you have learned and applying it to life back at home. I recall many of the things that I did there and attempt to apply them to my American life… relishing in the beauty of simplicity, taking the time to relax, living in the moment, appreciating and being in awe of those around you. Why must only a different environment be the trigger of these things? I have been making an effort to recall my abroad mentality and apply it on a daily basis. Take notice of the milky blue skies, the warm hug from your friend, the moments spend sipping tea on the porch in the morning. Doing these things and not letting them get swept away in the fast pace of your American life as well as appreciating the ways that you have changed is a daunting, but rewarding feat…