I’ve been home for a little over a week now, and it feels like I have been abruptly dropped back into a former life: seeing family and friends from home, working, and getting ready to go back to school. I was partially expecting some drastic homecoming where, after half a year, I would feel completely changed and my hometown would look different, but what I experienced was far less dramatic. Not much at home has changed, and I am also pretty much the same, just with a slew of new experiences and memories behind me. It is great to be home in the U.S., but I know that it’s only a matter of time before I start really missing Buenos Aires and wanting to be back again.
It is difficult to make a “final reflection” about such a long period of time in which so much happened, but I will say this: if you are a University of Richmond student (or a student from another university, for that matter) reading this, I can’t recommend going abroad enough. I’ve hesitated to call these the “best six months of my life” to avoid running the risk of sounding overly dramatic (and, as many people joke about abroad students who return and rant excessively about their experiences, annoying). But now, looking back, I wonder why I shouldn’t consider this the happiest and most formative experience I’ve ever had? This period of time in my life was unique in the sense that I’m not sure that I will ever again have the chance to drop everything and briefly restart my life in a completely different part of the world. The places that I traveled, the things that I learned, and perhaps most importantly, the people that I met, have shaped me in a way that I can’t describe. So yes, I’ll say it, even if it does make me sound like the stereotypical “abroad CHANGED me” student: these were the best six months of my life, and I am so incredibly grateful to have had the opportunity to call Buenos Aires home.
Gracias por todo, Buenos Aires!
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