Reverse culture shock: From Europe to IV

“So, how was it??” They ask.

You are not surprised by this question. You knew you would be asked it a million times. You just got back from studying abroad in a foreign country and they’ve undoubtedly caught at least one of your many Facebook uploads and Instagram posts these past four months.

“It was amazing, I loved it,” you respond, almost automatically. This answer has become so routine that, to you, it almost sounds insincere.

Is that it? You think to yourself. Is that all you are going to say? You are going to sum up one of the best experiences of your life into six seemingly insignificant words?

But what can you say? How can you even begin to describe this life-changing experience? You know that no adjective in the English language will do any justice in explaining how you really feel about your time abroad. Yes, it was “amazing.” That is true. But it was so much more than that.

More than anything you want to sit your friends down and tell them about all the places you visited, all the people you met, all the crazy shenanigans you took part in, and all the lessons you learned along the way. You want to tell them how you’ve grown, how you’ve changed, and how you managed to make a city that was once completely foreign to you your home. Do they have an hour, you think, or a year? But you ultimately have to accept  that this is an experience that cannot be explained. They will have to see for themselves one day.

They ask you if it’s weird to be back. You have to think about this one.

When you first returned back home to Isla Vista, you remember thinking, “Wow, it’s exactly how I remember it,” and yet, at the same time, it felt different to you. You couldn’t wrap your head around what had changed. Freebirds was still in the same place (thank god). Snappa tables were still prominently displayed in almost every lawn. Skateboarders were still moving in ambiguous directions nearly running frightened bystanders over. The people were still as beautiful as ever. There was no decline in IV sunset posts on Instagram. Everything seemed to be pretty much the same since you left this one square mile of paradise. So why did it feel different? And then you realized, it wasn’t Isla Vista that changed.

It was you.

You had just grown fully accustomed to living and immersing yourself within a culture that was completely different from that of Isla Vista. But now you’re back, and perhaps because you no longer have tourists with selfie sticks clouding your peripheral vision, you can clearly see that there are definitely some things you need to get used to again.

Everyone Speaks English

Okay, so, this has been weird. Living and traveling throughout Europe, you got so used to constantly hearing different languages, most of which you could not understand, so you  always got super excited when you heard someone speak English. You’d look up, give them a little head nod, and be like, “hey,” and they would be like, “go away,” and you’d be like “sure thing.”  And you both would proceed to go your separate ways and never see each other again, but it was great because YOU COULD UNDERSTAND THEM.

But now, being back at UCSB, almost everyone speaks English and the “Spot the American” game is a hell of a lot easier. You win almost every time. You also no longer have to play a humiliating game of charades in order to find directions to the nearest metro station. So that’s nice. You’re less excited about being rejected here, though. That’s not as nice.

There is Food Variety

Europe has amazing food. That is one thing you definitely learned first-hand. But you found that often times countries could only boast about their own specialties, and there was a significant lack of quality food from other ethnic categories. And sometimes you just really wanted a dank burrito with fresh guacamole. Was that too much to ask?

Back in Isla Vista, you can once again choose between a wide range of different food options all conveniently located within two minutes of each other. Do you want pizza from Blaze? A steak bowl from Hana? Buffalo chicken cheese fries from IV Deli? Lucky for you, you can have them all by simply pivoting your left foot a couple times. And if you’re feeling really ambitious, you can take five more steps to top off your nutritious choice of cuisine with some Freebirds nachos. Who cares about the probable onset of diabetes? You have been deprived of this oil and grease for too long and dammit you deserve it.  Also, you are excited to finally use your hands in this process of consumption. No more using your fork and knife to eat french fries bullshit. This is America.

They get it. You’ve been there. 

You traveled a lot while abroad and you are dying to share a little bit about each of the new stamps you have on your passport. But as much as you want to tell your friends how a certain moment reminds you of this one time in Switzerland, you have to get used to limiting yourself to no more than three abroad anecdotes a day (so as not to sound like an annoying prick). Of course, you love being able to say, “I’ve been there,” and make comparisons between life in Europe and the States, but you gotta play it cool.  You just got your friends back and you want to keep them. Also, you say “the States” now and you don’t know if that will ever go away.

You’re out of the loop

Even though it may seem to you like nothing changed in Isla Vista, life inevitably happened while you were away, and you realize you have a lot of catching up to do. You have to get used to hearing “You didn’t know?” after learning shocking new insights about how that that one couple broke up, or those two people randomly got together, or how your dorm crush from freshmen year transferred to Minnesota, even though it all happened “so long ago.”

It feels weird to have to re-establish your relationships with your friends and others you were close to before you left. Sometimes you find it hard to relate to certain people now that you’re back.  You feel like you have gone through this big sort of existential awakening about yourself and the world around you (as cheesy as that sounds), and then you come back to people who might not realize that there is so much more outside of this bubble we call Isla Vista. You know it will get easier with time, but this truth has been a little harder to adjust to than others.

Your life is a lot less exciting

During the past four months, your life was continually “go-go-go.” You were constantly doing new things, seeing new things, and traveling to new places almost every weekend. You wanted to make sure you made the absolute most of your time abroad and appreciated all the history and culture your city and greater Europe had to offer. And why wouldn’t you when you could travel from Florence to Prague for twenty euro roundtrip? You adopted the “this is a once in a lifetime opportunity” mindset and you never said no to new and exciting adventures. Especially when it could result in a cool Insta pic.

But now that you’re back, your Instagram has become completely irrelevant and you feel less inclined to take advantage of all your opportunities. You instead decide to watch seven hours of Netflix’s new documentary series Making a Murderer and then lie on the floor contemplating the integrity of our criminal justice system.

But why? Why do we feel like just because our abroad days are over we no longer need to do anything exciting with our time?

Yes, studying abroad was an amazing once-in-a-lifetime experience that you will cherish forever. But so is college.

We are lucky enough to go to school in one of the most beautiful places in the world (you can say that now because you have seen a lot of the world).  Living in Isla Vista and Santa Barbara, we are literally surrounded by countless opportunities for fun new adventures just waiting to be had.  We need to re-adopt our traveling mentalities. We need to start acting like tourists in our own home and truly appreciate the incredible beauty and unique culture Isla Vista has to offer.

And if that means you have to buy yourself a selfie stick, so be it.