The Lost Adventures

Journal Entry
4/28/2015

At about 6:30pm on a Tuesday, seemingly like any other, here I am sitting in the bus station in Dunajska Streda (another town about a 1 & 1/2 - 2 hour bus ride away from Bratislava where I originally got on my bus) because I fell asleep on the bus and missed by stop at  Štvrtok na Ostrove.

I didn't expect this to happen honestly (well I expected it to happen at least once before I left, but I just didn't expect it to happen today). And the funny this is that I'm not even the least bit worried. I feel completely calm and at ease. I know that my next bus will come around 7:30 (and will take 55 minutes to get back to Štvrtok na Ostrove), and if worse comes to worst then I can just call my host parents to come pick me up. Although I don't even want to worry them about this.

It feels nice that I could easily shrug and laugh of this situation. I made a New Year's resolution to not worry about the little things and be open to new experiences. I guess I really knew what life could possibly throw at me-

"Learn to say 'fuck it' when things don't go as planned... be open to new experiences... let life take you places, don't be scared of the unknown or the unexpected or the unplanned."

Life will always be a journey. you can either be afraid of it and try to fight it, or you can sit back and enjoy the ride.

-E.

*After returning home at 8:25pm from my 4 hour adventure of being lost*

Thoughts-
It was so wonderful to finally make it home. All day the weather had just gotten progressively worse - rainy, windy, and cold. Thank god I brought my leggings with me and put them on under my shorts just before I left school. And my big black hat served pretty well as a replacement umbrella.

For some reason I had gone into a mental adrenaline rush that significantly improved my Slovak for the time being while I was lost in order for me to communicate with several different people to figure out how to get home.

When I got on the bus, I had to make a stern conscious decision to make sure that I didn't fall asleep again, which sounds funny but is actually very difficult for me because I fall asleep EVERYWHERE - ESPECIALLY in moving vehicles. But I ended up just fine and finally reached home, where I went inside, changed into my warm pj's, went to the bathroom (because I had to pee that WHOLE time), and went down to the kitchen for some delicious kapusnice s knedla (cabbage soup with this special kind of bread called knedla).

Needless to say, it was an unexpected adventure that taught me that I can handle myself in stressful situations and find my way out of them as long as I just stay calm. Another good learning experience to add to the list.

-E.

An Important Message - From: Me, To: All

I don't really know how to start this, but this is something that I really need to be say.

I can't even begin to tell you all how much I've changed over these past 8 months. I don't know how to explain my experiences or describe the details of my whole year abroad. This exchange changed me in ways I could have never foreseen before embarking on this journey.

And I just want to let everyone know, don't expect me to be exactly the same as I was before I left. When you see me, yes - I will look different, I will seem different, I will be different.

I know that when I return home, many people will expect me to pick up where I left off before I left home - to carry on "as normal" with my life as it was before I dove headfirst into dark waters that I didn't know would end up changing me as much as it did. To be completely honest, I cannot remember what "normal" was for me back at home. I don't remember the way I use to talk to my friends or what jokes I would or wouldn't tell with each one. I don't remember what I use to do with my days when there was nothing to do. I don't remember the certain little things that I use to do - maybe through habit - during my daily life.

So please, don't expect me to just pick up where I left off, as if I just disappeared into a black hole - too far away to even exist - while life for everyone else continued on. And please don't expect me to be the same person that I was before this whole experience. Because I promise you, although I am still me, I have changed more than I know how to express to you. And I will probably look, sound, act, and just seem different. Something might seem off, but just give me time.

Adjusting to life back at home will be extremely difficult for me. Believe it or not, I had [have] a whole other life out here in Slovakia, the life that in currently only 8 short months became the "norm" of my every day life. And by coming back home, I will have abandoned that normality and be thrust back into the ways of a life that I haven't been living for the past year. Reverse culture shock is a very real thing - just thinking about returning home makes me nervous.

By making this post, I just want to let you all know that it may be strange when I arrive back home, but I just need time to adjust and get into a comfortable flow of things. I hope you all will understand and still look forward to my return.

-E.