A few weeks later

I've been home for a few weeks. It's difficult to know what to write- so much has happened.
Home feels normal- there has been no reverse culture shock.. My friends are the same, and I fit in with them the same as before. But I have mourned Slovakia- it's hit me once or twice that those friends I left behind are precious, and I love them just as much as my friends here. i dont really know how to deal with it- dont know when ill see them again and keeping in touch is difficult. but i will go back.

mostly i feel the need to keep moving. this summer is just an interim- ill study business, go abroad-- probably to central europe again. ill take russian and slavic history. i wont pretend like it was an ecstatically happy year- most of the time i felt really out of place and like i was living for other peoples expectations. i felt caged in by rotary, which was difficult in such a small town. but i dont feel like im done with it- slovakia is like a love affair that i have to work at for a long time. and that i needed a break from. but ive stopped wishing i had been placed in italy or france- slovakia easily matches them in terms of natural beauty at least. but i think the best way to chronicle my exchange is to post what i wrote privately about it-- not diary entries, just mostly descriptions. so ill post them in the order i wrote them.