Well, I'm really home now, looking around at all the stuff in my room, some of it European and some of it not.
Okay, let me rewind a bit.
The week with my parents was really hectic, but it was also nice because I got to see them and some parts of the Netherlands that I hadn't already seen (De Zaanse Schaans, Volendam, the Anne Frank house, the Van Gogh museum, the Gouda cheese market, etc). In Volendam my family and my host parents and I took a really REALLY touristic photo, which I'll put on facebook soon. During the week we managed to fill my family with all the typical Dutch foods, like Rijsttafel, herring, cheese, stroopwaffels, croquetten, fries, and yeah, just about everything. But when the week was done, I only had one more day with my host family.
We went to the "Parade" in Den Haag, which is really more like a carnival/festival thing with a couple of rides, food, and tents where they have shows you have to pay for. Mostly I just sat around talking with Jotte and her family, but I rode the swing ride with Elise, Anne-Laure, and Sebastiaan, too. Matthias and I watched a skit/rock show which was... interesting, to say the least. Haha, just kidding, it was actually really funny! In a dark, demented sort of way...... hm..... great way to end the year, I suppose.
It felt really weird packing my suitcases, because it felt like I was leaving home again, I mean, it felt the exact same way it did when I was packing to leave America, which I hadn't expected.
That night I read a story to Sebastiaan and afterwards he said, "I think it's stupid that you're leaving. You have to stay here for... forever! For 100 years!" That was really sweet. Sebastiaan is a really sweet kid.
My last breakfast was.... drumroll please.... bread! Nooo but I really liked it, actually. My last "American filet" (raw meat) and "hail hits" (chocolate sprinkles) on bread. How sad. I'll miss Dutch bread spreads.... well, I brought some sprinkles home for my dad.
After breakfast, I gave some of Carla and Matthias's stuff back, but when I handed them the house key, Carla said, "No, Emily, you belong to this house, so the key belongs to you." Aww, how nice!! I'm going to keep it on my keychain. As we were all walking to the car to take me to the airport, Elise said, "I wish it was the first day you were here again," and I said, "Yes, but then I wouldn't speak very good Dutch," but she said she didn't care, because I could just learn it again. In the car ride, Matthias said, "You know, we all agree that you're a member of our family now, so it's going to be different around here without you." All these kind words! I hope I've expressed my appreciation to these wonderful people enough, although I'm sure I haven't.
A couple of friends and my school mentor came to see me off at the airport, which was really nice of them. You know what's funny is that when I arrived in August, it was really sunny outside, which isn't typical August weather, so it was like the Netherlands was happy to see me. When I left a couple of days ago, it was cloudy and a bit rainy, which is not typical July weather, so it was like the country was sad to see me go. So deep, I know. Well, eventually I was on my way. 5 movies, 4 Americans, 3 airplanes, 2 days and 1 big shock later, I was back in California.
No but really. Culture shock is WEIRD.
Everything just hit me at once. Everyone speaking English in a whiney, drawn-out way, drinking giant iced coffees, paying with thin coins and all green papers, guys dressed in Abercrombie drinking Fiji water, Spanish on the intercoms in the airport, women chatting you up and pretending to be interested in you for a couple of seconds and then completely ignoring you, the low doorknobs and counters that would have Dutch people bent at right angles to reach, cushy carpets, cars, BIG cars, dry landscape and hot weather, mourning doves cooing in the backyard, mountains next to freeways (or just mountains, for that matter), bag fillers at the supermarkets, not a red brick house in sight, and certainly no bikes. Actually, there are a couple of roads with sections designated for bikes now, which is new, but I don't think that more people have started biking here that usual because of them. It was also so great to see my dog again!! He greeted me and then generally seemed uninterested in me until I gave him food or petted him, but I guess his idea of a good human relationship is a bit similar to mine. (Okay, so maybe I'm a little more compassionate than that.... :D )
Being in my own room is great, but it feels a bit strange. I was a different person back when this was my mini-world. I've grown up a bit. Oh, I do hope that I won't go back to the way I used to be! Well, I'm sure that when I go off to college soon I will only become even more cool and independent, so I'm looking forward to that.
You know, in a way it feels as if nothing has really changed. Like I was asleep for a long, long time and that the Netherlands is just a strange, twisted dream that I made up. Then I woke up and everything was just the way I had left it - my city, my room, my friendships - except that I've changed a bit myself.
I'm going to hang out with one of my friends today and I'm so excited!! I haven't seen her for 10 months, can you believe it, and now we'll finally be able to actually stand next to each other! The distance of a few feet versus a few thousand miles is pretty big.
This summer I'm just going to chill out, do some reading, learn some Spanish, go to Alaska with my fam, get prepared for college and do some more chilling out. Then it's back to work! I'm really interested in other cultures and languages now, so I hope to find a job that allows me to travel and speak to people from around the world, although I need to screw my head on right and get more organized if I'm going to make that dream come true.
Well, this was my last blog post. Hah. I started my blog in my bedroom and I'm ending it here, too. My first food in the Netherlands was a stroopwaffel, that was also my last food there. The first advertisement I saw in NL was one for a bank, and the first one I saw back in LA was also one for a bank. I went from a red white and blue flag to red white and blue one and back again. The only thing that doesn't come out as a perfect circle here is that I left home speaking poor Dutch and I came home speaking fluent Dutch. There's always room for improvement, though.
That's it! I'm done! And while my year abroad is over, I'll still be an exchange student, always and forever. Thanks for following me on this amazing journey. I can't wait to see what the future will hold, not just for me, but for you as well. I think it will be incredible.
So. Who's up for a cheeseburger?
Tot ziens,
Emily
