Overwhelmed and It Feels So Good

Roommates.  McElroy.  Chobani.  Peanut Butter.  The Heights.  Basketball.  Speaking English.  BC Dining.  Unlimited hot water.  American dollars.  Three months ago, if you had said any of those things to me, I probably would have felt an immediate twinge of homesickness.  Life in Spain was great−it was easy, it was adventurous−but there were things about America, about home, about BC, that I inevitably missed.  Three months ago, in the beginning of November, I was looking forward to being back on the Heights, to reuniting with campus, my friends, BC academics… with my old life. 
 
But then, two months ago, I realized that my semester abroad was coming to an end.  After a 12-day roadtrip through Scotland and Italy with my two best friends from abroad, I realized that this life was priceless.  Yes, if I had stayed any longer I would’ve put myself straight into bankruptcy.  Of course, staying up until 5 AM all the time was starting to wear me down a bit, but classes were easy (and finished a month before I left).  I was surrounded by 34 amazing people in an absolutely gorgeous city; I felt as though Spain, Europe, and the world were literally at my fingertips.  Two months ago, as they would say in Spanish, “No tenía ganas de salir” – I never wanted to leave.

But of course, I did.  I left and got to rejuvenate briefly at home, but I couldn’t wait to be back at BC.  Being back in a place so comfortable, full of people that know me and have the same beliefs, ideals, and work ethic as I do would be a breath of fresh air.  And the fact that they all speak English couldn’t hurt, either.  Upon arriving on campus, I saw the progress of Stokes and Gasson’s beautifully finished state.  I saw my best friend, went to Conte Forum, had a salmon dinner, and truly felt as though I never left.  I was back (I actually cried when I pulled onto campus) and I couldn’t have been happier. 
 
And then classes started.  Classes?  Homework?  And what exactly do you mean, Professor, that we have three tests and two papers before our final exam and a final paper at the end of the semester?  And what’s that you say about a group presentation?  And then there was the weekend.  Off-campus parties?  What do you mean you’re going to “62” – 62 what?  Is that a new club?  And why isn’t the whole class here?  Where is everyone?  I thought he was going abroad? 

All of a sudden, everything was overwhelming.  Where I was used to simply following the only other 30 people I knew around the city, I now had eight groups of people on six different streets in Brighton and in two different dorms on campus to answer to and try to fit in – all while thinking about all the reading I had to do, the trips I had to take with the basketball team, the hours I had to put in for my research position, and when I was going to fit in volunteering and working at the Law School. 
 
Going from having two or three classes a day with hours upon hours of leisure time in between, minimal homework to accomplish, no office hours to attend, and constant sunny weather, to two classes, five hours of work, infinite hours of reading, a lunch date, a meeting before dinner, a trip to the Plex and a lot of stuff (and by that, I mean a lot of procrastination) in between was a transition I had braced myself for.  But that doesn’t mean my mental preparations made it a seamless transition.  From comida and siestas to Hillside and all-nighters, from seeing a new country every weekend to seeing the inside of a new off-campus house every Saturday, returning from abroad has been a learning experience in and of itself.
 
Things have changed – people have changed, relationships have changed, the freshman and senior classes have changed, 21 Campanella Way has changed (what’s it called again?), McElory has definitely changed, and I have changed.   But who’s to say change is bad?  On any given Thursday in Madrid, I’d be bouncing from one Tequila Thursday to another bar to a discoteca and eventually home just before the sun rose.  And maybe now my Thursdays will be bouncing from the Plex to Lower to Foster Street and back to Edmonds before 2 AM, but for the sake of my liver, my wallet, my well-being, and my heart, I’m back and it feels good.  I wouldn’t trade my semester in Madrid for anything.  I learned, I grew, I traveled, I spoke Spanish, I ate, I drank, I met 34 absolutely incredible and life-changing people, and I had the time of my life.  But now I’m back.  Things have changed, but BC−for me−will always have my heart.  I’ve never felt more at home.

Photo Sources:
http://yogaheals.wordpress.com/
http://www.ratestogo.com/blog/take-a-boston-university-tour/