so I'm home

Well the title just about says it all.

I'm not in Indonesia anymore.

I left Indonesia a little over a week and a half ago, and I have been in Madison exactly eight days. The past two weeks have been such a whirlwind of emotions, too many to describe in one blog post. I lived in Indonesia for exactly 325 days. After 325 days in a foreign place, that foreign place doesn't feel so foreign anymore. The call to prayer, mopeds zooming down alleys, palm trees and es kelapa muda stands lining the roads, mosques on every street corner; after 325 days this all felt normal. 

And then those 325 days were all used up and I was thrown back into this country known as America. Home of cheese curds and driving on the right side of the road and cheeseburgers and sidewalks and stoplights and a whole lot of people speaking English. Being thrown back into America after 325 days abroad hasn't been easy. I keep letting phrases of Bahasa slip out in conversation (apologies to the people who work at the Chipotle at the LAX airport who didn't understand my mix of 3 languages when I tried to order a burrito). I keep touching my heart after shaking hands with people, and I feel so strange calling everyone you. 

It's been great and difficult and just plain weird at times. Reconnecting with people who haven't seen me in a year and readjusting to the life I used to live has been a challenge but nothing that some time won't solve. 

However, so many people still ask me my most dreaded question:

"So, how was your trip?"

**advice to friends of recent exchange returnees: we try not to call it a "trip"**

So, how was my experience/life/exchange year/325 days in Indonesia?

It was something I can't describe accurately in one conversation, or probably even a hundred conversations. I could describe my experience in Indonesia with hundreds of adjectives but I still have a lingering feeling that whoever is listening still wouldn't quite get it. How can someone understand what it feels like to wake up one morning on the other side of the world, in a country whose language you don't speak and whose culture you do not yet understand if they haven't experienced that before? How can someone understand the immense pride when you have your first meaningful conversation with someone in a language you didn't know existed two years ago, when they have never experienced that either?

I sincerely hope that I can share my experience with my friends and family here in the States in a way that helps people really understand what the past 325 days were like for me. And I am so thankful for those who have already made the effort to find out what it's like to dive headfirst into a new country, language, and culture I knew so little about a few years ago. 

I'm not sure if this will be my last blog post, but if it is I want to say thank you for everyone who read this and supported my journey this past year. From America to Indonesia to France to Singapore and every where else you read this blog from, thank you. Your comments and messages helped me so much, and I hope you enjoyed my blog.