post-exchange life

I left Jakarta exactly 87 days, 1 hour, and 56 minutes ago on July 12th.

I arrived in Madison four days later and saw my family for the first time in a year running on a combined 7 hours of sleep over 4 days.

And now I've been back in school for just over a month.

Time works in crazy ways doesn't it?

A year ago today I was sitting on my balcony in Indonesia, sipping es teh manis and writing in my journal about how it was my half birthday and in six months I would be celebrating my birthday in this country (which still felt quite foreign at this point). 

This time last year I was making the journey across West Java to a village in the mountains to celebrate  Eid Al-Adha with my extended family. This was the first time I had left Jakarta since I arrived and it was the first time I fell in love with the Javanese countryside. Seriously, those roadside views are absolutely incomparable to anything I have ever seen.

I'll always be a Sconnie at heart but I'd take that over a corn field anyday.

Fast forward 365 days and I'm back in the States, navigating the journey commonly referred to as senior year of public high school. I've slipped back into the routine I was so accustomed to freshman and sophomore year: eat, sleep, swim, school, repeat. I've reconnected with friends I haven't talked to since sophomore year and made some new ones, and the number of "how was your trip" questions has gone down. 

In September I was lucky enough to go back to DC (for the 4th time in the past year and a half) for the first YES Abroad Alumni Workshop. It was a great opportunity to reconnect with other alumni from so many different countries and officially establish the YES Abroad alumni network. Not to mention it's always a thrill to be back at the 4H with the free soft serve ice cream machine and donuts at every meal. Really though YES Abroad knows how to pick a venue.

However, I would be lying if I said I didn't miss Indonesia everyday. Everytime I mistake a 1000 rupiah for a quarter in my wallet a part of my heart sinks. And when I see pictures of my school friends wearing Batik on hari nasional batik at SMA 5, and when I hear even a snippet of Bahasa on the street (which actually has happened). 

I knew when I came home that the past 11 months in Indonesia had changed me, but I didn't have enough time to process to fully grasp what last year really meant. I wouldn't necessarily say 87 days is enough to fully comprehend, but I've come a lot farther now than when I first set foot back in Madison.

Readjusting to your old life while trying to hold on to the one you fell in love with is hard, and balancing the two is a delicate art. I still speak Bahasa on a daily basis by taking Indonesian 5 at the University of Wisconsin, and I try to keep in touch with my friends and family despite now being on the opposite end of our infamous 12 hour time difference. I made karedok and sambal for my family the other day, except I made it so spicy even I could barely eat it. 

All in all, America has treated me pretty well post-exchange, and I've gotten great support and interest from my friends and family here in Madison. I'm enjoying my first season change since spring of 2013 and I'm excited to see where this experience will take me in the future. 

P.S. the yes abroad 2015/2016 app is now up so you should apply and please feel free to email me or comment if you have any questions!

Terima kasih!

quick shoutout to fall