Back in the United States: Reverse Culture Shock

I have always thought that reverse culture shock was a funny term. Surely three months in Europe wouldn't make me forget about what life in the United States was like. Boy was I wrong.

After not sleeping for 48 hours, my exhausted state found being back in the United States strange. On the way to the parking garage in the airport, I even commented, "Wow, everyone speaks English here."

On the way back to Texas!

In the spirit of being back in the United States, I have created a list of things that made me excited when I got back to America.

You know you have been in Europe for three months when:

• You are excited to get free refills.
• You are amazed by the size of drinks at restaurants.
• You always want to ask how much it costs to go to the bathroom.
• You are so excited to eat Tex-Mex and Texas barbecue. 
• You don't have to ask if someone speaks English.
• You drive, even if a place is 200 yards away. (I almost just put meters here. There is obviously still a lot of Europe in me.) 
• You are surprised when a stranger smiles at you. 
• Your back is still hurting from the 40-pound backpack you carried around for months.
• You want to take a day trip to another country for a few hours but realize Mexico is too far away.
• You feel like you can buy a cup of coffee at Starbucks without breaking the bank.

I am currently working on editing my photographs and will have more blog entries about various cities on the way. I am also working on a new travel blog project, called pinkvalise. [pinkvalise.blogspot.com] I am going to work on it over the weekend and hopefully start updating regularly starting Monday. 

We had been awake for over 48 hours here. On our way to Itasca from the airport.