I felt like I should write one more entry, even if no one reads it. After a full day of traveling, we arrived safely at the airport in Dulles, and then drove in vans back to EMU. Many of my close friends decided to get up and wait for our return, and so when the vans pulled up there were a lot of screams, hugs and tears shed. After talking with them for an hour or so, I decided that I was a little tired from being awake for about 24 hours. The weekend was relaxing, and a good time to reconnect with friends. I also was able to call my family, which seemed a very strange (but wonderful) thing to be able to just pick up the phone and call them. Monday morning, we gave a presentation about our cross cultural in chapel. We sang, performed skits, reflected and shared pictures with the EMU community. It was great to be able to at least give a glimpse of our travels and our time abroad. We are also anxiously awaiting the return of the other cross cultural group from EMU this semester, the Middle East group. It will be interesting to talk about their experiences as well. Overall, I have felt very blessed by the welcome and curious questions that I have been asked by everyone.

Culture shock is a very strange feeling. Sometimes, it is almost like I am having an out-of-body experience. Most of the time, I feel farely normal, but occasionally those feelings hit me. Being with my cross cultural group and talking with them has made things much easier. They are going through the same things and know what it feels like. We all joke about the fact that we have been together for around 100 days straight and yet now we still always want to be together. There are definitely perks about being back, such as eating peanut butter, drinking from a water fountain, smelling the fresh air and flowers on campus, talking to friends and family I have missed and hot showers. I still find myself thinking in Spanish and catch myself starting to speak in Spanish. Today, our group split up to do a scavenger hunt around Harrisonburg. We were asked to find church services in Spanish, restaurants and have conversations with locals in Spanish. It was cool to practice our Spanish in a familiar community. One restaurant owner in particular spoke English to us, and his eyes lit up when we started speaking Spanish with him. :) What a wonderful thing to meet someone where they are at and bless them by getting on their level. I hope that I will be able to use my Spanish to connect with people and keep practicing it so that I don't lose it. I know that God has so richly blessed me through this experience and taught me many things. I hope that I can find ways to be a blessing to others and use what I have learned on this trip in the future.