Before I left for my semester abroad, I was given a lot of advice. Some of it didn’t strike me as anything important. There is so much to prepare for and some of the stuff gets pushed aside and deemed unimportant.

Warnings about culture shock definitely fit that description at the time, but later in my journey I would discover how bad that could get.

On my return trip, I definitely remembered what I was told about reverse culture shock. It is what happens when someone gets used to a second culture and has trouble adjusting to their first one when they get back to their home country.

I’d heard that for some people it is even worse than their initial culture shock.

When I returned, I definitely did feel that I had grown accustomed to life in Argentina enough that I might have a difficult readjustment phase.

So far, through the healing of my broken leg (an injury incurred during my last week in South America), going back to ETSU, not having a job for the first time in my life, and liberally poured glasses of holiday cheer, I have not experienced anything that I would call culture shock.

I do miss Argentina and the friends that I made there, and I have experienced grief over a number of things upon my return. I still try to kiss people that I have just met, and I can’t believe how much a tank of gas costs.

I enjoyed walking around and exploring a new country.

I enjoyed having beers while watching somewhat obscure soccer matches. I miss empanadas and anchovy pizza, even though there is only one restaurant in the whole country that has hot sauce.

Living in a society where it is acceptable for a man to get his hair cut once a year has its economic and fashion benefits – which I plan to capitalize on at least until I get a job interview.

I guess that parts of my episode in South America were brought back with me. Post-Argentina, I am left an under-dressed college student, with scraggly hair and a limp in the left leg.

I had a lot of fun in Argentina, but I also had some tough times and some pretty strange happenings. Though it wasn’t perfect, I would still recommend a semester abroad to almost any student.

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