Reverse Culture Shock and Reflection

Our Ecology professor told us something like this about the reverse culture shock, "For the first two or so weeks you will be glad to be back, everything will be different. But that feeling of new, will soon go away and you will realize it is not what you have used to. You will be disappointed and frustrated by somethings that now will seem strange or wrong to you." I am sure I added a little extra to that quote. Of course, everyone will feel different after coming back from study abroad but for me and many others the very first thing that hits you is reverse culture shock, and not a week or two later.

I have been back from Costa Rica since Sunday, almost for a week. When driving from the airport, this sadness washed over me when I realized that I am not in Costa Rica anymore. My first longing was to go back. A desert is starkly different from a tropical climate but never is this is this difference felt as acute as when you just come back from a tropical country into a desert one. As more and more days go on however, I come to terms with being back more and more. While in Costa Rica, I absorbed the surroundings - culture, language, nature - here I must work from the inside out and share my new experience with everyone around me.

I feel like this experience have matured me. I learned so many new skills, got rid of fears, and made some achievements.

• The jungle is no longer this scary unknown place where anything can jump out and bite you. I have seen, smelled, touched, and got to know not just the jungle we typically imagine but all types of tropical forests from the rain forest to the dry forest, on an intimate level. 
• I have conducted independent research on my own time and developed from my own idea and idea of other professors. By the way, I haven't really told you about my independent research. In the beginning I wanted to study how the forest edge effect affects herbivory on a particular plant. However I could not find the same species of plant that grew both inside the forest and on the forest edge. I ended up comparing plants that grew not too far from the forest edge, but nevertheless in shade, to plants (of the same species) that grew in more open habitat, completely exposed to the sun. I studied herbivory and epiphyll cover. In the end, herbivory did not differ between the two habitats but epiphyll cover was more abundant in the shaded habitat.  I might have not gotten the results I wanted but the greatest achievement from this study was actually writing a scientific lab report the way it is supposed to be written, the serious way. 
• We also presented our study in a symposium to our teachers and classmates. For me it was an achievement presenting my investigation without stumbling and actually knowing what I am talking about.
• Made Costa Rican friends while learning the local slang. I really want to come back and visit them.
• Met many inspiring peers! Made very good friends. 
• Hiking! I never really hiked a lot in my life before but when I did hike in Costa Rica..wait..this reminds me of that poster with the the guy who drinks dos XX.

• "I don't usually hike, but when I do, I hike mountains for five hours straight with a 100 lb on my back."

Thank you Vera for the pic.

Lol, I exaggerated about the 100 lbs. But it truly sums up how I feel about my study abroad experience. There are so many things I have never done before going to Costa Rica. And in Costa Rica I did so many things for the first time, even things I have never thought of doing, and I did it all to the max. Still, I feel I have not done enough. I have not climbed the fig tree, or ziplined, or visited big cities like Alajuela and Heredia.

If you ever plan to go travel or better yet study abroad in a country unfamiliar to you and in an intensive academic program, it will be a big leap. It is like jumping into a pool of cold water. You could do it it painlessly, step by step but it would be without adrenaline. Or, you could just jump in without imagining how cold it would be. Yes, you will shudder and feel the freeze but in the end you will even start liking it and will want to do it again and again. I am not saying don't prepare, that is a given but nothing can fully prepare you to the point where there will be no surprises. By the way, this philosophy helps with taking cold showers.

So if you want to study abroad, I would recommend CIEE. Go ahead! You will not regret it.