Sara Shimmel is a junior from Lewiston, New York, working on a double major in political science and Spanish. She is a member of the Women’s Chorus and takes voice lessons at the Eastman School of Music. She is also a member of the UR Quidditch team. A Gold Level Senior skater, Sara takes advantage of the Genesee Valley ice rink down the street a few times a week. Last year, she became a member of the Meridian Society and works giving tours for the Office of Admissions. Sara is currently studying abroad in Granada, Spain, and will be talking about many of her experiences abroad in this series of blog post
By Sara Shimmel
Home Sweet Home
Having been home from Granada, Spain, for over three weeks now, I think it’s safe to say that I’ve gotten over whatever reverse–culture shock coming home gave me. Packing up and getting ready to leave was certainly a sad experience, despite the fact that I was looking forward to getting home and seeing my family and friends. Saying goodbye to my friends there was difficult, as was driving out of Granada for one last time. There were tears involved.
After hours of travel and one panicked sprint through the Charles de Gaulle Airport in Paris, where I just barely made my flight on time, I was finally back in the US. The first thing I did was order a ginormous cheeseburger at the airport. Ahhh, America. I also remember looking up quickly whenever I heard a conversation in English go by, as I’d been so used to looking up and seeing someone I knew in Spain when I heard English. Come on Sara, most people speak English here. It’s New York. Stop freaking out.
The 45-minute flight from New York to Buffalo definitely felt the longest. I was literally bouncing with excitement at that point. Checking watch every 5 minutes. Acting ridiculous. Yelling at myself for getting that impatient and excited to see the people waiting at the airport for me. Anyways. It was great to come home and see everyone. The day after I’d returned, I had my entire family and some friends over for a welcome home/birthday celebration. It was a lot of fun and great to see everyone at once, but I was pretty exhausted. A few days and a Josh Groban concert later, I packed up (again) and moved to Rochester, where I’ll be spending the rest of my summer. It was a whirlwind of a week.
Looking back at the entire experience, I can certainly see how amazing the entire semester was. It was challenging in many ways. Dealing with an…interesting…host family, all in Spanish, was a learning experience. It was also incredibly rewarding. Being able to handle situations outside of my comfort zone is something I’ll be able to apply to many events in my future. I’m also extremely fortunate to have come away with the friendships that I’ve made throughout the past few months. So as I sit here in Rochester, getting used to saying “dollars” instead of “euros” and enjoying eating things other than ham, I find myself frequently looking back fondly on, as my program director put it, “the days of wine and Jasmine under the Alhambra hill.”