4 H's, and I don't mean Agriculture.

Before I left for Argentina, I had to go to study abroad orientation at the University of South Carolina. In the orientation they taught us about the "4 H's of Cross-Cultural Adaption" which are: Honeymoon, Hostility, Humor, and Home.

Okay, well, maybe a little agriculture...

I'm not exactly sure if my H's went in the proper order because I was pretty distressed about leaving my mom behind when she'd just had a surgery, so I'm almost certain that I skipped the "Honeymoon" stage and went straight into Hostility. Although I tried to keep an open mind about my surroundings, I was easily frustrated with the language, especially because of the accent difference, city life, and my class placement at the University of Belgrano. Now, though, that I look at all of my time here, I know that I'm in the 4th and final stage: "Home."
With exactly 7 weeks until I land back in the United States, I'm starting to panic. Yes, 2 months is a long time. It was a long time when I realized I'd been here for two months and I hadn't been half way. It's a long time for my friends back at home because they still have 2 months until they're on winter break. And I know it's a long time for both my Mom and Dad who constantly remind me that they're excited to see me again (and I'm excited to see you too!). But it just doesn't feel like a long time anymore. I think it's probably because I finish school this month and have finals the first few days of November. And then I have a month off, but it doesn't feel like a very long time because MY MOM WILL BE COMING TO VISIT! and there are still so many places for me to try and see before I return to the United States.

At the same time, I'm really excited to come home. I'm so excited to see my family and celebrate Christmas with everyone. It appears that my friends might attempt to make a roadtrip to Connecticut to see me during winterbreak. And, this always gets me excited for the future, I'm planning my classes for my next semester, so I'm excited to be back on campus and taking new classes.

Don't worry. I'm continuing to try and live it up here in Argentina as the time plays tricks on my mind, but I also can't wait to be home where, as my friends and I talk about, things will be "normal" for us. Although, right now, things in Argentina seem "normal," so who's to say what normalcy really is anymore?