It was unbelievably difficult in the beginning. Reverse culture shock was not kind to us. The very first thing that I saw an American do after disembarking was complain. Loudly. Our connecting flight to Sacramento was through United. I could be brief and tell you that it was simply a bad decision. But since it left such an impression on me, we'll delve into detail. There was a single security line leading into United's terminal, which took us over 2 hours to pass through. During which, we had to endure all sorts of people with entitlement issues, demanding to cut security line because they thought they could get away with arriving 20 minutes before their flight. Also during our time spent waiting (at least we got a delightful view of the smog) I was forced to notice America's top 3 fashion trends for men: baseball caps, shaved heads and hipster beards. Service was also sad in comparision. Our flight attendant looked like she was going to fall asleep. We also made the mistake later of trying to get American Japanese food later in the week... Let's just say that cultural atrocities are committed daily. Don't think I'll forget that day.
Now that we've had time to adjust, it isn't as bad as we thought; actually, life is better, we're happier than we were in Japan. Slowly, the cheapness of food in America has made me overlook the quality. Sure, the $2 apple I had in Japan was the best one I had ever tasted, but I can get 5 of them in America for the same price. It's just too bad that they're not very good... I'm still not ok with people running around town in sweatpants and hoodies, but I'm not going to start a revolution about it like I was earlier. I could go on, but that'd just be redundant.
Renting an apartment blindly in Berkeley actually worked out. We're renting a place with our friend Max from the program. Having a car, by the way, makes grocery shopping so much easier. Even though we think the general culture of Japan is better, we live better in America. I know it's confusing, but just overall, we're happier. Our apartment is always lively. Always trying to get each other to wake up or exercise or eat healthy or study or something else. And of course, with varying amounts of success. There are a lot of debates concerning human nature, social institutions and exercise programs. Summer and Max seem to argue about everything. One thing they agreed on, however, is that they hate how banana-flavored ice creams always have nuts in them. Otherwise, yeah, not much agreement.
It's our final semester at Berkeley. It's definitely bittersweet; we love learning, but not the cost of it. Summer and I are both finishing up the last of our required classes. I've got a thesis to write and she's taking a class that requires about the same amount of pages, only spread over multiple topics the whole semester. We both got into a meditation class, so hopefully we'll be channeling the stress away. Summer also got into a knitting class; she had to beat up about a hundred people to get in. We're exercising like crazy; we found this home video program called Insanity, which is basically max interval training reversed. Let's just say it's a rough hour of working out, but worth it. We also started pilates back up. Getting up at 8am never felt better.
In short, coming back to America made me open my eyes to many things. I wouldn't have it any other way. We've missed being here and it's great to be back. Japan is awesome, but our family and friends are here, and that's what matters.
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