I started sorting through some of my things to start packing, and I cleaned the bathroom and some of my closet. It was rainy again today. Yesterday it rained from noon until I went to bed and I when I woke up it was raining again. I'm hoping for at least one more nice day before I leave. Tone Grete says this is what it was like last summer-raining off and on a little everyday. It's very inconvenient if you want to plan to do anything outdoors.
Not sure if I mentioned this but I plan to continue my blog at least into the first couple weeks I am back. I am very interested in what sort of culture shock I will find myself faced with, and I am thinking there will be many things that I notice that I could not have seen before as I make my re-entry into American culture. I'd like to document it as much as possible. I am expecting some culture shock, definitely. Since I have been here I feel as though I have become separated from the "American" way of life. I think one thing that demonstrates this is how easy it has become to pick out Americans who is American here and on my travels. I am separate enough that I can see that. I think of myself in a weird sort of limbo, still American of course but a little more Norwegian than I started and a little bit less grounded. One thing I expect to have trouble with is sliding back into the role I used to play in my life. Here in Norway I did not come in with a role. No one knew who I was, no one expected anything from me, and living with international students especially, there were no specific set of norms to follow. I am wondering if I will feel restricted when I come home. Not only will I be coming back into "normal" life, into a set of norms that I once followed and will again be expected to follow, but these norms are complied in the goings on of a small town. As much as I miss home and I look forward to the familiarity I will find there, I am worried that I may not fit. As I'm rereading this, it might sound like I'm saying that I don't want to come home or am simply setting my little town aside. That is not true at all. I am so very excited to come home and see my family and my friends, and drive around Amish country, and get a Duper doughnut, and just be home. But like I said, I think my "role" will have changed, even just slightly and I am very interested to see what comes out of that shift.
One thing I am disappointed about is that I never met anyone from Buffalo! Next time I travel I am bringing a buffalo shirt or hat or something because I know they're out there!
For any of you that are wondering, my flight is due to arrive in Buffalo on Sunday night at 6:50.
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