Open Ended Ending

Well I think this is going to be my last post for a long time. Unless I have some sort of revelation and feel the need to share. Or, who knows I may get bored and feel the need to express myself in an even more narcisstic and gratifying way than a facebook status update or tweet can satisfy. Anyway, this will hopefully be a sort of "wrap up" to my blog.

I guess I was really hoping to have an epiphany during my time abroad and come away with an understanding of the world and how it works and where I fit in. I wanted to discover the meaning of life. I wanted to know why the British are known for sub par food and dental hygiene, why the Italians are so passionate, the French snobs, the Germans serious, the Dutch stoned, the Irish alcoholic, the Polish hard workers and why the Belgians are only know for chocolate and waffles. But honestly, I didn't find answers to any of these questions, it seemed like cultural stereotypes were often reinforced as much as they were exposed. I think I expected too much. Four months isn't enough time to understand England, and a month is certainly not enough to grasp Europe. One thing I have learned from being abroad is that America is bigger than I thought, I can't even pretend to perfectly understand my own country.

I guess the one thing that I have come away with from the whole experience is that America and Americans are really blessed. I just feel blessed to live in America. I'm sitting here writing and re-writing thoughts but none of it makes sense, I don't know what to say about America except that I love it and I hate it. To my fellow Americans I can just say count your blessings, to my international friends all I can say is I'm sorry we haven't used our blessings perfectly but give us time,we're still young.

I can't really decipher my time abroad yet. Maybe I never will. Maybe it will just be like one big experience capped and pickled in a jar and I'll just have to sit and wait till spring. I don't know, if I ever get a good idea, I'll let ya know. So if ya don't know, now ya know (sort of)...