Though I knew I wouldn’t end up there forever, I was never one of those people who said I could not wait to get out of Monroe and never look back. To me, it has always been home and I am grateful that I grew up somewhere that I can be so proud to call home, but as I watched the snow melt outside my bedroom window while home for our semester break, I couldn’t help but long for a new, much more distant home. I missed speaking a language that was once too confusing, eating food that was once “too different” and walking cobblestone streets that were once foreign. 

During my pre-departure orientation, which feels like forever ago, I was told that I would likely feel a sort of “reverse culture shock” upon returning home, but I dismissed the leader’s comment, thinking that there was no possible way in which the culture and lifestyle that has forever surrounded me could suddenly feel foreign. Despite my adamance that I would be just fine upon returning, a mere six months later I was startled by the realization that my surroundings didn’t just change in Germany. I did too. During my first semester here, I hadn’t realized how much I was changing and adapting to fit into my new home, but it became evident when I returned to Monroe and found myself questioning the habits which raised me. I scoffed at the idea of driving to the dentist when it’s only a 20 minute walk from my house and asked the cashier to explain why my total came to be more than I had expected, briefly forgetting that tax ever existed. 

Now back in Germany to finish out my year of study here, I find comfort in the things that made me feel confused and different only eight months ago. I once again can take my bike through the fairytale-like streets of Tubingen’s Altstadt and look over my balcony to the surreal beauty of hot air balloons drifting through the nearby mountains. 

Though Monroe will always be my first hometown, this experience has taught me that traveling can be so much more than simply a vacation. It is a way to expand your life and your home beyond the borders within which you were born. 

— Shannon Rabotski is a 2016 graduate of Monroe High School and is a junior at Drake University. She is spending the year studying abroad in Tubingen, Germany.