I’m about to head back to Macalester, so I figured this would probably be a good time to reflect on my fall semester abroad in Kunming. It’s weird to be back in my hometown, and it’s weird not to have to carry toilet paper with me everywhere I go (although, it’s certainly a relief that I don’t anymore).

There are some physical changes since I got back from China. I seem to have developed lactose intolerance — my sister believes it’s because I stopped consistently drinking milk for a semester, so now my system rejects milk products. And there are other, less depressing changes that don’t include the fact that I can’t enjoy ice cream in the same way. For instance, my trusty laptop finally died after serving me for five years, several falls off of lofted beds, and traveling to countries like Laos, Thailand and China. So, I’m typing this on a new one that has yet to be dropped (knock on wood), and yet to see me through international travel.

I find that I want to practice speaking Chinese, but have nobody to practice with. I stayed with my grandma for a day, and I got to practice then, but I can already feel my Chinese getting rusty in the three weeks that I’ve been in New Jersey. I’m afraid I’ll have reverted to my pre-Kunming Chinese levels by January 22nd when I resume taking Chinese at Mac.

I miss the noodles, the bubble tea, and prices seem ridiculously expensive. It’s going to be a long time before I get to see the Milky Way and a sky full of stars (yay, Jersey light pollution). I keep expecting people to call me by my Chinese name, 美华, but it never comes. I keep waiting for somebody to ask me to repeat myself, because they didn’t understand what I said the first time. I keep looking back at signs when I’m driving, shocked that I can understand what they read. Most of all though, I miss my host family and getting to play a game of “Eagle and Mother Chicken.”

But at the same time, I’m so glad to be home. I love spending time with my cat, Mr. Kitty. I love pigging out to my new addiction on Netflix, “Alias,” with lightening fast internet. I love catching up with my friends and family, and walking down streets that I grew up on.

I’m thrilled that in about a day, I’ll be going back to Minnesota. Back to the cold and the snow that I’ve been afraid of since I arrived in Southeast Asia to the tropical weather. Back to insanely short commute times to school.  Back to mock trial, college friends, and independence.

People are what make your home, and now I have three places that I will constantly miss when I’m living in the other. When I return to Kunming, it’ll be a homecoming. I just hope it’s not too far out.