More than a Time Warp

Abby Ripoli

            My reintegration into Vietnam has been a strange one. Going home for a little over two weeks, after four months of being immersed in a place that couldn’t be more different from home, was ironically more eye opening than coming to Vietnam originally. As soon as I stepped off the plane and walked into customs at the Chicago airport, my first observation was how small I was in comparison to my fellow Americans. The longer I was home, the more complex my observations became. Why is my car so huge? I can’t believe I haven’t used a paper towel in four months! Why does everyone in my family take such long showers?

            As these realizations began to sink in, it became clear to me how much I really have learned and changed. I was bombarded with questions of “Have you seen this?”, “Have you eaten that?” and found myself disturbed by how little my friends and family really knew about this incredible place in which I’ve been living, and in a lot of cases, how little they cared. While I was home, it felt as though I had been in a time warp for the past four months, nothing having changed other than the weather.

            When flying back to Vietnam, I held the same expectations: that I would feel as though I had never left. Surprisingly, that was not the case. When I returned to Vietnam, after being gone for only two weeks, everything felt different: the streets, the people, the smells.  With America was still so fresh in my mind, everything seemed so foreign despite the fact that I knew how to get around, communicate, and smooth into a daily routine without any problem. Reintegration has ended up being more difficult than I expected as there is no longer the excitement of discovering something new. I thought that I would easily swing back into the daily routine of things and not have to readjust to the busyness or the pollution; but it ended up being a lot easier to forget than I had originally expected.

            However, what going home also made clear to me was that my time here is very short. Just as I was getting used to my new life, I realized that it’s already halfway over. With only another four months left, my mind is reeling with all of the things I feel like I have to see and accomplish. My ultimate goal: to return to the US and feel that I’ve gone through so much more than a time warp, but a truly life changing experience.