Adjusting and Readjusting: My final post.

Well, I'm home. I've been home for 11 days. Sometimes it feels like more, sometimes less. That's pretty standard, I'd say. I adjusted really strangely back into this time zone. When I came back from Austria, it took me a solid week to feel fully adjusted. This time, I wasn't able to go to bed until 10pm EST (4am in Switzerland!) and then woke up with a start the next day at 7am EST (1pm in Switzerland) as if I'd overslept. The following night, I wasn't able to fall asleep until 2am EST (8am in Switzerland) and woke up again at 6am EST (12pm in Switzerland). After that, things pretty much went back to normal.

I miss Switzerland a lot, as expected, but the actual cultural adjustment hasn't been too rough. I was a little thrown off at a restaurant with a friend every time the waitress came back to ask how our food was tasting. I am still readjusting to strangers constantly greeting me and asking how I am.

But I think what most people are asking me are the following questions:

What do I miss about Switzerland (aside from the people, of course)? (in no specific order):

1. Bread. The bread here all looks processed and not fresh. I miss the warm bread in Migros/Coop, especially Zopf and Tessinerbrot and Silserkranz. Yum.
2. ÖV. (Public Transportation). Even if it took 30min to get anywhere and my bus only left every 30 minutes, I miss it! 
3. Cheese. I found Gruyère cheese here, which I'm hoping doesn't taste any different, but it's so much more expensive there!
4.  Fußgängerzonen. In all the European cities I've been to, there's a pedestrian zone in the downtown area, where most of the shopping and restaurants are. You can walk freely in the street and not have to worry about cars (mostly). Maybe bikes, but not cars.
   
   and, the surprising one...
5. Swiss German. I miss speaking (Standard) German all the time, I really do. I'm even dreaming about it now. But what I didn't expect to miss, since I had so much grief with it at the beginning, was Swiss German. Last night, when I picked up my brother from work and had my iPod on shuffle, a Swiss German song came on and I got all nostalgic and homesick.

What have I enjoyed about being home (aside from the people, of course)? (in no specific order):

1. TARGET. Oh my goodness, I missed everything about that store.
2. Arizona Iced Tea for 99¢ instead of 2.50CHF. 
3. Lower prices on EVERYTHING. My goodness, I've got something like reverse sticker shock! It's great...except not for my wallet... :-D
4. Using my bank account/debit card! It's nice not to have to carry cash around ALL the time. Options ate good. 
5. My car. Well, the idea of a car, since I've now got a new car. Which has been excellent and I love, btw. Meet Dieter:

So, I'm adjusting all right, but missing my other home a whole lot, of course. I am loving keeping in touch with everyone per Email and WhatsApp (if you want to communicate with me through WhatsApp or otherwise, send me your number! I lost all my contacts :-( )

The next chapter of this adventure I call life starts tomorrow, as I head down to South Carolina for orientation and move in approximately two weeks! And I've decided, in order to keep everyone in the loop on how that adventure is going, follow my new blog here...jessicateachesgerman.blogspot.com 

Danke für das Mitlesen! Thanks for reading!