Column finale of From Germany: Returning after 10 months

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July 22, 2010

From Germany Michael Kaluzny

I left Germany, my home of 10 months, last Thursday. Three days of travel purgatory in trains, planes and cars brought me back to Andover.

At first glance, it's amazing how very little has changed, at least in comparison to my life in Germany.

Abroad, even the relative constants of live changed: my town, my parents, my friends. Sure, things have also changed in Andover: there has been some landscaping work done on Main Street, businesses have closed and new ones have popped up, but, juxtaposed to my last 10 months, the changes seem trivial. It's interesting how much I have gone through. Then again, after catching up with friends and family it's clear that life hasn't actually been at a stand still.

Throughout my year, I talked to many people abroad about coming home. Many exchange students and gap-year students talk about such years as "a break." A break from what? A year abroad is different from the year before, but in my opinion a break implies a pause in an activity. Before and after the break you are doing the same thing. A year can't be a break. A break is 10 minutes. A year is a year of your life. The only difference here, is that on exchange the year is limited. Your unconscious frames the time with arrival and departure isolating it from the rest of your experience.

However, you can't spend a year away and rejoin your life the way you left it. I've decided that traveling back to the US isn't a "new chapter in my life" or however you'd like to put it. It's a continuation of what I had in Germany, what I have in Andover and everything else that I've done.

I'm sad to have left Germany, but I am also excited about being home, starting college and catching up with people I haven't seen for 10 months. I'd love to talk about my time in Germany and hear about what's happened here while I was gone. Let me know and thanks for reading.

Michael Kaluzny is an Andover resident and graduate of Phillips Academy who wrote occasional columns from Germany while living there.