Reverse Culture Shock

In my opinion, leaving the States for a long period of time is like being temporarily snapped out of your life at home. I feel as though somebody pressed the "pause" button on the video of my life in SoCal. And when I come back, the "play" button will be pressed back into action, and though it will be the beginning of August, in my mind it will still feel like the middle of June! This experience is sort of like what the Pevensie kids go through in The Chronicles of Narnia. They escape into the wardrobe after their cricket ball smashes through the professor´s window. After dealing with their obstacles in Narnia, the kids age a few years before once again coming back through the wardrobe and into reality. Once they come out of the wardrobe for the last time, the kids look exactly the same as when they first went into hiding. Their life continues from where they left off, and must now face the obstacle of confessing to the professor about their ball smashing through his window. Maybe when I come to my host family´s house to spend my last night before flying home, I´ll open the door to my room and find myself back in my own room in California. I will look exactly the same as I did a few days before flying into Madrid, with my long hair and all.