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Coming Home

I have been home for a few weeks ago and already I have adapted back to my life in the states. While abroad I feel like I have achieved my role of a U.S. and Allegheny ambassador because of my homestay and internship. I lived with two different families over three and a half months and over this time we learned from each other. Both of my homestays have hosted before but each time it is a little different. A lot of the time I sat down explaining to my family and friends that life in America isn't perfect. In many ways they felt like Americans don't have struggles and I guess in a lot of ways they are not as great as the ones many Africans face. Immediately everyone assumes you are rich so I spent a lot of time trying to clear up this misconception. I explained to them that I have been working since I was fifteen and am just a regular student and by no means do I live the life of luxury. My stories were not always easy for them to understand as I was their direct link to an American student. Most of their facts comes from the media which can be biased. Reality TV shows also give the U.S. a poor image as many Africans use this as a base for comparison. Overall, I enjoyed my time with the family and hopefully gave them a new perspective on what they think of America.

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This page contains a single entry from the blog posted on June 7, 2009 1:55 PM.

The previous post in this blog was Homeward Bound.

The next post in this blog is Coming Home.

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