Culture shock.

We’re definitely settling into some serious culture shock and associate sadness with one of the girls, and I have to tell you it is kicking my ass a little bit. I guess at this stage I am so OVER culture shock, having done it several times, knowing what to expect and when – I know I’ll love it the first month, hate it the second and third, then ease into regular life and start to like the place (or not) for what it is, but not for any expectations I had or did not have of it – that it is hard for me to deal with someone struggling for the first time. Someone who is seventeen and has never been far from her small town in southwest Germany. A big ol’ city like Dallas is a long long way from there. And not just physically.

Well, to be honest, that isn’t true. I can deal with her homesickness just fine. It’s more that at this stage she is willingly focusing only on what she perceives to be the bad things. I just want to shake her a little and say “YO, YOU GOT IT GOOD, GIRL”. But I guess she’ll get there. Sigh sigh sigh. I’ve had to tell her no phone or IM during the week to her boyfriend and mom, as it isn’t helping. Even this morning, she asked plaintively if she can get more credit for her phone, to which I had to say “Of course you can. On Friday.”

Mostly she’s hung up on wanting to be a cheerleader – she is a cheerleader at home, and it is something in which she feels confident of her abilities.. She wants it SO BAD it is palpable. And she doesn’t think it is fair they will not let her try out. And while I wish there was some provision for students who come in the semester after try-outs, it just is NOT GOING TO HAPPEN. And she is having a very hard time accepting this. Nay – she is arguing it with me all the time. Finally last night and today I just had to say GIVE IT UP PLZ. I can’t explain it anymore. That’s how the high school system works in America. Deal.

This all, of course, puts my college study time in Italy in clear perspective. At the time I was unwilling to admit I could be going through culture shock. It was everything else but that, of course: people are unfriendly, Florence is dirty, Italians are annoying (well, I still agree with that last one sometimes). But by the end I liked it pretty well, and all the crappy parts from the beginning fell away. I probably would not say it was one of the best times in my life, but I can certainly say I learned a LOT. And I ate great food and drank good wine, and made a couple good friends. So hopefully my young Miss V will at least be able to have that kind of experience. It’s important, either way it goes.