Visiting a First World Country After 20+ Months in a Developing Country

I have been living in Ethiopia for about 22/23 months (of my 27 total months) now.  Also, I just left Africa for the first time in those 22 months to visit my brother in Denmark (October 21-27).  It was a strange, amazing, crazy, and relaxing experience.  I give this trip some many adjectives because not only am I different now, it’s almost as if the idea of a first world country is a foreign concept to me now because I have been living in a third world country for as long as I have.

It was strange in a way getting out of Ethiopia, a country where everyone constantly sees me as a foreigner who only speaks English despite having lived in this country for almost two years now.  Leaving this, I found myself in a country where I was able to blend in and people would see me and try to speak to me in Danish.  It was a strange feeling, blending in.  I have been so used to sticking out that it was an odd feeling, yet it was kind of nice.

One of the oddest parts of my trip was that I saw an elephant for the first time in two years...

In some ways, I was able to feel almost normal because I was able to blend in so well.  It was nice to have that sense or normality.  At the same time though, sticking out in Ethiopia has in some ways become normality because that has been my life for two years.  With that being said, traveling to a first world country almost felt foreign to me.  And this was so strange to me because I lived in the states for the first 23 years of my life and then moved to Ethiopia.  It’s amazing what living in a developing country for two years can do to you, how it can change what is normal to you and your overall perspective on the world and life in general.

The good things that came out of this trip:

• I was able to see my brother for the first time in two years.
• I was able to re-experience what it is like to be in a first world country.
• I was able to get an idea of what it will be like for me when I move back to the states:  in some ways it will be difficult and in some ways it will be easy.
• I realized that in some ways I am extremely ready to rap of my experience in Ethiopia and move onto the next chapter of my life.

This building used to be the summer residence of the Royal family.

I am so glad that I was able to visit my brother in Denmark and be able to experience a new place and new culture.  I may not ever get the chance to visit Denmark again, so I am glad that I took the opportunity to go when I had.  This trip also, made me extremely excited to travel more in the future.

*If you have any questions/comments about my trip, please send them my way!