Depressed from reverse culture shock

MattHanson1990 · Post by **MattHanson1990** » March 4th, 2016, 4:55 pm

So I've been back in the US of Gay for almost a week since I spent a month in Mexico's Bajío. And I have to say that I've been hit REALLY hard with reverse culture shock ever since I touched down in El Paso last Saturday. And to this day, I still feel depressed from it. You may remember from my 35 days in Mexico trip report what I observed not long after I cleared customs. And then as I was 20 minutes from touching down in Albuquerque on the Greyhound bus from El Paso, my heart sank even more as we passed by a suburban neighborhood next to the interstate on the outskirts of the small town of Belén. All the houses looked the same as one another - being the same design and the same color. The reverse culture shock has hit me the hardest compared to any other time I've gone to Mexico. And I feel almost as depressed as I did during my pre Happier Abroad years that I may be overeating again just to fill my void.

Here's why I've been hit the hardest from reverse culture shock upon returning to the States. Not only I was almost 1000 miles deep into Mexico for over a month. But last Saturday I was on a two hour flight to Ciudad Juarez, and 45 minutes later I was in El Paso. But hey, I'm not complaining about American women not giving me the time of day this time around since there are at least 3 girls in Mexico showing genuine interest in me.

Have any of you been hit really hard with reverse culture shock coming back to the USA after spending time abroad (including Mexico)?

drealm · Post by **drealm** » March 4th, 2016, 6:05 pm

The funny thing is you were returning to the most Mexican city in the US. Imagine how it feels going back to a place like San Francisco? The withdrawal feeling is 10x worse.

MattHanson1990 · Post by **MattHanson1990** » March 4th, 2016, 7:16 pm

drealm wrote:The funny thing is you were returning to the most Mexican city in the US. Imagine how it feels going back to a place like San Francisco? The withdrawal feeling is 10x worse.

The thing about El Paso is that the friendliest people I met there were FOBs from Ciudad Juarez. A lot of the people born and raised in El Paso tend to latch onto American values, and thus they're more jaded and stuck up, especially if they grew up on the west side. But yeah, the withdrawal feeling I had was worse in Albuquerque; and it especially got a lot worse once I touched down in Los Alamos (the mentality here is exactly like California).

As I stated in another thread, El Paso was by no means night and day from where I lived in the USA. The difference was more like morning and afternoon, and the girls I met there saw me as a friend at best. So it was really like a foreshadowing of my HA life.

Ghost · Post by **Ghost** » March 4th, 2016, 9:34 pm

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zboy1 · Post by **zboy1** » March 5th, 2016, 7:46 am

I made a similar thread when I returned home 2 years ago from China. I became all depressed, sad and angry. I can only imagine how much shittier the U.S. has gotten since then. Lol!

And for those youngsters who have never known what the country used to be...oh, man. The U.S. used to be (emphasis on used to be) a great country when I was young, but it's steadily gone down the tubes as the years passed by. Sad, really, when I think about it.

fightforlove · Post by **fightforlove** » March 21st, 2016, 9:12 am

drealm wrote:The funny thing is you were returning to the most Mexican city in the US. Imagine how it feels going back to a place like San Francisco? The withdrawal feeling is 10x worse.

You live in San Francisco? Get the hell out of there.