Being a Global Citizen means to me that you are able to relate to a greater group of people. I think that someone who is able to call themselves a Global Citizen should be able to understand the train of thought that someone who comes from a different country and nation might have when travelling to the US or vice versa. I wouldn't call myself a "Global Citizen" though because while I might have spent a month in Spain, I don't think even that is enough time for me to put myself into the same thought space that a local would be. It also hinders that process being that we were there as an American class which spent most of their time together. We essentially made a small American community between us which just happened to be living in Spain. This fact however did not interfere with any lessons or epiphanies which might have been had while living their though.
I noticed that the native do live much more frugally and take much more joy in smaller things, at least what us as Americans would consider small. I think this is something that Americans should try and learn from; taking joy from smaller things. We are so used to just having things the way we like it that it has become the norm and we don't know any other way of living. That goes double for today's youth. We have the ability to set our houses, even individual rooms to the exact temperature within the degree, the ability to freely watch anything whether it be on the internet or television, as if we were just plucking it out of the sky, huge living spaces to the point that we need to find luxury items to fill extra rooms with, and enough water and power to the point where we don't have to be frugal with our resource expenditure. Americans have what is thought to be an unlimited amount of food, cooking enough to feed double the amount of family members and then throwing out the rest when it goes bad. Of course, this is not everyone but some people do fit this description and I think it would be good to recognize that not everybody has the luxury to live like that and should be happy that there have to ability to live that type of lifestyle.
I don't feel like I have any reverse culture shock. The time difference actually helped me out too because I have been falling asleep at 9:00 or 10:00 and waking up at 5:30 which is perfect for my profession. If anything this is reverse culture assistance.
Very good point about the surplus of resources and luxuries here in the U.S., I agree that we should all appreciate the small things a little more! I'm glad that the reverse jet lag actually helped you get back into the U.S. schedule more easily, it works the same for me every time.
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