When I first got on to Facebook and started connecting with my former classmates from elementary school and high school, they saw me in a particular fashion because I was living in a foreign country. Automatically, my life was more interesting and everything I talked about was more exotic, even when I was talking about things which were present in American culture as well. The idea of living abroad imparts a sense of circumstances being "special", both to those viewing that life and those living that life. It's an achievement of sorts to merely operate in that environment. It affords a sense of automatic "success" because every day you are accomplishing something merely by coping with the challenges of that culture.
I miss the experience and idea of living abroad, especially in the land of the rising sun, which is viewed as a difficult place to cope with compared to more European cultures. I miss what it meant to me personally and how it affected how I was viewed by those not living in that culture.
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