The earliest and saddest morning that most of us were dreading for most of the trip was finally upon us. We had to check out of the hotel early in order to get to the airport to board the flight home to Minnesota. After double and triple checking I had everything, I was prepared for the long venture back.
The flight to Minnesota was much more pleasing than the initial flight over the Atlantic. The timing was much better, and it seemed much easier to sleep since we weren’t interrupted at what seemed like every two minutes. I played some nice games of chess, read some more of The Andromeda Strain, watched a movie, and stressed over the upcoming O-Chem exam I was probably going to fail (UPDATE: I definitely failed).
Our flight was behind schedule, so we had to rush in order to make our next flight from the Minnesota airport. Luckily, we caught a ride from one of the employees who drives the indoor vehicles, so we were able to expedite ourselves to the correct terminal. After such a long flight, the flight to Columbus was over in no time, and just like that we were back in beautiful Ohio.
Even with all of the sights to see and the thrill of being in two different foreign countries, my favorite part of the entire trip was getting so much closer to all of my peers. It sounds cliche, but I found that being in a foreign country with only each other to rely on can draw you close, and in some cases skip the initial “get to know you” phase of a relationship. Because of that, I feel like I have known some people for much longer than three weeks at this point. I feel like I got so much closer to everyone else than I was before, and it was the people that really made the trip worth it. And for that, I thank you all.
Brenden,
I enjoyed reading your travel journal. I particularly liked your post on the last day, which mentioned the highlight of the trip was the people you met and spent time with mutually exploring. I agree that this is a very unique strength of short term study abroad. As you mentioned, we tend to get closer to others in this adventure in ways that defy the short amount of time we are actually traveling. I appreciated how you embraced the chance to make new friends and go out of your comfort zone. I also appreciated your love of history and interest in exploring those ideas. I hope you have many wonderful travels in the future and that this trip serves as a gateway.