Today definitely tested my abilities to stay awake and tested my overall traveling responsibility while traveling to a whole different world that’s across the globe.

My journey truly started at 2:30 am. Although I was undeniably tired from Friday night, I woke up eager and excited to go back to the Pittsburgh airport. Because I live far from the university, I have become well-adjusted to flying and Pitt airport. In the past, I was even familiar with international flights. Regardless of my experience, the traveling experience to Dallas then Korea was definitely a unique one. This was the first time that I had traveled internationally without any family members by my side. Flight domestically solo is an easy adjustment, but for an international flight, I had to prepare differently. For instance, I usually check in my carry on bag at the gate because usually the smaller domestic planes are fully booked and I know I won’t need my luggage with me for a short 1-3 hour flight. But since we had a long flight, I had to prepare for bathroom breaks, freshening up and sleeping. All that preparation lead up to that final Saturday morning where we had to leave the Pittsburgh campus to go the airport. The overall experience was nice and tired as our flight and travel time consumed over 20 hours of the day.

Luckily, I happen to sleep quite easily on flights, so I managed to sleep, watch movies, and eat on both flights. I did struggle a little bit on the flight because I was stuck in the infamous middle seat both flights. It was a bit of a task to go to the restroom, but it was a nice flight in general. One part of the flight that I enjoyed was the food being served. In my past international experience, typically the flight will have traditional inspired cuisine of the place you will be traveling to. They also have the same international food returning. In my opinion, the returning food is ALWAYS better than the departing. This flight was no different – by having Korean inspired food. When I had the airplane variation of bibimbap, it was finally sinking in that I was on my way to Seoul. After that instance on the plane, I was very excited and prepared for what was to come when we settled in.