I could not sleep Friday night into Saturday; not because I was excited for the full day of traveling that awaited us, but because I had started to become sick. All day Friday I was coughing but never thought anything of it until I woke up miserable on Saturday. I really felt miserable and could barely move, stand, or speak. This was also the day we were leaving Korea and the first time it had rained. Just the day before, we were enjoying the sun at the beach, and now we had to leave with gray skies. At one of the rest stops on our way to Incheon airport from Busan, Dr. Yun helped me find cough drops. There was no way I could survive the flight without those. I started to feel better after sleeping more on the bus, and then I finally felt like eating. Korean rest stop food it better than any I could ever find in America. I will never forget how good the pork cutlet tasted after not eating all day.

My excitement at the beginning of the trip could easily be rivaled by my dread for the flight back home. My middle seat would not be that comfortable for 12 hours while I’m coughing with a runny nose. My pessimism aside, I was happy to be with my classmates, no, friends one last time before the fall semester. When we arrived in Dallas, I was feeling especially bad, but people were there for me and stuck with me, making sure that I was okay which I am very grateful for. Our flight from Incheon took longer than expected, and the flight to Charlotte ended up being delayed. This was a problem because then we would miss the flight to Pittsburgh. I would end up having to stay at the airport for hours longer than expected. Fortunately there was a direct flight to Pittsburgh from Dallas that some of us were able to get on. There was only one seat left when Dr. Clark gave it to me; i could have cried at how thankful I was that she did that for me. At that point, all I wanted to do was get home and rest. Three hours later, I was able to do just that. I was finally home and happy to see my family.