Today was our first day of our trip to Cyprus, and we are still not in the country! However, today has still been an important day for our trip. All the guys this morning went to Pamela’s together and started our process of bonding as a group. We really got to know each other over breakfast and started to bond and truly become friends with each other. This has allowed us to have a very pleasant traveling experience, as we are talkative and friendly with each other. This made our experience at the Pittsburgh airport relaxing, as we passed the time getting to know each other. The flight to Dulles from Pittsburgh was very pleasant and short, lasting only 50 minutes! The turnaround time between our flight from Pittsburgh and our flight from Dulles was very short and, as a result, very stressful. It was interesting to see the difference between the Pitt airport and Dulles, as Dulles is much larger. As a result, Dulles was a lot more stressful to be in compared to Pitt, and I learned to really appreciate the smaller size of Pittsburgh International. What was surprising to me was the rush that everyone was in to board our plane. The seats were assigned and overhead bag storage was already full so it was puzzling to me that people really cared about the order they got on the plane.
The flight from Dulles to Germany was significantly longer and more difficult than the earlier flight. What made it tolerable, though, was the bond with the other people on the trip. We talked to each other, laughed, and overall brought up the mood significantly. An interesting experience I had on the flight was communicating with my neighbor. He spoke only Arabic, and as a result, we had to communicate through just pointing and hand symbols. While ultimately we did not have to communicate much, it was interesting trying to come up with ways to get around the language barrier and was a reminder of the importance of learning a country’s local language. I’m currently sitting in Frankfurt airport, and I’m very excited to finally make it to Cyprus!