Travel day home is unfortunately upon us. After our amazing dinner, we headed back and packed up and said our goodbye to the hotel we had loved our past weeks. We headed over to the bus with all of our luggage in the wee hours of the morning and as a group, we headed to the bus. It was a sad final bus ride but we had a blast listening to music one together on the bus one last time. 

We made it to the Larnaca airport, got our bags checked, and made it through security. The tiredness was definitely hitting us as it was around 3 am at this point before we finally boarded. We got on our flight and took off. Through the window, as we were leaving I got to see the Turkish flag Demetra had mentioned to us from the sky. It’s the largest land flag and she said it could be seen from the sky so it was so cool to actually see it from the sky. 

I slept through most of this first flight no matter how hard I tried to fight it and we landed in Germany. It was a fairly speedy layover which was nice but since we made it to Germany it was time to really say goodbye to a lot of the group as we went our separate ways. I loved meeting everyone on this trip especially because just two short weeks ago I barely even knew everyone’s names and now we all have formed lasting relationships so it was emotional to head out. The flight to Chicago boarded and left our friends in Frankfurt to go to their next destinations. 

This flight I also got some good sleep on as Kambria and I were in the same row in the aisle and window seats with no one in the middle which was glorious for such a long flight. I watched some shows and got some sleep and before I knew it we were in Chicago. 

By the time we cleared customs, rechecked our bags, and went through security again we had about an hour to get some food. Now the group split in half again, half going to Philly and half back to Pittsburgh. Never goodbye, just a see you later was our reminder as we boarded the flight to Philly. 

After this long travel day is coming to an end to close out this trip, it holds lots of time for reflection on what an amazing experience these past two weeks have been. From the friendships, memories, laughs, knowledge, and experience I’ve gained from this trip, it truly is an experience I will remember forever. If you’re reading this as a student considering Plus3, please please do it (especially Cyprus!!) as you’ll learn so much and make memories that will stick with you forever. You’ll meet more people at Pitt and on a global level. I am forever grateful for this opportunity and am ready to see where else Pitt and the world will take me.