Friday was a long, bittersweet day of travel. Starting at midnight, we boarded the bus to head to Larnaca, leaving Limassol behind. As it had been a long day, I was expecting people to be tired on the bus, but with the desire to take in our last moments as a group, the speaker was roaring and singalongs to songs such as “Starships” by Nicki Minaj ensued. When we arrived in Larnaca, we quickly realized that the airport was virtually empty except for our flight, as a 3 am leaving time is not the most popular. We enjoyed short security lines and the relatively leisurely process in comparison to the United States before heading to our terminal. Though the airport itself was nice, their communication was lacking, and we were stuck at our gate for a while with no clear word on when we were boarding or how long the delay actually would be. We eventually boarded, however, and began our four-hour flight to Germany, during which I slept the entire time (thankfully!).
Once in Germany, we had less than an hour before the Pittsburgh and Philadelphia crew had our next flight to Chicago. After rushing over to the gate, which was starting to board, we had a quick goodbye with the rest of our group before getting on our flight. It’s amazing what strong connections we were able to board over the past two weeks, so it would’ve been nice to have time for a more proper goodbye rather than split up in such a rush. The last time I did a group travel trip was with a group of students from across the country who I knew I’d likely never see again, so it’s nice that this group all goes to the same school, giving us the chance to see each other and hang out in the fall. Some people are already trying to formulate mid-summer plans and O-Week festivities to get the group back together.
Our flight to Chicago was nine and a half hours, giving me plenty of time to reflect on the past two weeks and what they’ve meant to me. Beyond the friendships I made, I’d say what struck me most was the passion of the Cypriot people. During our stay, we had time to interact with many locals and learn about their culture and answer questions about ours (they were all fascinated by our American identity as it is rare to have tourists from the US in Cyprus). Learning about the tensions between the Northern, Turkish-controlled side, and the Southern, independent Greek Cypriot side, was fascinating, especially as the different generations had different perspectives on the issue. Beyond conversations regarding the “Cyprus Problem”, these people held passion about everything, and their hospitality showed as we dined in their restaurants and shopped at their stores. From the cashier at the Mini Mart, we frequented to the owner of the cafe we had breakfast at every day, we formed genuine connections over our short time in Cyprus, and I think the people there serve as a testament to the caring nature of humanity that is not always seen back home. I definitely left this trip inspired.