Being 6’3” is usually awesome, but when you’re on a plane for 9 hours, it really doesn’t feel like the best thing in the world. 

All jokes aside, it was truly sad to say that our time abroad had officially come to a close. We all woke up, grabbed our last complimentary breakfast, and got on our bus for the very last time. This meant that I got to take my very last nap on the bus while traveling abroad, a habit I had gotten into. But when I woke up, we had made it safely to the Munich airport, right where we started our trip.

We said our goodbyes and thank you to Dr. Feick, as he still had to finish out his semester teaching at the University of Augsburg. We then headed through customs to leave Germany, which was absolutely grueling, and worked our way to our gate.

We all boarded our plane, where we would be for the next 9 hours, and took off, somehow both ready to get back home and not ready to stop exploring Germany. Admittedly, I was a little ready to come home after our presentations were over. When we got to see the beauty of Salzburg, however, I was anything but ready to come home. The bright side to all of this, however, was that I could finally have Chipotle again, something that Germany seriously needs to invest in.

9 hours of airplane meals, movies, and falling in and out of sleep later, we made it to Washington DC for our connecting flight. Here, we had to make our way through customs. Due to the Ebola outbreak, everything was far slower than we had initially expected, and saying that we had to cut it a little close to make our flight home would be an understatement. But we did it, exhausted, hungry, and sad to leave, we all made our way to our respective gates.

Saying goodbye to all the new friends we had made that were bound for Philly was sad. Two weeks of being together all the time really bonds you with others in a special way. But as we said our final see you laters, we made it just in time for our connecting flight.

This flight was a lot shorter than our first, feeling like we were only in the air for about an hour before we touched down in Pittsburgh. There was a little turbulence, so we couldn’t get our free drinks, which we had been promised. Not ideal circumstances, but we made it, even Diet Coke-less.

In Pittsburgh, it truly began to hit me that this was really it. We all gathered at our luggage carousel, where we waited for our bags and said our final goodbyes, and that was it! Two extraordinary weeks of exploration, learning, and great German food. Moreover, two weeks where I made countless memories, gained an extraordinary amount of perspective, and learned more about myself than I had ever expected.

I couldn’t have asked for a better Plus3 experience, and I am truly grateful that I got to experience this trip.