Before my trip to Europe, I was given a list of students that would also come along with me on the journey of a lifetime. There were students from Louisiana State University, Northern Illinois, Murray State, and various other schools. I didn’t know any of these students prior to the trip, but I was excited to meet them.
Meeting the Group
When we first got to the airport in London, we all started talking and getting to know one another. By the third day, we all knew each other very well. The first night we were there, we ate dinner at this one Chinese restaurant, and then toured more of the city of London together. To get to know everyone, I would try to hang out with different people instead of the same people every time. For example, if I were to go to lunch with a group of people, I would try to tour the city with a different group of people. This made it much easier to hang out with everyone, and to get to know them all better. The night I would say we all bonded the most is when most of us went to this nightclub in London called Tiger Tiger.
After we were finished with our company visits, we would all go out and do something together. We were always together and never alone. There were never any dull moments with any of them because they were fun in their own ways. It was easy to bond with the other students because we were always around one another in close quarters at the hotels and on the coach. We would be on a train for about two hours, and coach rides ranged from four to nine hours.
Most of my colleagues were about 21 or 22 years old, which I thought would make things weird because I was 18 at the time of the trip and turned 19 four days after the trip. That was never a problem because no one ever thought about me being the youngest student on the trip.
Saying Goodbye
We all had our favorite moments of the trip, but those who went paragliding in Austria would say it was one of the coolest things they did on the trip or had ever done in life thus far. By the end of our trip to Austria, we knew our time in Europe was almost over. That was the one part that we all dreaded because we knew we would have to go back to America soon.
We made sure to make the most of each night we had together, especially the last night we were in each country. We said our first goodbye to one student who left the trip to go to a different country. The reality of going back to our normal lives became more real each time we said goodbye to one of our new friends. We cherished the last few hours we had with each person before their flights.
I said my final goodbye when a few of us landed in Nashville and drove our separate ways home. It felt weird being in America again and realizing I wouldn’t be sharing experiences with the people I had just spent three weeks with. We keep in touch and occasionally I see a few of them on campus. It was so much fun meeting these new people, and I am glad that we remain in contact with each other.
