Tabor College European Seminar Journal

ROME TO LONDON TO DALLAS TO WICHITA

We awoke at the crack of dawn, herded our luggage together, and boarded a bus bound for the Leonardo da Vinci-Fiumicino Airport outside of Rome. The two-hour flight to London passed without incident, only reflections of the past trip.

After our layover in the familiar Heathrow Airport in London, we hopped on board the 11-hour flight to Dallas against the jet stream.  I passed the time by reading and trying to get multiple Cokes from flight attendants every time the drink carts went by the middle aisle to pass out drinks.  If I timed it right, I could get a Coke from the drink cart on one side of me and drink it by the time the drink cart on the other side arrived, thus ensuring that I would get another one.

We arrived at the Dallas-Fort Worth International Airport with tired eyes and bored legs.  The thought of being back in the states but not yet being home was difficult.  After a two-hour layover, we took the one-hour flight to the Wichita Mid-Continent Airport.

My family waited to greet me.  It was great to see them.  We had finally made it back.  My three-hour drive to Topeka with my parents passed like nothing.  Though part of me missed Europe, it was good to be back home.

REFLECTIONS

I really enjoyed my international experience on this trip.  It also helped me appreciate some things that I previously took for granted in the United States of America.  However, it worked the other way too.  The trip revealed some things in other countries that I liked better than in America.  Food, transportation, people, sites, history, and architecture were some of the objects of comparison for me.

I liked being able to converse with the people of the countries we visited.  I was also able to get a taste of the cultures of the people groups living in these countries.  It definitely was a good thing for me to see how other people go about their daily lives on the other side of the world.

I really enjoyed London, probably the most out of all the cities we visited.  The shared language helped, no doubt, but I appreciated the structure, organization, and cleanliness of the city.  There was so much to do in there.  Of all the cities we saw, it was basically the only one in which I felt like I missed out on seeing some really cool sites that were on my to-see list.  I realize that I missed some amazing places in other cities as well, but London seemed to have an abundance of good locations to see that I missed.

Paris was interesting.  My first impressions held it to be dirty and rude, but over the four days we were there, my opinion shifted somewhat.  I saw that, though there was a dirty/rude side to Paris, there was also a clean/cosmopolitan/friendly part of the city.

Zurich was clan, affluent, and beautiful.  The stone buildings, the river, the swans, and the rain will leave a lasting impression in my mind.

Munich was highly cultured and sometimes this culture seemed to focus on beer.  However, that’s not one of the images for which I’ll remember the city most.  The old buildings and churches, the harsh-sounding language, the snow, and Dachau stick out in my memory.

Venice was a romantic place with its canals, gondola rides, blown Murano glass, and picturesque city squares.  It was perhaps the most tourism-oriented of the cities we saw.  This fact made it very user-friendly for us.  The ubiquitous canals in the city are a unique feature that I will probably never see anywhere else, so it will be easy to single out my Venetian memories.

Rome was full of ancient ruins, fountains, and the ever-present pillars and columns.  The sunshine and warm temperatures on our free day there will make Rome a bright spot in my mind.

Above and beyond the shallow impressions of each of the cities we visited, the interactions I had with the people going on the trip with me and the people from the cities we visited will remain with me the longest.  It was a great experience, and one I will never forget.