Day 9 - Headed Home!

We have thoroughly enjoyed our time in Greece, but it's time to go home. Winthrop New Student Orientation begins Friday and classes start on Monday. For a few of our scholars who were December graduates, Monday is the first day of full-on adulting.

We are all a mix of emotions. We are ready to go home, after all there’s no place like it. We miss our families and friends, our pets, our beds, and American food. But there is no denying that we’ll miss John, our travel director, Kyriakos, our driver, and this group of people with whom we have deeply bonded. They are family now!

Our day begins with with a bus 5:45 AM departure. We grab our To Go breakfasts, load the bus, and John completes our passport check. We make our 45-minute drive to the airport seeing a few sights along the way.

We say our final goodbyes with hugs and a few last photos outside of the airport. We will miss our Grecian crew. These gentlemen have been fun to hang with, accommodating, resourceful, and have had amazing energy throughout our trip. John is a fount of information. He is knowledgeable, organized, patient, sarcastic, witty, and cool! He has been our guide and an extraordinary photographer/videographer, capturing all kinds of brilliant footage of our trip. We are grateful.

Kyriakos is a former military man turned expert bus driver. He got that bus through some tricky spots, like a thread through a needle. We are grateful to him.

After our goodbyes, we go to check-in. Our flight to Germany was short and enjoyable.

As we boarded our flight to Charlotte, a few of us were pleasantly surprised to find ourselves upgraded to business class. No charge!

We landed in Charlotte on schedule, but the customs line was out the door! It took two hours to clear customs and hook up with James Grigg, our gracious AVP for facilities, who took us the rest of the way home. Thank you, James!!

A big ευχαριστώ is due to the Close Family for their generous funding of this trip. Global immersion is a goal that Mrs. Anne Springs Close had for these students. Generous funding from her son, Derek Springsteen Close, made it possible for a third and perhaps final group of students to have an International experience. With very few out-of-pocket expenses--just a few small meals and whatever funds they wanted to spend on shopping--students could release worries, face fears and enjoy the journey.

It is a gift to us to be able to coordinate and advise the Close Scholars in general and the Global Scholars. We are truly grateful The global travel itineraries are robust, but when will they get this chance again? Check out how the students felt about their experience in their own words on our website & travel blog at https://houstonl5.wixsite.com/greecescholars

Thank you to VP Shelia Burkhalter, Ashley L. Isreal, Tara Houston, Keenan Grigg, and our Travel Partner, Hart Travel, for the logistical work done to make the trip a success.

And, ευχαριστώ to all of you for coming along on this journey with us!