My last blog

After we returned from Cesky Krumlov we all said our goodbyes.  That was our last trip together and the end of our program.  Some of us left Olomouc to go meet family or friends and travel a little bit more before they came back to the States.  We were able to keep the rooms for an extra week and stay in Olomouc if we wanted to.  There was a small group that stayed for a few days and didn't travel anywhere after we got back.  I stayed in Olomouc for the last week and explored the town a little more one last time with a few friends who also stayed.  It was a lot of fun to walk around and reminisce.  As the week went on more and more people left until there were only two of us.  A small group came back to grab their belongings and then head back home.  On Wednesday three of us went to a movie at the mall just so we could see it before people back home.  All I did during that final week was go to restaurants that I liked and ate the amazing food one last time.  Once Friday rolled around we went to eat as a group one last time and then the four of us all left the following morning.  We all flew out of Prague, however, we all left a few hours apart so we didn't go together.  I left Olomouc at 7:30 Saturday morning by train and got to Prague at 10.  I had to take a cab to the airport, which was kind of expensive, but I made it to the airport so I was fine with it.  Now I checked my bags and went through security to my gate.  I was about three hours early just so that I had time if I made a mistake.  I made it to my gate with no problems and then found a seat and relaxed.  I had enough time for my layovers and I knew that it would smooth sailing once I sat down.  My plane was scheduled to leave at 2:30 but that didn't happen.  My flight was delayed until 4:10 and my next flight was suppose to leave at 5:20 from Zurich, Switzerland.  I didn't know if I would make it to my connecting flight, but somehow I managed to get there.  The airline waited for us to get there since there were about ten of us going to Newark.  I met a few people who took a vacation in the Czech and we all ran to our next flight together.  Once I sat down on my eight hour flight from Zurich to Newark I felt a huge weight lifted.  I knew I couldn't sleep on the flight because I wanted to start making the switch back to the US time.  I was lucky enough to have a lot of really good movies available on the flight, so I watched eight hours of movies.  Once I landed in Newark, I went through customs and then found the baggage claim.  Once I found the right spot I stood and looked for my luggage.  I stood there for about twenty minutes and didn't see my bags.  I ran into the same people that I ran to our connecting flight with in Zurich and they couldn't find their bags either.  We all went to the baggage desk to tell them that our bags weren't here and they said that they were still in Zurich.  I gave them my address and then found my hotel room.  I slept like a baby that night because I finally had a soft bed and more than one pillow.  I woke up at 5 the next morning and got to the airport by 6:30.  I checking into my flight and then found my gate and got some food.  I hadn't really eaten anything the previous day.  My flight was on time and there were no problems getting from Newark to Chicago then finally to Omaha.  I met my parents and my grandma at the airport and was very happy to see them after three months.  Now I'm back home and looking back at the last few months and I have to say that I would love to do it again.  It was a great experience to have and it was awesome meeting people that feel like family now.  I am really going to miss waking up everyday and being able to see them around town.  I'm going to miss going to class every afternoon and seeing them all joking around and looking up trains to go somewhere for the weekend.  I'm going to miss traveling all over Europe with my new friends.  I know it was three months, but I feel like I was only gone for a few days and I already miss everything about the trip.  I am very happy that I was able to go on the trip and meet twenty-two travel buddies.  I know we all had a great time and there were some bumps along the way, there were countless trains almost missed and days were we didn't know where to go.  We somehow always found the way back to our rooms and always managed to get our train just at the last second.  This trip really made me think about traveling and planning in a completely different way, and now I feel a lot more comfortable with planning.  I'm so glad to have almost missed trains and almost didn't book a room for us to stay in.  I loved all of the ups and downs on this trip and having to figure out how to get somewhere in the pouring rain.  Even if something bad happened we always got through it as a group and that made us grow as people and made us grow closer together.  It was really sad having to say goodbye after that last field trip, and talking about every adventure we had taken during our time together, but now we are back and have new adventures to tackle.  Some of us are moving on to med school and some are finishing up at UNK and moving on to full time jobs.  One thing is for sure, we will always look back at our old photos and our journals and remember the great times we had together in Europe.  It was an amazing experience with some amazing people and I wouldn't change a single thing about it.