Day 21 – Back Home

As already explained, we unfortunately had to make our way back to Germany a week early. So, after one last ‘Hot Southern Buffet Breakfast’ in the Cook Hotel, consisting of scrambled eggs, toast and orange juice we were headed to the airport at 6.30 am. Once arrived at Louis Armstrong Airport in New Orleans we quickly realized that even though LSU merch was an absolute ‘must have’ it is also quite heavy. When you add other clothes, souvenirs and American sweets some people’s luggage was quite overweight. At this point I want to give a shoutout to Dominik whose 5kg (11lbs) overweight had to be distributed to two other’s hand luggage. Well done! After a big round of repacking and distributing items we were able to avoid paying overweight fees and checked in everyone’s luggage.

The first flight of the day to Chicago O’Hare airport went smoothly and most of us used the two hours to catch up on some sleep. Once in Chicago we had four hours to explore the airport and most importantly find lunch and coffee. The time also passed with reflecting on the trip, calling home and some even used the time to work or learn for upcoming exams.

On the long second flight to Frankfurt we could use the free spaces to sleep a little and just pass the seven hours with films and chatting to each other. We could also admire a beautiful sunrise and took the final group picture in the airplane.

In Frankfurt some of us had to catch connecting flights while others had to catch trains or were picked up by friends or family at the airport. We had to say our goodbyes after an exciting, inspiring and unforgettable three weeks while also promising ourselves to meet again.

For me the flights were not over for the day. A small group of us had to get connecting flights to Berlin, Munich or Hamburg. Fortunately, we did not have to wait for too long and soon arrived in our destined hometowns. Once there we were up for nearly 24 hours, which will become a lot more over the day to beat jetlag.