I’ve seen a lot of new places on this trip, but also a lot of new faces—and I don’t just mean the 4 million tourists. Even in our Goshen group, I did not know anybody in our group REAL well and some people on the trip, I had never even seen before. Luckily, a trip like this gave me a chance to get to know a lot of new people very well and very fast. Before the trip reaches its conclusion, I feel the need to post a thank you to all of our class for the good times and great company.

Our class consisted of 2 seniors who already graduated (Kate Yoder and Yolo Lopez-Perez), 3 Juniors (Isacc Hernandez, Sammy Rosario, and Jimmy Cassoday), 1 Sophomore (Luis Lopez), and 3 First-years (Abby Deaton, Chau, and I). Our professors were Seth Conley and Kyle Hufford. I took Broadcast Media Production 1 this past semester with Isacc Hernandez, Chau, and Abby Deaton. I have had Seth as a teacher for 2 classes already. I had met some of the others, but never really known any very well. The Bible class is full of Seniors and Juniors, many of whom I did not know at all. Luckily, everyone on the trip has been very approachable and inviting, so I always had people to hang out with whenever I wanted to.

I have had fun hanging out with everyone in our class. I am proud of the way we have bonded through our work together and our fun together (not that the work isn’t fun too). Just a few highlights of my time with them all include a Comm class dinner together in Thessaloniki, some late-night excursions with classmates in Thessaloniki, hiking on Mt. Olympus with some members of the Bible class, shopping together in Athens, dealing with the Paparazzi with Sammy, Kate, Luis, Abby, and Jimmy in Athens, going to see The Avengers with Sammy and Kate in Athens, watching Sammy dance,talking with Abby on the bus ride back from Florence, hanging out in our room in Rome with Jimmy and Isacc, and going out for the day with Kyle and Kate today in Rome. Those were just a few of the many good bonding experiences I enjoyed with our class on this trip. A long trip together always gets people annoyed with each other and leads to some problems. Our trip was no exception, but we were able to move past it in order to have a good time through it all. I also need to thank the professors for giving us the freedom and help we needed, as well as being fun to hang out with.

As amazing as some of the locations that we saw are, they really would not mean as much if I didn’t get to experience it with such great company. Thank you, classmates, and stay in touch in the future. It is a great way to get to know people better. It’s too bad I can’t take a class like this every year so I get to know a lot of new people. Then again, class scheduling isn’t finalized. After an experience like this, we’ll see what I can work out next year…