Jez Sabaduquia

Chris didn’t join me in the Philippines and of course, it’s one of the countries I never rank because it’s one of my homes. So in the end, we asked ourselves which place was our favorite among Bangkok, Thailand; Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia; Siem Reap, Cambodia; and Hanoi & Ha Long Bay, Vietnam. Bangkok was out of this world. The weather didn’t cooperate our entire stay which I guess, now that I think of it, made Ha Long Bay look very mystic and eating Pho so much more better in Hanoi. Next time, I definitely want to go to Laos, explore more of Thailand and Malaysia and spend like…maybe two to three weeks in Cambodia.

After an unforgettable five months living, studying, and traveling in Europe, it was time for me to start my three-month journey at my summer internship in Dallas, Texas with Southwest Airlines. The twelve weeks went by so fast but in between, I was able to travel to places like Puerto Rico, Costa Rica, Aruba, Mexico, and even cities I thought I would never ever visit like Lubbock, Amarillo, Little Rock, and Milwaukee. In total, I flown on 87 Southwest flights this summer, upped my visited US states to 41 and countries to 43. Enjoy this four-minute video of some window shots, crappy snapchats, and lots of memories, friends, and miles.

We would position ourselves Friday night from Dallas towards the East and on Saturday morning, fly up and down the East Coast before taking a transcon flight to the West. After several minutes of barking Southwest departures out of ATL as Zac double checked the loads, we found our exit strategy: fly up to Milwaukee, then east to Boston, before coming back towards the same direction to Indianapolis, Denver, and finally Las Vegas. After a long day and a half of flying, we finally reached our first actual destination: Las Vegas, Nevada on Saturday night. The next day, we decided to sleep in and take a later flight, cutting down our original plan of flying from Las Vegas to Portland, Oakland, Los Angeles, and back to Las Vegas before flying back to Dallas to simply doing a simpler route: Las Vegas to Sacramento, and then from Sacramento to Burbank and back to Dallas.

After studying and living in Denmark, and traveling to 21 new countries, I am finally home in New York. One of the things I will miss the most are my host family and my homestay network, strangers I met on the first day of DIS who quickly became my closest friends abroad. From Poland, Iceland, Belgium, and Germany to our simple Tuborg Tuesday nights in Hillerød, it has been an unforgettable and meaningful journey. Maybe one day, we’ll all find ourselves in Copenhagen once again but for now, here’s a semester in review with my homestay network.