We arrived in Berlin on Sunday evening and began our city exploration the following morning. During our time in Berlin, we visited Wittenberg to see the home and church of Martin Luther. However, more important than the places we visited is the idea of the Cross Cultural program itself. On our final night in Berlin, we met for a debriefing session to evaluate where each of us stood on the program and what we had learned. A few days ago, people were ready to return home, but now they have become reluctant to leave.
As the trip ends, several students have begun to describe the cheeseburgers that they plan to eat upon arrival in the States. We are excited to return the land of free public bathrooms and air conditioning. We are excited to return to a land where water fountains are common everywhere, and drinking water isn’t carbonated. We cannot wait to read road signs and restaurant menus in English.
Now that the final day of Cross Cultural is here, we wish we didn’t need to leave for the airport at 4 am. We wish we could ignore national politics a while longer. We wish Kinder Eggs were sold in the US. We wish that the public transportation in our hometowns was as good as the Viennese U-bahn.
We’re going home.

-Tim Martin