Today is the day we all head home from Roatan feeling bittersweet. We all had our normal 7 am breakfast before gathering in the lobby to board the bus at 9 am to head to the airport. Once we were at the airport the reality that the 3 weeks that I just spent with friends was finally coming to an end and a wave of sadness crashed over me. These past three weeks have been an amazing time filled with education, culture, and comradery. I was snapped out of that wave sadness by Professor Setniker, asking all of us to gather around for our last family picture before boarding our flight. Then we went through customs and security, and we all hunkered down to wait for our flight. Unfortunately, our flight got delayed an hour or so and some of us started to worry about being able to make our connecting flights that were soon after our arrival in Houston. We all got on the flight and most of us tried to get some extra shut eye on the 3-hour flight. 

Fast forward to when we landed at 4:40 pm and most of us had a 5:25-5:40 boarding time for our next flight so we continued to worry about potentially missing our next flight. I hoped customs would not be a long wait but unfortunately it was. Then we all had to reclaim and recheck our bags and wait in another line to head through security again. Erik, Jorja, and I all had a good laugh to try and calm our worries. By then, Jorja and I (since we were both flying to LAX) had about 15 minutes to get to our flight before the door closed. We both ran with our luggage trying to make the flight. Thankfully, I made it on the flight with a minute until closing, a huge relief! I walked down the aisle of my flight and saw Jorja had also made it! Then I got texts that everyone had made it to their gate/flight and was on their way home. I finally landed in LAX after the 3 hour and change flight and got the notification from my IE buddies that everyone was landing too. 

Freshly looking back at my time in Roatan with my cohort, I am feeling so grateful of being able to have had this opportunity to apply what I have learned in the classroom as an Oceanography major, network professionally with people of the island, and grow my personal relationships with other students on the trip. I have learned so much thanks to the Roatan Institute of Marine Sciences, Professor Setniker and Kielar and fellow students on the trip. As I get older and further in my professional career, I will always look back at this trip and feel extremely grateful for the experiences, knowledge, and lifelong friends that I have gained.

- Cadet Ona Schafer

Professors Stephen Kielar and Ariel Setniker contributed to this blog entry.

Check back often and follow the adventure with our blog series that gives the latest news from the International Experience summer 2024 program traveling through Morocco and Honduras prior to returning to Vallejo on May 27, 2024.

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