Dallas to Boston

Nine hours later, we just landed at the Dallas Fort Worth Airport! It’s 5:15 am and we finally have entered the airport. The first thing everyone noticed was the significant drop in temperature. Immediately after entering the airport we are required to go to customs. We used kiosks to answer questions regarding our trip. Specifically what we did there as well as what we are bringing back with us. 

Once we all successfully made it through immigration, we went to baggage claim and to recheck our bags for our final flight. It’s evident how different security is going into the United States versus security in other countries. The United States makes security the number one priority in the airport rather than the efficiency we have experienced leaving the country and in Argentina, Uruguay, and Chile. Surprisingly we found it way more efficient in the United States to get through security because of how organized they are. It’s clear how effectiveness and efficiency matter more when they are combined. It also brought a sense of comfort that our country has continued its strict security. 

After spending the last two weeks learning about international business and being back in the airport, it brings another challenge of this type of business to light. If your business requires you to leave the country on multiple occasions within a single month, it creates a burden on that person as well as taking up a significant amount of their time to go back and forth. Businesses might make the decision to limit their international business or find a country with only a few hours of time change in order to e-communicate. This would allow for less international travel but the ability to get work done within the normal hours of a work day. 

An hour after arriving at the airport everyone was exhausted. It felt like this was our first significant amount of down time since the beginning of the trip. The past two weeks have been a non-stop, fast pace. As people walk past our group, they turn and laugh at the amount of us passed out on the airport floor. Some even have asked what we’ve done and why everyone is so tired. They are so impressed by how much we have learned and seen in the past two weeks. 

After sitting around for a few more hours, we finally boarded the plane. We can’t wait to be back in Boston in a few short hours!

Nyla Simon