What a day! IUHPFL Departure Day is always exciting, always a little chaotic, always a little nerve-wracking, and always the start to a grand adventure. On Wednesday, June 11th, 119 IUHPFL students and their 16 instructors donned their crimson program shirts, loaded up their suitcases, prepped their passports, and met at the Indianapolis airport to set off to live their languages for the next 5 weeks.
Our French sites departed first, flying together from Indianapolis to Dallas and then on to Paris. They arrived in France around 10am on Thursday, June 12th and were met by their onsite coordinators who ushered them on to buses waiting to take them to their host cities of Saint-Brieuc and Saumur.
Our Spain sites took off next—Almería flying first and Ciudad Real and Oviedo just slightly later. The close flight times meant all three Spanish groups got some time to hang out together in the Indy airport (while they were still permitted to speak English/languages other than Spanish!).
Our Graz group departed just minutes later—our only site with two stops on their way to their host country (first in Chicago and then in Frankfurt before landing in Vienna). Our Graz students landed in Austria in the midst of three days of national mourning in response to Tuesday's school shooting in Graz. Our hearts are with our host families and staff in this beautiful city and all those affected by this tragedy.
All groups were out of Indiana before 2pm Eastern time and, amazingly, all arrived (mostly) on time in their host countries. Travel distance from the airport to their host cities differed widely (from just over an hour to 5+ hours), but regardless, all students and instructors were tired upon arrival.
They were welcomed by their host families and taken to their new “homes” to rest, unpack, and get settled. Program activities started in earnest on Friday, June 13th!