Day 12: Back to reality

End of study tour

An early start: the alarm woke me up at 5:00, all according to plan. Just slightly woozy I used a satchel of Nescafé in my room to wake me up, packed up the last remaning bits of luggage including the four rechargable devices connected to different outlets all over the room and made my way down to the lobby. There I was greeted warmly by eight students (whose names must remain undisclosed for the sake of privacy) who had just returned from their last nights on the town. In a spirit of comradeship and a cloud of spirits we hugged goodbye. In my state of morning grogginess I almost hugged the single female companion as well, but even a handshake was out of the question here: very much taken aback she did a kind of backwards shuffle to quickly hide out of sight.

Since the pre-ordered taxi and myself were both present way ahead of schedule, there was no reason to dither. A smooth trip to the airport and a time-consuming but unremarkable check-in procedure later, I was sitting behind my last cup of Malaysian coffee (of the black, non-sweetened variety). My left-over Ringgits just failed to stretch to breakfast at airport prices, but that would be catered for quickly enough up in the air.

Up in the air is where I will end this report of the MISC study tour. Those who have read through it diligently enough to reach this point will know that I had a great time, saw a lot, learned a lot. So did our students, who moreover are barely halfway; I only half envy them, at it is also a very intense experience, and more than a little bit tiring. Writing it all up helps fixing it into memory, and if you enjoyed reading this, so much the better!