Hey y’all! My name is Alex Lis and I am a sophomore Economics major from New Jersey. This past semester, I had the absolute privilege of being able to study abroad on Semester at Sea, where I circumnavigated the globe while visiting 10 different countries and learning alongside students from all over the world!

I found out that my study abroad program ended on April 21st, which gave me just enough time to fly back to the States for Back in Blue—the last Tri Delt function of the year. I landed in New Jersey and spent 12 hours with my parents before they shipped me off on another airplane for the last, short leg of this journey.

I arrived in Greenville not minding to be one of those annoying people who stands up first and shoves their way off of the plane. And finally, after three months of waiting, I was greeted by one of my best friends (and sisters), Taylor, who was waiting impatiently with a ‘welcome home’ sign in hand. As we pulled up to school, feelings of nostalgia brought me back to just three months ago when I was living on the hall with my pledge class and seeing familiar faces as I walked to class every day—it felt like I had never left.

Taylor and I were walking up from the parking lot to Norris, and next thing I know all of my friends ran out from behind a parked car, and I practically crumbled as we all shared hugs and the tears started flowing. I had spent the last three months communicating with my friends only through broken wifi on Snapchat and SeaMail, and here they were, in the flesh, eager to hear my stories and fill me in on all that I had missed that semester. That night, Stewart, Taylor and I pushed the beds together in our room in Norris, and all fell asleep as I flipped through my journal that had been my going-away present that was now filled with pictures and drawings of the last three months.

And finally, it was the day of Back in Blue! All of us hall girls spent the afternoon getting ready together, laughing, and getting a little choked up at the thought of our last function together on the hall. As we took pictures on the quad, I saw our whole pledge class come together to savor our last few moments of sophomore year. We danced the night away, took countless photos with Allen, and put our shagging skills to the test to classics like “Sweet Caroline” that we could never get tired of hearing. I couldn’t have pictured a better ending to my trip than getting to embrace so many of my friends and sisters at Clemson—I was truly beaming the entire time.

Although this post is meant to recap Back in Blue, I can’t surpass the opportunity to recount all of the moments that happened behind the scenes that made this weekend unforgettable. Saturday night, my friends and I continued our tradition of wrapping up the year with a slideshow of funny pictures and videos of each other. This year’s video was a little different though, because it also featured videos captured by Kathleen of what she explained to represent little moments of happiness from this semester. There were clips of us eating in Douthit, walking the Dikes, and finally, the clip of all of my friends running out from behind the car to surprise me from earlier in the week. After the video was over, we went around in a circle saying our favorite things about each other, what we would miss most this summer while we were gone, and by the end, we were all pretty much a pool of tears.

These are the moments that define Tri Delta. Not the functions or the iInstagrams—just the moments of togetherness where we realize that we couldn’t have made it through the year without one another. As we were wrapping up, I had to take a second to thank my friends. I told them that while I was away on Semester at Sea, our student body spent a lot of time contemplating the meaning of the word ‘home’. From riads to apartments to igloos, there’s no universal image of a home. Home, however, is a feeling. It’s the feeling you get when you’re surrounded by people that lift you up and inspire you to do better, people who celebrate your accomplishments and failures, and people who tell you that a piece was missing while you were gone. I cannot express enough gratitude for the home I have found 750 miles from New Jersey here in Clemson and Tri Delta.

After 10 countries, 24,000 nautical miles, and 106 days, nothing felt better than being home.