This past Monday, I boarded the last regularly scheduled flight leaving Morocco. The night before, the government had announced that it would be closing all borders and prohibiting transit in or out of the country. Despite cancellations of spring break travel, study abroad in Vienna, and the Hamburg marathon all due to coronavirus, the overwhelming emotion I felt while traveling home was gratefulness.

While seeing new cultures forms of expression while traveling is always stunning, sometimes my favorite elements are the small things. Recently in Japan, my host family showed me that you can de-select a floor in Japanese elevators by double pressing the button.