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I’m writing this column from the lobby of a terminally hip hotel at Charles de Gaulle airport near Paris, eagerly awaiting the return of 14 CCI students who cheerfully embraced an unexpected opportunity to explore Paris on a warm, spring afternoon.

To quote The Princess Bride, “Let me explain. No, there is too much. Let me sum up.” When offered the opportunity to accompany 14 CCI students en route to their three-week intersession course at Kent State’s campus in Florence, Italy, I jumped at it. Alas, like many of the best-laid travel plans, our group’s itinerary didn’t survive first contact with the realities of summer travel in Europe.

Our flight arrived late, we waited in an interminable queue to pass through security for our connecting flight, then waited some more in a hot and stuffy hall for immigration clearance. By the time we’d navigated all these formalities, our plane to Florence was well on its way — without us aboard.

After enduring more lines, tolerating some predictable – yet oddly endearing — French dismissiveness, and wiping the sweat off our brows in a waiting room that reserved all the cool air for those working behind plexiglass windows, we had a new plan in hand: Hotel rooms, meal vouchers and flights to Florence for the next day with the happy consequence of a day to explore in Paris.

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