"Alright, everyone quiet down. Class is starting. Please open your textbooks to page..."

Claire Dunn took a deep breath and composed herself.

’It doesn’t matter whether I was promoted or not. It won’t change a thing. I still have to work hard to be worthy of my job and these wonderful students.’

When class ended, Claire Dunn called Grace Winslow to her office.

She wasn’t a fool. She knew that not only had she avoided being fired, but she’d even been promoted—a blessing in disguise. It had to be Grace Winslow who had helped her behind the scenes.

"Grace, I have to thank you for what happened," Claire Dunn said, looking at Grace Winslow earnestly.

Grace Winslow put on an innocent expression. "Professor, what are you thanking me for? I didn’t do anything. You were promoted because of your outstanding abilities. As for the department head losing his position, maybe he actually did something to get himself reported."

"There’s no such thing as a perfect secret. Someone was bound to find out about the things he’d done."

"Professor, if there’s nothing else, I have another class to get to, so I’ll be going now."

Claire Dunn watched Grace Winslow, a smile spreading across her face. "Of course, you can go. After all, you’ll be heading abroad in a few days. The university will handle all the necessary paperwork for you."

Grace Winslow nodded and turned to leave.

For her, nothing in life had changed.

She had already told her family about her plans to go abroad.

And since she was going with Joanne Chase, Irene Lynch wasn’t worried.

Still, when she went home, she was inevitably met with a barrage of reminders, and her mother had prepared a ton of things for them.

All sorts of meat sauces, mushroom sauces, and other homemade snacks were packed for their trip.

Mailing things overseas was a real hassle.

Besides, she’d heard that the food in other countries was terrible—nothing like the food in Celestia—so Irene Lynch couldn’t help but prepare some extra provisions.

"I prepared this jerky for you ahead of time; it should last a few months. If you can buy groceries and cook for yourselves, you should. Seasonings might be hard to find over there, so I packed some for you, too. You should be able to take all this through customs, right?"

Irene Lynch went on and on, her eyes welling up by the end. "You’ll be gone for half a year... we won’t see each other for half a year. If anything happens, I won’t be there to help. You have to take good care of yourself out there. Don’t you dare lose any weight."

"You too, Joy. Make sure you eat well."

"I know, Mom. We’re going with teachers from the university, and we’ll be at another university. No matter how bad it is, the food has to be decent, right?"

At that moment, Grace Winslow had no idea just how terrible the food abroad could be. After all, she had never left the country in her previous life and was completely ignorant about everything in foreign lands.

Their bags were stuffed to the brim. Since they were going on an exchange program, Grace Winslow and Joanne Chase were given a few days off before their departure to spend time with their families.

After all, they would be gone for half a year. They could write letters, but the distance was so great, there was no telling how long it would take to get a reply. A letter might even get lost in transit. They feared they might not be able to contact their families for the entire six months.

Grace Winslow had originally planned to attend a few more classes, but seeing how reluctant Irene Lynch was to let her go, she and Joanne Chase decided to stay at home instead.

She spent her days waking up early to make pastries with Irene Lynch and helping out at the shop, which made for a fulfilling routine.

On the day of their departure, Irene Lynch made a special trip to see them off at the university. Only after watching them board the bus headed for the airport did she silently raise a hand to wipe away her tears.

’Children have to grow up,’ she thought. Though she was sad to see them go, she had never wanted to hold them back.

The group consisted of eight people in total: Grace Winslow, Joanne Chase, and several juniors who had been selected by the university.

The two sophomores who had originally gotten their spots through connections were removed from the list.

With Leon Rhys’s intervention, no one dared to fudge the results, so all the students chosen had excellent grades and outstanding performance records.

This time, they were headed to Kingswell University in Country Y for the exchange program. The group departed from Crestwood University, went straight to the airport, waited for their flight, and boarded the plane at the scheduled time, led by their professor.

For many of them, it was their first time on a plane, and they were buzzing with excitement.

Grace Winslow had flown several times in her previous life, but those were all domestic flights that took only a couple of hours. This was her first time on a flight lasting over ten hours, and she was genuinely a little nervous.

Joanne Chase nervously gripped the armrests of her seat, her whole body rigid.

"Don’t be nervous. Just try to relax. It might feel a little strange the first time, but you’ll get used to it," Grace Winslow gently reassured Joanne Chase.

Joanne Chase tried to take deep breaths, but as the plane began to take off, the roar of the engines thundered in her ears. Her mind went blank, and her heart pounded so fast it felt like it would burst from her chest.

As the feeling of weightlessness washed over her, she clutched the armrests, her body painfully rigid. She felt like she was suffocating.

The next moment, a hand covered hers, and Grace Winslow’s gentle voice sounded in her ear. "It’s okay, try to relax. If your ears start to hurt, open your mouth..."

Joanne Chase slowly exhaled, and the tension gradually faded.

Once the plane reached cruising altitude and began to fly smoothly, the feeling of weightlessness vanished. However, she was still uncomfortable. She opened her mouth as Grace Winslow had suggested, which did help a little, but her ears were hurting badly. She frowned.

Grace Winslow handed her a piece of jerky. "Chew on this. It should help."

’I remember being just like this on my first flight,’ she recalled. ’Back then, Ivy White even mocked me for it. I was so embarrassed, feeling like I was so unworldly for making a big fuss over never having been on a plane before.’

But times had changed. In this new life, she was no longer bound by her past affections. She had discarded those burdensome emotions, and everything was different.

The flight was over twenty hours long, with a layover in the middle.

By the time they disembarked, Joanne Chase’s legs felt a bit wobbly.

She felt awful all over, and the others weren’t faring much better.

The worst had happened: they all had motion sickness.

They had spent the flight throwing up until they were dizzy and disoriented.

Now, they had to support one another just to walk without stumbling.

Fortunately, they had finally arrived in Country Y. Their professor led the group out of the airport, where a vehicle was already waiting for them.

The group got into the vehicle, which then drove them away from the airport.

Joanne Chase’s motion sickness was severe, so once they were in the vehicle, Grace Winslow gave her a piece of ginger candy and let her rest.

The university was far away. The vehicle rocked and swayed for several hours, and by the time they finally reached their destination, the sky was pitch-black.

Only upon arrival did they discover that no accommodations had been arranged for them.

Although everyone was deeply unhappy about it, they were in a foreign land and at the mercy of their hosts. There were many things they were in no position to fight for.

Besides, Celestia was still in a position of relative weakness on the world stage, so being looked down upon and discriminated against was a common occurrence.