Europe

Europe Eighteen days away from home. I love to travel, but I usually travel to visit friends or family. Most times I spend my vacation in a familiar place with people I know. This time I was going with a group of 40 high school students from the Midwest and four teachers that were our chaperones. We were making our way to Europe and in 18 short days we would visit France, Italy, and England through the People to People Program.

I was excited, yet a little uneasy. I had never been out of the United States and I was going with a group of people; some I barely knew, others I had never met before. The days leading up to the trip I was beyond excited, I was going to Europe. The morning our trip started half of us met at the Flying J to load the bus. It was 3:30 am, but we were all wide awake, full of excitement and nerves. We had a five hour bus ride ahead of us as we made our way to Minneapolis.

On the bus I sat next to Ike, a boy from Windom, MN who I had come to know through a few of the meetings prior to the trip. I remember many other kids whom I recognized from meetings were already loaded on the bus and ready to go. Ike and I talked the entire trip. We both felt like we had forgotten something back home. The packing guidelines were so strict there was no way I could fit everything I wanted to bring. Our bag had to be a certain size, which was not very big, and could not weigh more than 50 pounds. Our chaperones had given us particular rules, only so many pants, shorts or capris and only so many shirts and sweatshirts. They had done this before, but most of us had not and there was no way everything was going to fit, but somehow it did.

By the time we go to Minneapolis we were all tired, but our trip had just begun. We met with the other two groups that were joining us and made a long line leading to security. Once we all went through security we boarded out first flight to Atlanta, GA. We arrived in Atlanta with enough to eat before we boarded our next flight to Rome. We all knew this flight was going to be long, but we had no idea what to expect. When we boarded the plane we were impressed to say the least. The seats were much more comfortable than usual and everyone had their own TV screen that you could watch movies on or play games. TVs helped to pass the time, but the flight was still brutally long. The plane was larger than most and split into three sections.

We arrived in Rome at 2pm their time. As we were flying we never hit night, so none of us had slept much or any at all. We were greeted by our tour guide who would be spending the next 18 days with us. The tour guide was accompanied by our bus driver who would stay with us through Italy and France. It was hard to imagine that we were actually in Rome, standing inside the Coliseum. As we waited for the tour guide we all sat down in a line and eventually fell asleep, we were definitely exhausted.

Rome was not one of my favorite places to visit. The site seeing was fun but it was extremely dirty. We kept traveling, never staying in a town for more than two nights. A lot of our time was spent on the bus, but that allowed us to get to know everyone. We entered a large amount of Cathedrals; I couldn’t tell them apart if I wanted to. One of my most memorable moments was the scavenger hunt. We separated into groups and went searching through Rome trying to fine out the heights of different structures. Since we could not communicate with many citizens we found Police Officers to help us out, though their English was rather poor. The scavenger hunt was a great experience and really opened our eyes to the world, almost as though we all receive a bit of a culture shock. We took one entire day to do a ton of activities. They had arranged for all of the People to People (P2P) groups in Europe to meet at the same time for a day of activities. We started off meeting all of the teachers for a day in the beautiful outdoors. We were surrounded by mountains and outdoor scenery, I could taste the bittersweet breeze as wind brushed against my lips. We did a few activities inside the tent then began our hike. We hike a few miles to an old abandoned castle that had been turned into a place to go repelling. At first we were all a bit scared, but it ended up being one of the best experiences. They taught us all how to harness up and gave us a run through on how to repel down the side of this castle. Once I got up there my nerves started to go, but as soon as I let go the adrenaline kicked in and I was having a blast. This had to be one of the best experiences.

In France we broke in groups ranging from 1 to 3 as we all entered our home stays. We were fortunate enough to have families allowing us into their house for 5 days. Two girls and I joined a family that consisted of the mom, dad, and their 5 daughters. The parents English was poor, although the mom taught Spanish so we were able to mix our small Spanish with English and communicate with her. All of the daughters were learning English in school, although it wasn’t perfect, we were able to teach the daughters words and they taught us. I had a lot of fun on the home stay and was thrilled I was able to see what the family life was really like. They don’t practice the same lifestyle as most of us do, but it was still fun and full of adventures. Once we finished the home stays and our group got back together we made our way to England.

England packed in a lot of fun. In order to get to England we took an overnight fairy that held our group and a few other P2P groups. We were all thrilled to be surrounded by other teenagers and our curfew was pushed back since we were on a ship. After we all received our room assignments we headed out to see the ship with our own eyes. It was marvelous and full of so many things to do. Our favorite place had to have been the dance floor with the live DJ because that is where we ended up spending our evening. By the time we got done dancing and spending time with the other groups and chaperones we were exhausted. One of the most challenging things had to have been trying to shower in a moving fairy, it was challenging! After discovering how to pull out the beds from the walls we all laid down to go to sleep, by the time we woke up we were docked in England and ready to start our day. In England the strangest thing was watching everyone drive on the wrong side of the road, to us anyways. England packed in a lot of adventures that lead us right up to our departure for Europe. I never thought 18 days could go by so fast!

Europe became an unforgettable experience. All of the nerves and thrill combined to help us remember every moment as if it all happened yesterday. Although it has been a couple years since we all made this adventure together, we have all grown to become great friends, students and chaperones alike. Some of the greatest people I met were the people I spent 18 days of my life with, and I will never forget them. We shared so many memories and moments together, not all of which I can describe. Traveling taught us how lucky we are to be in America and gave us a glimpse at what our world is really like. I had the time of my life in Europe and I would do it all over again in the blink of an eye.