In high school, I was extremely fortunate because I was able to go on two class trips to Europe my junior and senior year. Junior year, I traveled around Italy and senior year, I got to go to London. These experiences affected me like I never would have thought.
When we went to Italy, I don’t think it ever truly hit me that I was there. But at the same time, I was amazed by everything around me. The minute we were flying over the Alps was when my brain finally comprehended that I was traveling about eleven hours to another continent. When we arrived, we had basically missed a whole day because they’re eight hours ahead of us. This means that we also missed a night of sleep and we weren’t given the chance to sleep or relax before we jumped into our activities.
The scenery in Italy was the most fantastic part, but we also got to learn a lot about the culture and history and we were able to eat foods that we’ve never tried. Our group was in Venice over New Year's and the square of Venice was packed. The funniest thing that happened was that a group of drunk men tried hitting on all of the girls in the group. We were terrified at the time but there were teachers around and our tour guide to make sure they stayed away. Then we traveled to Florence and even got to make our own food and drink wine. Our last couple of days were spent in Rome in which we went to the colosseum and we even learned how to fight like gladiators.
The London experience was slightly different because I had my friends there with me, along with two of my favorite teachers. In London, I got to experience several plays and I was able to live with my best friend. London was more of a city scape than Italy and it’s a beautiful city. Double decker buses are everywhere, and the weather changes about every five seconds. Since this trip was more for an acting group, we did a couple of workshops with professionals and we had the opportunity to see how the puppets for War Horse were created and how they functioned.
We went to high tea and that was the first time that I’ve ever felt that elegant. Most of the rest of our time was spent at museums and shopping around the big outlet malls. The best part was being there with three of my best friends because we were able to experience everything together and we all agree that it was an amazing trip.
What traveling did for me is open my eyes to the world. I knew that these beautiful places were out there but I never understood them that much. I think it’s also important to travel with people because you make new connections and you also strengthen the ones that you already have. You’re making memories that will last forever. Traveling almost forces you to try new things but you won’t regret trying them at all. My perspective of everything changed after those trips. They made every little problem I thought I was having seem very unimportant. I was a happier person after that.
