European adventure for Mifflin County Travel Club | News, Sports, Jobs

June 29, 2024

Photo by OLIVIA SUYDAM
The Colosseum, Rome.

(Editor’s Note: Mifflin County High School students and counselors recently traveled to Europe. The following article is a personal account of the trip, written by Olivia Suydam.)

As the youngest of four children, I was always surrounded by family and never far from home, so imagine my parents’ surprise when I told them I wanted to join the Mifflin County Travel Club and explore the world more or less on my own for two weeks. My mom wasn’t thrilled about the idea at first, but since I had just graduated from high school, it seemed like the perfect opportunity to have my own adventure.

In the year leading up to the trip there was a lot of selling and organizing to do, information sessions/meetings to hold and forms to fill out. The trip preparations were a huge process of making sure everything was in place so that the trip itself could run as smoothly as possible.

The day we had all been preparing for so long arrived and all the students, parents and chaperones met in the Mifflin County High School teacher parking lot before heading to JFK airport in New York City. After what seemed like an eternity (it was actually almost nine hours) we arrived in London and got straight to work. We spent the entire first day sightseeing around London and fighting jet lag.

We met our wonderful tour guide Gema and we all quickly fell in love with her (we even joked and begged her to come home with us). She stayed with us as we stayed in each of the four countries we visited for about three days (five if you count the Vatican) and each stop we made had its own unique aspect that made it so special.

Photo by OLIVIA SUYDAM
The Eiffel Tower, Paris.

In London, we saw Big Ben, the Tower of London, Buckingham Palace, and many other popular tourist attractions. I can’t speak for everyone, but my favorite part of visiting the UK was the Tower of London and learning all about the history of the Tower, such as how it was a fortress, a palace, and a prison. As we walked through the tower, each room was designed to represent what that area was used for. So we got to see the royal bedroom, the prison room, the place where Anne Boleyn was beheaded, the crown jewels, and various other features of this historic landmark. Overall, the architecture was stunning and so beautiful that it became the highlight of my trip to the UK.

We then traveled by train through an underwater tunnel to the wonderful country of France where we immediately visited the famous Eiffel Tower. We were lucky enough to recover from our day of travel and spend the entire evening admiring the tower promoting the Olympic symbol. Paris will be hosting the 2024 Olympic Games in July this year and you can see that the people there are proud because everywhere you look you see an emblem of some sort promoting the event.

We also spent one of our days visiting the Louvre, home of the Mona Lisa. Even though it was crazy and full of people from all over the world, it was an incredible experience to see the thousands of exhibits and all the artworks from different cultures. The supervisors organized a fun scavenger hunt with our tour guide. We (the students) split into groups and set off to learn more about the artworks.

Unfortunately, at this point in our trip, a few people started to get sick, and putting a handful of sick students on a bus with everyone else is a recipe for disaster. Of course, by the end of the trip, almost everyone had recovered from their cold, but I think it brought us closer together as we agreed on who could share tissues or cough drops with the group.

Although the illness was spreading through the group, we managed to continue having the time of our lives and took the train to Barcelona, the hometown of our wonderful Gema. After a long day of travelling, we were able to walk down to the beach and dip our feet in the water. There is no better feeling than having the Mediterranean running over your feet.

Photo by OLIVIA SUYDAM
The garden of Castel Gandolfo, Italy.

Our main attractions in Spain were the beautifully designed flamenco dance we saw and the walking/bus tour of the Sagrada Familia and Park Güell. We not only did sightseeing in Barcelona, but also gained hands-on experience with “The taste of Spain.” We were lucky enough to be met by a team of chefs who showed us how to make tapas and paella. This was a little outside my area of expertise as I usually only cook Kraft mac-n-cheese and chicken nuggets, but the chefs were friendly and patient and the food they prepared was delicious.

For our final stop, we flew to Italy to spend the last three days of our trip in the sun. The first day was spent on buses and planes, so the evening was the perfect opportunity to relax in our beautiful hotel, sunbathe, read, and chat by the pool.

The next day, however, we were back on our feet and visited the Pope’s summer home. The current Pope doesn’t use this property, so he opened it up to the public so everyone can enjoy the beautiful gardens. We then traveled to Vatican City (our fifth and final country) in the sweltering heat and were able to walk around the Vatican and the Sistine Chapel. Our last day was spent touring other popular and beautiful parts of Roman history, including my absolute favorite part of the trip, the Colosseum. It was so interesting to be able to walk around where the gladiator fights took place. We ended our last night in Rome by heading back to the hotel to pack because the next day we would be traveling back to the US for a full day.

We left the hotel at 6:45am (European time) and didn’t arrive back at MCHS until around 2am (American time). It was a bittersweet farewell to Europe, but it was truly heartbreaking to have to say goodbye to Gema, who had been such a part of all of our lives.

This trip with the Mifflin County Travel Club was truly a once in a lifetime experience. It took me out of my comfort zone in many ways. Not only did I become a “World traveler,” I have made so many new friends with peers that I have been at school with for so long but never spoke to until now. The bonds that have been formed on this trip have been truly wonderful as we have planned pranks, made jokes and laughed so much while trying to board our bus at top speed on the side of the road.