* * SLHS European Tour 2011 * *: Falcon Corner

Danielle Fletcher - June 18

Adventures+Laughter+Friendships+Education+Memories=My 2 weeks in Europe. It seems like just yesterday I was waking up and going to the Reno International Airport (and yes I was the last one there even though I stayed across the street). Now the trip is almost to a close but I sure do have many memories. I have met amazing people, seen amazing things, and laughed a lot! I am so grateful for the opportunity I was given to travel here. My favorite place would have to be Dublin. I love the greenery and the culture there. Paris was not the glamorous city I expected, but the Eiffel Tower sure was gorgeous when it was twinkling. I enjoyed London and the hustle and bustle of a busy city. The Tube was my favorite form of transportation by far! Wicked was incredible and something I will never forget! Even though this trip has not been perfect, I can now look back and laugh at the flaws! I had a lovely fire alarm experience consisting of me wrapped in a very tiny towel and running outside! I guess you never really realize how much of a luxury large towels are until that’s the only thing to cover you as you run down flights of stairs! Now I can look back and laugh at this extremely embarrassing experience! I have learned many new things on this trip for example the importance of a watch and being on time! Europe has shown me many new cultures, taught me a lot of history, but also a very important part of life…RESPONSIBILITY! Not only has this trip bettered my mind but also my maturity and lifestyle. I feel blessed to be given an opportunity to help me grow and better myself in many ways. I enjoyed this trip but I have to admit I do miss my Caesar salads, my dance studio and my friends and family so home will be nice. I hope I will be given another opportunity to come back to Europe and spend more time in each place. I can’t wait to share my memories and photos with my family and friends! Well I better not drag this on anymore because I still do have 16 more hours left in PARIS! <3

Karrisa Malm - June 18

My experience on this trip with my schoolmates to Europe has been amazing! For the past two weeks we’ve been getting to get closer as a school and as a family. I also loved meeting the Missourians from Saxony. It has been really nice getting to meet some new kids on the trip as well and also creating new friendships. I loved getting the culture experience from Ireland’s cobblestone streets and yummy coffee to the lush green rolling hills of Wales; or seeing the beauty and art of London, to seeing Paris, one of the world’s top fashion cities. I have truly enjoyed the whole experience and don’t regret a single thing and highly recommend Mr. Craig doing EF trips like this every year! We have had some great times together here and have many great tales to bring home and an experience that we will take with us for the rest of our lives! I’m so happy we have gotten the chance and all took it as well because I truly loved every minute of the whole thing but I am honestly looking forward to being back home, sleeping in my own bed and being back at home with my family too. But I can’t wait to hopefully come back and travel and see more of Europe and discover what else it holds for all of us. Thanks to Mr. Craig organizing this trip. We’ve all had a chance to unlock a little piece of adventure in our young lives and hopefully we will all be able to come back sometime and explore Europe and the world; piece by piece.

Hunter Watterson - June 18

Out of all the places I went in Europe I would have to say Dublin was my favorite place. Dublin felt inviting, and the culture there was very apparent. Musicians and street performers lined the street and the food was awesome and the cathedrals were spectacular. The best experience I had in Dublin was going to a kaliegh which is an Irish dance and music gathering. In London my favorite part was the London Eye, which was amazing. Paris didn’t live up to my expectations, which I was a little upset over, but the food made up for it! At night, Paris got better because everything woke up. This was an incredible adventure and I hope to do it again! J

Andrew Hettrick - June 17

Europe

What about Europe is so inviting? Is it the people, history, or culture? Like most would say it is all three of those. Those combined make Europe such an attractive part of the world.

The people from each country have varied, some better than others. Ireland, Wales and England all had very friendly residents. The people here were kind, funny, and very knowledgeable about their country, shop or home. Now I’m not saying that all French people are not like this, our very first experience with them was not on the right foot. This makes you a little bias towards other people.

Europe, as you know has a large historical background. We’ve learned so much about every single place that we have visited. In Ireland we had a great amount of exposure to their music and cuisine. Wales, which we were only there for a day, is where we learned some about their kings and some of their traditions. We learned about one of their great kings who built castles all around the country. Also, one of their traditions is to give a ‘love spoon’ which could stand for steadfast love, and is in the shape of a heart. There are a great variety of love spoons. England was very enjoyable and will be my personal favorite stop of the whole trip. The history of London as you know has kings or queens (sometimes both). This meant that it centered on either their rulers, or a great general or hero, like many societies. France was very interesting. Visiting the Louvre, Versailles, and taking a water cruise on the Siene River gave so much detail about the history there. From their ruler’s palace and garden to the painters that came to that great city all throughout its existence, it is very rich in its history.

The culture of Europe is very different than what we were used to back home. Not only was it the food but also how they do things. Now I’ve never been to large cities so it might not be so different to all but to me it was a very new learning experience. I think we have taken every form of transportation on this trip: boats, planes, busses, and metro/tube. The metro and tube were very fascinating. Especially with our experience in Paris where we were caught in rush hour and was extremely crowded and hot. But that is part of what they are used to doing every day, which personally I would not want to do more than once. The Ireland food that I experienced, which was stew, reminded me of the beef stew that we have at home. England is known for their fish and chips, which I tried for the first time, and enjoyed. We didn’t have any specifically French food besides begets, which make a great sandwich. There was no real language barrier until we arrived in Paris. As you guessed English is not the native language of the French people which makes talking and interacting with them difficult sometimes. Through pointing and a sort of sign language we are able to manage, even though we are from different parts of the world.

Europe overall has been a very enjoyable experiences. I am very blessed to receive the opportunity to go and hope that one day I will be able to return.

-Andrew Hettrick

Ben Sever - June 15

We arrived in Ireland after a long, painful, and cramped airplane ride. Once we got through customs and everything I decided to go to the bathroom and change the shirt I had been wearing for at least a day and a half. When I got out of the bathroom I found out that the tour group had left the spot where they were 2 minutes ago. At first I thought it was a joke, but after I waited for 45 minutes I realized it wasn’t. I went to the information desk and tried to gather some information, but I didn’t have very much success. I was so relieved when the tour director called and gave me information to the hotel. I got into a cab where I met Sean Gallagher the deaf Irish taxi driver. I got to the hotel, took a shower, and slept while I waited for the rest of tour group to return. Other than my first experience in Europe, every place has been absolutely terrific. I noticed that Londoners aren’t the friendliest people in the world. When walking through a crowd, no one will bother to say “excuse me” unless it is absolutely necessary. Also, everyone avoids eye contact and is always in a huge rush to get somewhere. There is also many other cool little stories that would take too long to write, but I am having great time seeing new sites and making new friends.

Ben Sever - June 15

Luke Barulich - June 15

Europe….What first comes to mind when you think about Europe? Probably things like cathedrals, castles, the Eiffel Tower, London Eye, Big Ben, different kinds of food, different kinds of money, and royalty. Our trip has been and will be that and if not more. We first went to Dublin and saw St Patrick’s Cathedral. It was cool to see the architecture of the cathedral and the architecture of the other buildings around Dublin too. The cathedrals have been some of my favorite things because of the magnificence and elegance of the tall stone structures. Also, in Dublin we learned how to use different money for the first time and realized that the food was not as sweet as in America. In Wales we when to a medieval castle, and were able to explore everywhere in it. We also saw the longest word ever in Wales. The word was LLANSAIRPWLLGWYNGYLLGOGERYCHWYRNDROBWLLLLANTYSILIOGOGOGOCH. Don’t ask me what that means. London has been my favorite so far. We went to the Tower of London and saw the royal jewels and weapons. That was my favorite part! Not the jewels, the weapons. West Minster, Big Ben, and the London Eye have been some of my favorites also. Don’t worry Dad, I looked up at the ceiling for you in Westminster. Big ben was very cool and fun to photograph from the London eye. We just got to Paris and saw the Eiffel Tower which was amazing! The sky was perfect for pictures. I really like the architecture is Paris, but Paris is a lot dirtier than London. I have had a great trip so far and am excited about what I am going to experience next.

Tiffany Patrick - June 12

My trip so far has been very fun and I have also learned a lot. Ireland was a very fun experience where I learned a lot about where my ancestors came from. The very first thing that I noticed was that the people here speak very fast and have pretty strong accents. Sometimes I worry about crashing into other cars while we are driving because the bus is so large but really I think it is because we are driving on the left side of the road and not the right. Personally, I am curious to the advantages are to driving on the left as they do here or the right as we do in the USA.

I feel like Dublin was a city with a lot of tourists and there are many fun things that we can do here but also learn about. Our meeting place there was at the Molly Malone statue but there were also people dressed as giant leprechauns at the same location. While in Ireland, I was trying to find something that resembled “Patrick” because of my last name but I was unable to find any name tags or symbols for it. Believe it or not, it is very GREEN here! This is very different compared to what we are used to in Nevada. I think that it has rained here every single day but definitely some days more than others. I loved going to the pub in Ireland and listening to the band and watching the dancers. I also love seeing all of the sheep here grazing on the hills. When we went to the grocery store, we noticed that not only do the cashiers sit down in office chairs; they also charged us 22 cents for a grocery bag. Wales is also an interesting place and I feel like we have seen more of it than we did of Ireland because we have gone to smaller towns and traveled in the coach a lot. I am very excited to go see some of the larger cities.

As I am writing this, we are traveling in the coach to London. This trip so far has been very fun as I said and I am very grateful that my parents have let me participate. I am missing home while I am abroad but I have been comfortable and pleased with the hotels we have stayed at. I am very excited to go on a train from downtown London to downtown Paris and also to travel on the Tube because I have heard that it is a lot cleaner than any subway that I have been on. Mom, dad, and Michael, I miss you a ton and don’t worry dad I am still looking for those bike accessories. I have not yet found anything that has to do with both Europe and biking, but don’t worry, i will keep looking . I do miss all of my family and my friends while I am gone but I am having a lot of fun!!!

Tiffany

Mikey Overton - June 12

Feeling at Home in the Homeland

Well, Europe is a fantastic place and I’ve had the pleasure of coming to Europe for the second time. Last time I was able to go to Germany and Italy, where half of my heritage is from. This time, exploring Ireland and England will complete my trip to all the lands of my ancestors.

Though I wish I could describe the things we’ve been doing here in Europe, I’m only allowed enough time and space to write about my experience over here in Europe. The culture is somewhat familiar to old style American traditions, due to the fact that America wouldn’t have come into existence without the help of the European explorers. There are many differences though, here in the UK parts (England, Ireland, and Wales) of Europe; such as driving on the left side of the road, the food, and the society.

First off, allow me to describe the time we had in Ireland. Let me say, I felt like I was back at home. For example, the weather in Ireland is just like Dayton, NV; the weather changes every 5 minutes from rain, to sun, to wind, to rain, and the like. As our tour guide said in Ireland, they haven’t “experienced Summer” yet, just as we haven’t yet in Nevada. On the other hand, it seems that Ireland takes great interest in rugby from what I can tell. Being a soccer fan, it was strange to see that there wasn’t much talk of soccer, and that the sport is still called “soccer” in Ireland.

Real quickly, Wales was an interesting one-day-stop. We started tasting a bit of England there, but nonetheless, we enjoyed the beautiful scenery that Wales naturally provided. I did get to have my first “confrontation” with a rival soccer team fan during the ferry ride over to Wales when I was told to leave the premise because of the Chelsea FC jersey I was wearing. To my surprise, the guy was a Liverpool fan and we made each other laugh (he was the chef on the ferry).

Well as I wrap things up, we have just arrived in London, England. So far, I can tell the culture is heavily based off the sport of football (soccer) and I feel even more at home as they speak about the universal sport/language, as well as see my first actual soccer stadium dedicated only to soccer. Already, I’ve been able to understand much of the differences in speech here in England (as well as Wales), and was able to help my fellow tour mates know that 1 and 30 minutes actually means 1 minute and 30 seconds, as well as some other definitions that I’ve learned from some British friends via Xbox Live (go figure, video games actually prepared me for this trip).

Well, as you can tell, I am definitely feeling at home in the homeland on our trip to Europe. It’s a blast, and yet we still have several days before we return. The other half of the group from Missouri is quite nice and we’re finally mingling within the first 5 days. I am a bit homesick, and I wish my parents and family that they are doing well and to expect almost 3-4 post cards each, heading their way as soon as I get some stamps.

Thanks for reading.

-Mikey Overton “The Mentalist”

P.S. I am winning the Jeep game for those who are curious (I have 1!)

Megan Einspahr - June 11

My trip has been has been really wonderful so far. I have had so much fun exploring Dublin and learning many interesting facts. Some highlights include: airplane delays, colorful doors, St. Patrick’s Cathedral, Dublin Castle, old manuscripts of the Bible, live Irish music, shopping, and the students in our tour and the locals. I have taken many pictures and just hope I can remember what everything is. If I could describe Dublin in one word it would be “cute” because everything is really wonderful and nice here. I have enjoyed the caffeine (i.e. coffee, cappuccinos, lattes, mochas, teas) very much. To my mom and dad: (I hope you read this first of all) I love you and can’t wait to tell you everything!!! Many memories have already been made. I really enjoy traveling and can’t wait to see what else is to come!

Haley Stokes - June 11

Hey there. This is Haley Stokes – I’m sure that Craig’s put up a mildly embarrassing picture of me on the side there already. My parents will be amused to know that I’m currently sitting in the ferry’s café, drinking tea and reading poetry as an excellent butter croissant melts in my mouth. We just pushed off the dock on the Ireland side of the Irish Sea, and we’re docking in Holyhead, Wales, in about three hours.

Dublin made much of its literary figures. Bloomsday is actually sometime this week; it’s a celebration/festival of fans of James Joyce’s book Ulysses (which is, not incidentally, the name of this ferry). So while we were driving around the city we saw several groups of people dressed in turn of the century clothes, with straw bowler hats and riding around on old-fashioned bicycles. There’s actually a Literary Museum on Nassau Street, all about Ireland’s famous authors, like Oscar Wilde, Joyce, and Patrick Kavanagh.

There are also many bookmaking services, where people go in and bet on sports. Almost as many as there are bars, in fact. We went to a restaurant last night called the Merry Ploughboy, where you sit and order a drink while a band plays Irish music (complete with pipes). They had little holders on the sides of their microphones, and instead of water they had glasses of beer!

The highlight of my time in Ireland was the Chester Beatty Library, which I visited in our free time yesterday. It’s a sort of museum for the collection of bibliophile Chester Beatty, who collected books, scrolls, and tablets from all over the world during his lifetime about eighty years ago. While we were there, the exhibition was actually on holy writings, so we saw fragments of the New Testament in Greek on papyrus, a massive and beautiful copy of St. Augustine’s City of God, and a Chinese scroll translation written by Jesuit missionaries to China. There were also sections devoted to Islam (ornate geometric patterns all over) and Buddhism, which was more tactile – idols of Buddha, and a handheld prayer wheel along with scrolls in Chinese and Tibetan. In addition to the books, the Library had a great garden out front, with a big lawn inscribed with a Celtic knot in brick and a memorial garden for fallen members of the Garda (the Irish police force).

Walking around Dublin is a little scary. The streets and sidewalks are narrow and there are massive green double-decker buses everywhere. The upside is that it’s a small city, about 44 kilometers square and with a population of 4 million, so it’s fairly easy to navigate and the crime rate is low (though gas costs €1.50 per liter, which translates to $8 a gallon, and unemployment is at 14%!). It’s a very pretty place. Buildings are usually brick or stone, and a few that are glass. Everything is so old – there’s a patina of age on the whole city. It makes for a totally different atmosphere than in America, where the oldest buildings are probably no more than 300 years. There’s been a settlement in the Dublin area since Neolithic times, several thousand years!

I’m about at the end of my space here, so just know that we’re all safe, all enjoying ourselves, and all spending your money like fiends. Happy Father’s Day to all to whom it may concern!

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