Europe

By: Emily waltrich

During the summer of 2013 I had an awesome opportunity, I got the chance to go to Europe. How I got to go to Europe was through a group called people to people. A Lot of people ask me what is people to people. I tell them it was an organization that was founded by Dwight D Eisenhower shortly after world war two. It gives kids a chance to experience the world in a different way. But first kids have to sign up for it and then go through and interview to get into people to people. When I had my interview, i was very nervous and didn’t know what to expect. But I went into the interview very hopeful, and I ended up getting the call back right after the interview. Which was an amazing feeling and I was so proud of myself?

The only thing that I was not excited for was the flight because it was very long. The longest flight that I had ever been on was only four hours, and that was to Jamaica that is long for me. But the flight to Europe was 8 to 9 hours on a plane. I didn’t know how I was going to survive, but it was all worth it because it’s Europe! Most kids my age didn’t even get to go out of the country. I was very lucky to be able to go on this trip, and I would have to thank my grandma for giving me the money to afford this trip.

I was jumping for joy, and I couldn’t stop talking about it. Up until the summer, i had to go to a bunch of meetings that I didn’t like because no one likes meetings. But some of them were very fun, and I enjoyed them. By the time, it was time to go to Europe I couldn’t wait! Everyone met at the airport, and we were off to Europe for an entire month without any parents. Just lot of fun and beautiful sights. I got the chance to go to five countries in Europe that were cool. The five countries were Italy Austria, Switzerland, France, and Germany. The country that I was most excited for was Germany because half of my family was from there and that is where I was going to do my homestay. People that have gone on these types of trips say that the homestay is the best part of the trip. Which I was so excited for because a lot of the kids that told me about this trip was excited for that too.

Our first stop, France, I never thought that I would be given the chance to travel all the way to Europe and have amazing experiences like I did in France.One of the first places that we went to France was the Notre Dam Cathedral, and it was so pretty and colorful it was one of my favorite parts of Europe. I enjoyed being there a lot, and I would so go back if I got the chance because Paris is very pretty and it is the city of lights. I had always dreamed of going to France mostly because of the landmark that they had. The Eiffel tower, which it so big and tall I couldn’t believe it when we went there.

We went all the way up to the top, and I could see all of France and it was beautiful. The top of the Eiffel tower is an experience that I will never forget; I will tell my kids about it and have them go to Europe and experience it for themselves. Which will be cool because I am dying to go back to Europe and go to different countries? The countries that I am dying to go to are Spain and the Netherlands, and a lot more places like England and Ireland and a ton more. There is to many places that I want to go to because there is just so many and I want to go to them all. My dream is by the time I am at least 30 years old I will have gone to every country in Europe. So that I can say that I have been there will be rewarding and satisfy my soul.

Next stop was the louver that is the biggest museum in the world. I got the see one of the most famous painting in the world. Which was the Mona Lisa, it is a lot smaller then I thought it was going to be. But it was still a cool thing to see. After the louver, we went the palace of Versailles, which is made of mostly gold things. But it was so hot in the palace most of us were sweating too much. When we got to the palace the line was so long, if I weren’t with people to people, we would have spent hours in line just to get our tickets and then have no time to look around. After the louver, it was time to go to our hotel, which I didn’t like very much but my roommate was cool, and we got along really well, which was good.

She is one of the girls that I still talk to today, and I made two new friends that will be my friends for a long time. I talked to them the most on this trip the rest of the people on the trip were very annoying, and I didn’t like them because all they did was talk shit about everyone. The guys were mean, and they thought they were so cool and most of them were very annoying which I didn’t like at all. I don’t talk to any of them because I didn’t like them. But most of the girls I liked they were all very nice but some of them were very fake, and I didn’t like that at all. If they were real with me, i am sure that I could have gotten along with them just fine.

The next morning it was off to the countryside of France. Which was the longest bus ride we would be taking. It took us 7 hours to get to the place we would be staying at. Which was a very small town of 300 people, it is amazing to me that Europe is that small. I mean 300 people is less than the people we have at the prospect. But when we go to our destination it was awesome, we played around and had fun activities to do for the rest of the day. When my friends and I went on a walk to a little store, I was thirsty and wanted a drink. When we got to the store, I embarrassed myself and quickly ran out of the store and never went back. The people in the store were laughing at me, and it wasn’t that fun. I heard even before I came on this trip that people from France hated people from the United States. They were pretty mean and stuck up but hey we were only there for a week. So it didn’t matter. After the farm stay, we got to go to an actual farm and see a bunch of cows. I didn’t know why I was so obsessed with cows at the time. They were just very cute to me, and I wanted to pet them because they were cute and cuddly.

I wanted to milk one as well the old fashioned way, but they don’t do that anymore. Which makes me sad because I was looking forward to doing that and being able to say that I milked a cow would be so cool. But it was time to get on with the trip and be on our way. But the girls at the stable were nice, and I liked them because they were very pretty and I liked their accidents, and they knew what they were talking about when it came to cows and other animals. I think they wanted to be vetted when they got out of the university that they went too. But I don’t remember, to be honest, it’s whatever though it’s not as they remember me anyway. Besides I had the rest of the trip to look forward too and it was going to be awesome and fun. I couldn’t wait to get out of France

It was so bad, and there were cute boys there too which didn’t make it much better. The next day we had to say goodbye to the people that let us stay at there hotel. Next stop was Germany; I was so excited because half of my family was from Germany and they said it is a beautiful country. It was sad though because we would only be staying there for three days. I wanted to stay longer, but we couldn’t because our homestay families had other stuff to do and they had to get on with there own lives. But I think that they had just as much fun as all of the people to people kids had. The best part about the homestay was that we didn’t have to stay with our leaders, and that made me so happy because sometimes our leaders were so annoying and two of them were so dumb. It was so funny by the end of the trip we wanted to get away from them so bad. Any chance that we got away with them was so fun and not annoying.

Which made me mad because I wanted to experience more of Germany. But that was okay because I got to do my homestay there. When we got to Germany, they took us to a school, and that is where we met our homestay family. My homestay family was so nice, and they had a very cute dog. The first night there we went into town and did some shopping, the town I stayed in was so cute and tiny. It reminded me of home. Which was nice because I didn’t miss home at all. Later that night my homestay sister and I just stayed up talking all night and eventually we went to bed. The next day I got to go to school in Germany.

It was very interesting because in Germany school is very different from my school in the United States. They learn stuff that I didn’t learn until I was a junior in high school, it made me feel weird, but that was okay because it was still cool to be in Germany. After we had got out of school, my homestay sister went to the choir because when she grows up she wants to be a singer more than anything. She is really good at singing her favorite artist was Justin Bieber. Which I admit he isn’t that bad, and he does have some talent. When we got out of the choir, we decided to go shopping, and it was fun because I got to meet some of my homestay sisters friends. After the day that I got to go to there school, my homestay family took me to a castle, and it was fun. Even though the we didn’t get to go swimming at the lake that was nearby it was still very fun to do. Also, the tour of the castle was all in German, and I couldn’t understand a word of what the tour guide was saying. It was still very fun, and the reason we couldn’t go swimming in the lake was because my homestay sister was afraid of the water. But that was okay with me I didn’t want to force her to do anything that she didn’t want to do. So after the tour we were able to get some ice cream, and it was so good. I

t didn’t take us long at all to get to the castle and after that we walked around and saw some of the forests that were around the castle. Which was very pretty but it was hot that day, and we were all getting tired, so we decided to go home and get ready for dinner. During dinner, i decided to call my family and see how they were doing. My dad can speak German, and I told my homestay family about it and they had a conversation in German. But I still couldn’t understand what they were saying. My homestay family just told me that he just said where my Oma and Opa lived, which was a boring conversation. But it was still cool because I got to hear a conversation in German and I had always wanted to learn German. But my dad never taught it to any of my siblings who always bothered me but oh well. While I was in Germany, the world cup was going on, and we got to watch the game. That was the night that Germany won the world cup. It was awesome to see and the streets flooded with people and there was beer being handed out for free. It was one of the best nights so far in Europe, and I got to spend it with my homestay family that made it even better than I expected. They were very nice and fun to be around. Which made the trip even better, on the last day of the homestay it was very sad to say goodbye. I cried because of it, and so did my homestay family. They were so nice to me, and I enjoyed every single bit of my time in Germany. Which was nice, I even got into contact with my cousin who lives in Germany. I have never met her, but I plan on meeting her shortly. Which will be fun, after I was done crying we all got on the bus and went on our way. The bus ride was only about four hours, and it wasn’t bad at all. The only thing was that we made a lot of stops because the bus driver that we had liked to take breaks and it made me mad because all I wanted to do was get to the next destination and have fun. Oh and also not to be one the bus any longer, which smelled so bad.

The next stop was Switzerland, and I was so excited because I have always heard it was beautiful. What people said about it was true, but we only got to stay there for one day that made me sad, when we went to sleep at the hotel it was the comfiest bed in the entire world. Also when we were there, we found a cat and pet it for a while. It reminded me of my cats at home, and I was starting to miss them every day. When we got to Switzerland, all we did was make cheese and go on a boat, which was cool and everything but I would have liked to do more. We also did get to go shopping, and that was fun and new. But it was very expensive, and I didn’t want to spend a lot of money there. I was saving my money for Italy and Austria. After we had left Switzerland, the next stop was to Austria, and it was a very cool place. We had a scavenger hunt, and it was very fun! We got into groups of four or five, and we went all around the capital of Austria. After we had been done with the scavenger hunt, all of us went to get some food, and it was so good. At the end of the day, we went to our hotel room, and we stayed where a movie was filmed which I thought was very cool. The next day we went high up into the Austrian Alps and met a very nice old lady. There went on a nature walk and it was hard because there were so many hills I wanted to take a break a lot. But after we were done with the walk we went to an old barn and ate some very good apple strudel and had a very famous Austrian dish with bacon and cheese it was so good I couldn’t stop eating it. After that, we all went back to the hotel to get some rest the next day would be a very depressing day.

The next day we got on the bus and went to a concentration camp. It was very sad, and when we got there, we could feel a very eerie presence almost like the people that were murdered by the Nazis were still there. It was very cold and sad I didn’t want to be there because no one likes to go to a concentration camp and be all sad. The tour guide who spoke English told us that this concentration camp killed 300,000 Jews, disabled people, and much more in three years. But what happened in the main concentration came in Poland was even worse than the one in Austria.

When I heard that I actually felt sick and then they had a museum full of stuff that the Nazis used on all of the people. They even found shoes that belonged to little girls and boys. There were thousands of shoes and even hair that they took from the people in the camp. At the camp that we went to they had memorials for all of the people that died in the camps. When we were in the camp, we all took a moment of silence to honor the ones who died in the camp. I thought it was very moving, and it made me happy that we took that moment of silence for all of those people. Id in the days was even worse. They killed 300,000 people in three days instead of three years. Which was so shocking and so evil I couldn’t believe anyone would be capable of doing such a horrible thing to innocent people. When we got on the bus, our delegation leader had us take a moment of silence for all of the families who lost their lives at the camp. Which I thought was a good thing to do because no one should have had to go through that and die. Millions of families lost generations on their own families just because of the concentration camps all around Europe. Which wasn’t right for them to do. It really boggles my mind that people actually did that to other human beings.

After the tour was done, we all got on the bus to go to lunch. None of us were really hungry, but we still went to the place. We all got food and were able to talk to a concentration camp survivor who was really cool. He told us his story, and it was very moving, the things that he had to do was unbelievable. After he had told us the story of his time in the concentration camp, it was time to go back to the hotel and back up and get ready to leave for Italy! The next day was-were all packed and ready to go to our last destination.

Which I was so pumped for, but there was just one problem. I left my phone at the hotel, and I forgot about it, I was so mad, but the hotel found it and sent it back to the united states. I was mad because I had some awesome pictures of me and all of the other people on the trip. But it was done, and there was nothing I could do about it. So on the way to Italy it didn’t take us very long to get there. It was only about four hours that was nice, and we didn’t make a lot of stops. When we finally got to Italy it was so hot, and we were all so tired, all we wanted to do was sleep. But we couldn’t because they already had the day planned out for us. So we had to go along with what was on the schedule. Even if we didn’t want too. Our first stop was in Venice that was very cool, and we got to go on a gondola that was cool as well. But the river smelled very bad, and it looked really gross. But that was okay because we just were in a boat. Oh and the person taking us on a tour didn’t even sing all of the movies based in Italy were all wrong! Which was okay because one kid on the gondola could sing and it was really funny. After we had got off of the boat, we went to lunch by this time we were all so hungry and just wanted to get some very good pasta. So we got very good pasta. But when we were eating lunch it started to pour rain, and we ran back to the train station and got on the bus and went back to the hotel. After that day in Venice, we were off to Pisa! Where the statue of David is located, that statue is the biggest statue that I have ever seen, and it is so tall. I feel like an ant next to it, but it was still very cool to see.

We also went to the Murano glass factory where we got a tour of how they made all of the glass pieces that they have there. It was a really cool experience and what made it better was that we got to shop around afterward and by some stuff. That is where I got the necklaces that I got for my older, and younger sister and I also got one for my mom too. I knew that they would like it, and I was very happy with my purchase. I also got a necklace for my ex-friend because I wanted to get her something nice, but I really want that necklace back now.

After the statue of David, we went to the leaning tower of Pisa, and it really wasn’t that interesting. It was cool, but it didn’t peak my interest. After Pisa, the next destination was Rome. Which was one of my favorite parts of Italy, mostly because of the Colosseum and the Vatican? When we got to Rome, we toured the Colosseum, and it was very big and old. So after that we went to the Vatican and toured that place as well. We even went into the Sistine Chapel, and that was very cool as well. But I didn’t get to take any pictures that kind of made me upset but it was a holy place, and it would have been disrespectful to take pictures of the chapel when we were allowed too. It was a lot shorter then I had expected. But after we got done with the chapel we got to take a little tour of the Vatican, and it was very small and cute. After all was said and done it was time to head back to the hotel and get ready to leave for Europe. It was sad because I liked Europe so much and I didn’t want to leave. But I was excited to go home because I did miss my family a lot. Everyone missed their family and couldn’t wait to get home and see everyone. The next day we all headed off to the airport and said our goodbyes. We waited for a long time because our flight got delayed and it was not fun to be in an airport. But after the delay we were on our way home to the United States.