An Experience In Their Own Words: Lisa Scholl

My 2009 WCS Europe Trip Experience
By Lisa Scholl

When our airplane first took off and headed for Paris, France, I wondered what my European adventure would be like. I had never left America before and had no idea of what to expect. As I looked out the window, I could not imagine people living in a completely different culture other than my own. What I now realize was fear, suddenly gripped my mind. I did not speak any languages other than English, and I worried what people would think of me and how I would manage if for some reason, I got lost. I shuddered at the thought of them thinking I was an “ugly American” and promised myself that I would not conform to that stereotype. Eventually, I came to my senses and told myself not to worry. I then turned on my iPod and decided that it was time to rest. The next time I opened my eyes, I was in a foreign country where everything I had once known to be normal was thousands of miles away.

Over the course of nineteen days, our small group of thirty three students, parents, and teachers went to five different European countries: Italy, Switzerland, France, England, and the Vatican. I loved going to the Uffizi Gallery in Florence, Italy and seeing with my very own eyes La Primavera and The Birth of Venus by the Renaissance painter Sandro Botticelli. Another highlight of the trip was visiting the Palace of Versailles, the home of King Louis XIV. Although I cherished all the places we visited and everything we saw, these two really opened my eyes. It was this at point in my life that I finally understood how important and relevant history is in our lives. Part of the reason I enjoyed Botticelli’s masterpieces and Versailles so much was that I had learned about both of them in Mr. Key’s world history class. Knowing the history added so much more to the trip than I could have ever thought possible. There was something just mind-blowing about learning something in a classroom, and then actually seeing it in real life. It was as if history were coming alive. Taking the class beforehand enhanced my trip in more ways than I know how to express.

Going on the Europe trip was definitely something that I am going to remember for the rest of my life. I loved every minute of it, and I would not say that unless I truly, one hundred percent believed it. So often as I am going about my day, that I reflect about a particular time and cannot help but smile. I think about the beautiful hike through the Alps in Switzerland or “getting lost” in Venice, and wish so much that I could go back and do it all again. And even though it was over a year ago, I remember everything as if it were last week. My memories and experiences are so vivid and will be forever engraved in my mind.