Best education of all
Travel opens window to the world
For most students, increased independence is a big part of their high school years. But how many students can say they travelled to a completely different continent alongside their classmates?
For Grade 12 student, Michael MacDonald, this is the reality. He not only took part in the Grade 12 European Tour this year, but he also took a small road trip to Mabou with his Celtic Music 12 class.
“I enjoyed Mabou so much because it was a huge cultural experience in my own province. Being able to travel up on a bus full of students also had it perks. Having all of us excited and wanting to get to know each other made making friends a breeze,” MacDonald explained. “I was thrilled to really take part in all of the night’s festivities and not miss a minute. I would really love to see more events like such here in Sydney!”
MacDonald was so excited for this overnight trip. He admitted never being to a square dance before, so when presented with the opportunity, he was stoked.
“The highlight of Mabou was definitely how the locals had responded to us. They were very enthusiastic and eager to dance with all of us, even if MacDonald the majority of us had no idea what we were doing. They were extremely kind and heartwarming. I still miss them,” MacDonald said.
With a fun travel experience like MacDonald’s overnight to Mabou, what more could he want in his grad year? MacDonald missed the opportunity to join the European travel group when in Grade 9, so when registration for the Grade 12 European trip arose in Grade 10, he didn’t hesitate.
“After missing out in grade 9, I was confident that come graduation year I would make it to Europe. Thankfully my parents were equally as confident. Needless to say, I always wanted to travel outside of Canada and see the world. Europe was my perfect option to do so, hence my eagerness to go,” MacDonald said.
“On both trips I was literally surrounded by culture at all times. Europe especially. While I was enjoying all the scenery and events, I was also learning about European life and how they go about it,” MacDonald said.
The European travel group visited Italy, France and Monaco. One of things I found interesting, being on the trip myself, was the breakfast. Italy’s breakfasts were pastries and sweets galore and you certainly can’t find coffee here like the stuff we had there.
“Europe was a nine-day trip. I didn’t miss the first four days of my trip because of the Easter Holiday but had missed the last four days of the school week,” MacDonald explained, “Catching up (at school) wasn’t too difficult because most of my teachers understood a large sum of us would be away and tried their best not to do a lot of tough stuff within the duration of our trip.”
MacDonald took back millions
of memories from both of his trips that he can hold on to and cherish for years to come.
“My best memory (from Europe) is the whole group sitting together on the balcony of our hotel and bonding. Since the whole group was grads, there were plenty of stories to talk about and the conversation didn’t die until our curfew was up,” MacDonald remembered.
MacDonald was very pleased to have made an abundance of friends on both of his school travel experiences.
“I’ve made a million and one friends over high school and about half of them were made on these trips. If you’re ever wondering how to make teenagers engage and make friends, the best thing you can do is set them off in a foreign country together. And if that’s too high scale for your liking you can also just send them a couple of hours away, still just as fun,” MacDonald exclaimed.
When asked if he would recommend the European tour to others, well, MacDonald said he’s already at his cousin to get on it.
“If anyone was to ask for my advice, I would 100 per cent tell them to go for it,” MacDonald said, “The trip was such an amazing opportunity that I think everyone deserves the chance to live it!”