Over the summer, German and French Language classes in conjunction with teachers Herr Nathaniel Schoppert and Madame Jessica Antonakos took a trip around the world.
On June 16, students between grades 9-12 took a trip to Europe. Most students, however, were juniors and seniors. The trip ran for ten days, between June 16-26 with trips taken to multiple well-known locations throughout Europe.
From the beginning of the trip, the students and staff left from Dulles, Washington D.C. and after a rather long and miserable 12-hour flight which should have been 9, according to student Ethan Dean. From Germany, students flew out to Paris, France. Mrs. Deanna Smith, teacher chaperone, remembered France fondly. “From the cafes to the ambiance in Paris, [it] was all such a moment. Just arriving in Paris was a memory in itself.” The trip in Paris was 3 days, and during this time, the crew went to the Louvre Museum, which houses the famous painting of Mona Lisa.
Senior Kate Duvall says she and her friend went on the trip and came out stronger than going in. “She is still my best friend, but I feel like the moments we created were special. She would play The Man Who Can’t Be Moved as we went on a boat trip and looked at the peaks on the mountains. I’ll never forget [it].”
After a fun trip in Paris, students set out to Lucerne, a city in Switzerland, after a lengthy adventure into the mountains of Pilatus. Near Pilatus is a small town in Germany called Basel. This fun yet short trip lasted 24 hours and they were set out on another adventure. From Switzerland the group began heading towards Munich Germany. In Munich, Herr Schoppert and Madame Antonakos directed the group towards a clock tower, to which they made their way up and seeing the skyline. A special place in Munich, Germany, where a famous movie was filmed, Willy Wonka, students and staff toured the old film location and behind the scenes reviving old memories. The trip ended with a humbling experience at the Dachau Concentration Camp in Salzburg, Austria.
Dean recalls: “At the beginning of the trip, no one knew each other. Towards the end it’s like we were family.”