Saratoga students' European adventure

Thirteen Saratoga High School students took the trip of a lifetime during Spring break last month and recently shared their experiences with the Saratoga Sun.

The students traveled to London, Paris, Florence and Rome in a whirlwind weeklong tour making new friends from schools in Chicago and Philadelphia and learning that the United States is very different in many ways to the countries they visited. Because the group from Saratoga only had 20 people on the tour, they were combined with other schools on the tours. So not only did the students interact with the local culture in Europe, they learned about the culture in Chicago and Philadelphia.

While the students in Saratoga could take the trip because they wanted to, the students in Chicago and Philadelphia had to earn the right to go, mainly through their foreign language classes. "They were all pretty high caliber students," Saratoga Spanish teacher Debbie Gates said.

Alicia Zaragosa, Matt Lincoln, Thomas Ingraham, Mati Love, Katie Loose, Max Schneider, Haley Soles, Kennison Spiering, Thatcher Spiering, Darian Williams, Sarah Burton, Sierra Schutte and Robin Gloss were escorted by Gates and chaperones who were parents of the students.

The students shared their thoughts verbally and in a journal about what they enjoyed about the tour, what surprised them the most and the foods they tried.

Gelato was the favorite dessert of almost all the students.

Alicia enjoyed seeing the large and famous monuments in real life. "It was amazing and unreal," she wrote in the journal. "My favorite food was definitely gelato," Alicia said.

For her, the culture shock was seeing so many people everywhere and people selling everything imaginable.

Sarah was surprised that she had to pay to use the bathrooms in Europe. She was also surprised that Wi-Fi was not free, the students had to pay for use for one hour up to one day.

Sarah said in Italy, the students were able to use Spanish to try and communicate with the locals. Sometimes they understood the students, but other times the Italians did not, Sarah said.

Her favorite place to visit was Italy because the weather was so nice. "It was so beautiful there. It was really green," Sarah wrote in her journal entry.

Her favorite food was the Lasagna in Italy, but she said her dad's is still pretty good.

She was also impressed with the monuments. "It was the best experience of my life and I would love to go back again someday," Sarah wrote.

Sierra Schutte, who has Italian roots, wrote her favorite part was when she and her mother, Michelle McWain, got to meet a cousin, Enrico, in Florence. "I had never thought I would get the chance to meet any of my family over in Italy, so I am glad I got the opportunity," Sierra wrote. Her grandmother, Elvira Cerise, wanted her to be able to go and helped make is happen for Sierra. Cerise had also taught Sierra some Italian, and Sierra used it in Italy, but spoke English most of the time.

"My favorite food was escargot. I never thought I would eat snails, but I decided to try them in France," Sierra wrote.

What impressed her the most were the sculptures and the buildings that were constructed so many years ago. Sierra said she was amazed by the talent.

The cultural moments that stood out to her were paying to use the restrooms and wireless internet. "We are used to having bathrooms everywhere (in the United States), but (in Europe) they are only in certain spots."

She was also surprised to see gypsies, street peddlers and beggars.

Thomas Ingraham was surprised to find there was only one cell service provider in Europe. "That was kind of weird, because we have like Verizon, Union and Sprint and they only have one," Thomas said.

Thomas said he knew this before going to Europe, but seeing how much the Europeans liked American music was surreal.

Thomas said he loved the Gelato, and proved it because he spent about $50 trying all the different flavors.

Thomas enjoyed seeing all the different cultures in Europe and learning how he takes for granted what is free in the United States. He was surprised at how the narrow the streets were, especially with so many cars.

"I tried to speak French," Thomas said. "But that didn't go very well." He was able to use his Spanish in Italy.

Mati said her favorite part of the trip was London, because she could understand what they were saying.

She agreed with her school mates that they had to pay for things they take for granted in the United States. "It was so crazy how we had to pay to use the bathroom and for Wi-Fi, but it was the greatest experience ever," Mati wrote in her journal.

Mati said she was amazed at the motorcycles that went up the lane around cars and would swerve everywhere.

Darian was surprised at how overly priced the bottled water was in a restaurant in Europe. Darian enjoyed playing pranks on Katie. He pretended to be French and would tell her to get out of the way. She fell for the prank twice.

Darian's favorite place was Rome because he wanted to see the Coliseum. His favorite food was the spaghetti and meat sauce he had at a restaurant in Rome.

Thatcher found that "we take a lot for granted (in the United States), like the public bathrooms." He was surprised at how "unfree" everything was in Europe. His favorite place was Florence because of the weather and the people were the nicest of all the places they visited.

Thatcher's favorite food was the pizza.

Haley found the coffee to be very different and that most of the coffee was served black, rather than having the different flavors like Starbucks.

Haley's favorite place to visit was Florence. "The weather was outstanding," she wrote. "The landscape and mountains made me feel at home."

Her favorite food? Everything, except the salads, she didn't like the dressing.

"Paying for the bathroom was crazy! It shows how we take things for granted," Haley said in her journal entry.

Matt was impressed by the architecture in Europe. He enjoyed wandering around the cities and seeing how the buildings were built using basic tools. "Being a fan of the Assassin's Creed video games franchise, which is mainly based in Italy, I had looking forward to seeing all of the landmarks that were in the games," Matt wrote in his journal entry.

Matt's favorite food was the pasta. For him the culture shock was realizing how young the United States and how much more history there is in Europe when seeing the old churches and palaces.

Katie said she was amazed at all the "smart cars" she saw in Europe. The students laughed when they shared the only truck they saw in Europe was a banged up old Chevy. Katie found it easier to read things rather than speak to people because she could pick out words that she knew. She was amazed there was such a huge language barrier and she would use actions to explain what she wanted to a vendor.

She found reading the maps challenging because there were so many streets.

Robin noticed that people in Europe dressed more professionally, wearing business suits, rather than dressing casually like most Americans do.

Robin said she knows a little French, but still found it difficult to communicate. "I would say something, but wouldn't understand what they said back."

Kennison was surprised by the tenacity of the vendors – how they would pull her aside and try to give her deals to get her to buy their wares.

Some of the students used their bargaining skills to see if they could negotiate with the vendors.

Kennison said that the bathrooms they had to pay for were really small. "They were tiny and normally the sinks weren't with the toilets."

Kennison's favorite city was Florence – "The sun is always out and the breeze was always warm!" Kennison wrote.

She loved all the food, but was especially fond of the tortellini in Florence.

Max's favorite food was the gelato. "I spent so much money on gelato," Max wrote.

The students said sometimes the bathrooms would be wiped down before and after they used them. Things like buttons on the wall or the floor to flush the toilet were also some of the little things they found that were different.

Thomas pointed out how efficient the use of space was in Europe, because the buildings were so small.

Katie said that because there are so many ethnic restaurants in America, she found the food was the same, but that is tasted better because in Europe is was more authentic.

The students all agreed they would go back again.

Gates said she normally doesn't normally plan that many cities in such a short amount of time, but that it was good for the students to see the cities that were more modern compared to the older cities.