Travel Reflections
This page showcases reflections from the times I have traveled with St. Mark's around the world.
Chile
2017
Traveling to Chile over the summer my freshman year was not my first time going out of the country, but it was my first time going out of the country to learn about a different culture specifically. In the past when I would travel with my family or friends, I would only look at the happy things of where I was. My family would go to Cancun Mexico during the Summers, but Cancun is not the real Mexico. After going to Chile I realized that. This month-long trip really opened my eyes and my mind to global citizenship. I learned both the ups and downs of living there. It was a life-changing experience that jump-started my “ career” in global citizenship by showing me what it means to be a global citizen. Learning about the culture of a place in a book or in a video is one thing, but learning about it hands on is something totally different. I got to use my own five senses to discover new things. Ever since I came back from the trip to Chile, whenever I go someplace new or meet someone new I want to dive into their culture and learn so much about it. Understanding and accepting someone else's culture is extremely important to me because I would like someone to do the same for my culture.
Scotland
2019
I traveled to England and Scotland on a school trip for two weeks. We first arrived in England and stayed there for about 4 days. We did a lot of sightseeing and walking during our time in London. Since it was a theater trip, we had to go and tour the Globe. We learned about Shakespeare’s upbringing and how the Globe came to be. We learned about how the original Globe burned down because of a cannon being fired off during a performance all for a sound effect in the play. We saw a lot of the major landmarks in London including the London Eye, Big Ben, the House of Parliament, Westminster Abbey, Buckingham Palace, and more. My favorite part about London was going to see the guard change at Buckingham Palace. We were slightly late, but we still got to see the parade which was the best part. We also saw the show Matilda and the longest-running play of all time, the Mousetrap. After a few days in England, we got on a coach bus for a ten-hour drive to Edinburgh University in Scotland. We got to see A LOT of countryside and water. Once we got to Edinburgh University, we unpacked and went to see our first play in Scotland. While in Scotland, we saw multiple plays, did a lot of sightseeing, and ate a lot of food. We “saw” one play called Coma which took place inside a storage container on the side of the road. The show was a 30-minute simulation where each “audience member” laid down on a bed and put on headphones. It simulated what it feels like to be in a coma from what you smell to what you hear and how you can’t control where your own body goes. We also went to silent shows, comedy shows, and shows with deeper meanings. My favorite part about Scotland though was the food. Before traveling to Europe, people would tell me about how some people eat what is called an English Breakfast which consists of eggs, beans, tomatoes, mushrooms, sausage, bacon, and toast. I thought “That sounds more like lunch,” “Why would you eat sausage and bacon in one meal,” and “Beans and eggs sound weird together.”