By Quinn Kropschot
Staff Writer
Week long breaks at Mira Costa have given students the opportunity to travel abroad. This year a group of students traveled to Eastern Europe during February Break.The trip took place over 11 days, and students visited five different locations throughout Europe. The travelers experienced the culture of Germany, the Czech Republic, Poland and Austria. Many sightseeing and authentic cultural excursions were planned to keep students entertained.
“We got to go to a school in Berlin and see how see how the German educational system differs from ours,” sophomore participant Madi Taylor said.
Costa placed a cultural emphasis on the trip and students were encouraged to eat local cuisine. Most nights, the people on the trip would eat in restaurants that featured the food of the region that the travelers were staying. Students also got the chance to go to a famous brewery called Hofbräuhaus.
“The food we had definitely gave us a look into Eastern European culture,” sophomore Bram Osterhaut said. “I thought that it was interesting that Polish and Czech food is just different ways of preparing potatoes.”
The trip also included visits to three concentration camps. The first camp that the tourists visited was Auschwitz, in Poland. Next, they visited Theresienstadt and Mauthausen.
“Visiting Auschwitz-Birkenau and other concentration camps gave me a renewed appreciation for all the privileges that I have in my life,” trip supervisor Nicole Wachell said. “It was a uniquely moving, powerful experience that I’ll never forget.”
In Eastern Europe, English is commonly spoken, so there was not a huge language barrier. Two of the students on the trip were able to speak some German, and because of that, students were able to read signs while in Germany and in Austria.
“At restaurants it was a little inconvenient because it was hard to communicate with the non English speaking locals,” Taylor said. “However most of the time we were able to find an English speaker to help us.”
Students spent hours walking around the cities and because of this they were able to get a grasp on the nature of the communities. They were given the opportunity to experience the culture and see how locals live their lives. Highlights of the trip included seeing the town where Mozart grew up, visiting the Berlin Wall, touring a salt mine in Salzburg, and visiting a castle in Prague.
“One of the entertainment highlights for me was a tour of the Hallein salt mine in Salzburg, Austria, where we got to literally slide down into the depths of the mine and ride on a boat through a salty river,” Wachell said.
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