This previous summer Mr. and Mrs.Couling took a group of students on a 12-day tour around Europe. They went to Barcelona- Spain, Nice – France, and Italy: Pisa, Rome, Florence, and Capri. They traveled by coach, ferry, subway, and train, Mr.Couling mentions, “There are multiple benefits for traveling abroad.  In our country, history is very short in comparison to the rest of the world’s history.  We see things that are over thousands of years old… from the Roman empire.  We experience the culture and meet the people. This helps make the world a little smaller. The students  have a better understanding of the other countries culture and our own.” The Coulings started traveling abroad when they were in college and found great value in the trips and wanted to share that value with their future students. Some students even changed their careers after taking the trip. They have done this trip seven different times with the students and plan to continue doing so.

Senior Sam Kessman went on the trip and reminisces, “My favorite spot was Capri and the beach in Sorrento.” Kessman mentions, “My favorite memory was looking over the French countryside on the bus,” Kessman loved the trip and would absolutely go again.

Junior Gwen Bulko also went on the trip and reported, “I think my favorite tourist spot was the aqueduct we went to in France. It was really nice weather, not too hot, not too cool, and the scenery was beautiful. Walking along the bridge next to the aqueduct was awesome. It was very cool to be able to look down and around the river. We also got to walk around and sort of hike. My sister and I went on a nice walk through some woods and rocks and it was nice to just be able to enjoy the nature of a foreign country. Also, we walked down to the water and waded in it. People were cliff-diving and swimming all around. The water was so clear and very bright blue, and there were tons of pretty rocks. All in all, it was a very relaxing and beautiful place to visit.”

Gwen explains, “I think my favorite memory was when we broke off into groups one day in Italy. It was Joe Bulko, Jon Mikovits, Issac Couling, Anna Bulko, Abby McConnell, and I. We gathered together and went to eat lunch. It was a really fun experience. We all sat down inside and ate like a family, laughed, and talked. It was cool being around such fun people and being able to hang out separately from the group. We just walked around, chased some pigeons, and had a good time. It was also the only time I ate inside during lunch, which was cool. Just being around those people though on that day, and again in Monaco, was a really fun time and I loved spending time with them.”

 She also reminisces, “Another favorite memory of mine was when we went swimming in what I think was France. Samantha Kessman, Autumn Cornell, Madi Colburn, and I all hung out and swam together. The water felt so nice and it was a really fun time swimming in the Mediterranean. We spent a couple of hours swimming around and talking, just enjoying ourselves. It was very relaxing and refreshing.” Gwen was happy to have this opportunity and hopes Concord keeps doing it, she definitely recommends taking this trip and plans to do it again.

Throughout the trip, they kept a tour diary with what they did that day and group pictures.

The next trip will be the week after the 2024 Concord Classic Weekend in June/July; they will be traveling to, the Netherlands, Germany, Italy (Venice), Switzerland, France, Austria, and England. The trip will be 12-13 days long. The trip is priced by a company called Explorica, it involves everything money-wise except for lunch and souvenir money.