I Survived Black Friday....

Did you?  I have never been in WalMart at 3:30 in the morning, but I was this year.  It was so much fun!  I didn’t go crazy or stand in line for hours to get that perfect deal, but I did spend some quality time with the best friend a girl could ask for and I am almost done Christmas shopping. 

You’re probably wondering what that has to do with our trip to Europe?  Absolutely nothing…but, while I was shopping at 3:30 in the morning, it dawned on me that I should probably find out where I am going when I board a plane with 9 students.  So, on this Monday after Thanksgiving, I looked it up. 

Here’s the plan…it might change slightly.  We will be leaving Minneapolis, MN, and flying to Munich, Germany, where we will spend three days exploring all Munich has to offer, including Neuschwanstein Castle and Dachau.  Then we travel to Venice, Italy, where we spend two days exploring a one of a kind city.  From Venice, we travel to Lucerne, Switzerland, where we spend two more days.  While in Lucerne, we will travel via a Gondola to Mount Pilatus.  Next, we travel through the Black Forrest to Heidelberg, Germany, and then it’s off to Strasbourg.  From Strasbourg we head to…wait for it…Paris!  We will spend three day in Paris and we hope to visit Versailles and Notre Dame. 

So that’s it…that’s our trip.  I’m even more excited now that I laid it all out.

Just in case I don’t find time to write again…Merry Christmas and Happy New Year.  Don’t laugh…I know it’s not even December yet, but if it goes by as fast as November, it’ll be February before I write again. 

Thanksgiving...Already?!

I can’t believe it is three days to Thanksgiving.  I’m not even going to think about what that means in terms of days left to Christmas shop…which I have just started doing.  I remember when this month started, you know…November 1?  Remember that day.  Yeah, me neither.  I’m pretty sure I thought I had a week left in October when that day hit.  I cannot figure out where the time is going!  When I want it to slow down, it seems to speed up.  Maybe I should try reverse psychology….no, that won’t work either.  Okay then, I’ll keep moving forward.

Tonight is a big meeting with our travelers and their parents.  We have to discuss important issues, like travel advisories, passports and whether or not to go to Paris.  I know what you’re thinking…YES or NO to Paris?  Why should that even be an issue, well it appears that our school is very nice to us.  We are not as restricted about how many days we can be gone.  Other schools only have their spring break to travel and so no one else is signing up for the extension trip to Paris!  I know…it’s absurd! 

The Global Café and Ice Cream sales are still going strong.  We’ve also received donations from various organizations in our area to help us out while traveling.  The Prentice VFW, the AMVETS and Knights of Columbus of Phillips and two high school groups, the National Honor Society and the Power of Positive Students , have chipped in generous donations to help cover the cost of lunches.  The Prentice Lions Club has kindly donated money to offset our trip to Neuschwanstein Castle and late today, an amazing donation came in from ACE, (Adults Concerned with Education) a local Prentice group, who has donated enough money to cover the entire cost of visiting Mount Pilatus!   We appreciate this support and are humbled by their generosity.  So anyway, that’s what’s happening in the Global Connections World here at PHS. 

…and now you know part of our itinerary.  It’s not quite set in stone yet, but I’m pretty sure it’s what we will be doing.  My plan is to keep you updated at least once a month, especially if the months go by as fast as November did, so have a very Happy Thanksgiving and I hope everyone gets their Christmas shopping done on time.  Don’t forget to check back next month!