by Andreas Sawoniak ’27, Finn Miller ’28, Paula Martin Vicente ’29, and Trinity Nardelli ’28
My dad wanted to recreate the moments he had with his dad during the 2006 World Cup in Germany, so we travelled across 5 states and 2 provinces and watched a total of 8 World Cup matches. I also travelled solo to Italy for 10 days and visited 5 new cities that felt like a whole new world. This summer felt like a dream. – Andreas Sawoniak ‘27
It was a warm day, but the Pacific Ocean breeze felt cool and comfortable. My family was staying in the Galapagos for a week, and I couldn’t imagine a better place to be. As I walked the dirt road down the main street of the island, I saw iguanas hiding in and among rocks and even a couple attempting to cross the road. This untouched piece of Island paradise had never felt the full impact of humanity, and life thrived everywhere. I walked through the gate of my family’s hostel and grabbed one of the boogie boards resting against the wall. My brother, who was reading in the shade of a palm tree, asked to come with me to the beach, and we walked across the road and up the sandy embankment. We ran into the surf and paddled out to the huge waves crashing out on the sandbar. The ocean was perfect for body surfing, but a boogie board took it to the next level. As a wave towered over my head, I threw the board out in front of me and surfed the wave all the way to the shore. I looked back out to the ocean, and as the barrel of a wave lifted up, it became a pane of glass. My brother had started paddling away from the wave, and as soon as it crashed over his head, I saw a huge shark swimming right in the wave! Luckily, every shark we had seen had been super harmless, but this one was so close I instantly got worried. My brother finally popped up from the choppy water, completely unaware of any danger, and I ran over to him. I told him we needed to get out of the water as soon as possible, and we ran all the way back to the road. Narrowly escaping with our lives, I realized that we were no longer in an area where humans controlled the environment. Here, wildlife roams free and untamed. – Finn Miller ‘28
We wait all year for summer, and when it actually arrives, we sit around with our phones. This summer I decided I was not going to waste even a second of it- and it was the best summer ever. Even though every week was amazing, the first one was unbeatable. On the 13th of June, my friends and I took off towards Paris, not knowing it would be one of the best trips of our lives. We stayed for 5 days, 2 of them at Disneyland. What made our time in Paris so special wasn’t the activities, the food, or Paris itself; it was the people and the teachers. Teachers made it special without intending it, because all they did was tell us off and yell at us. We spent the whole trip with bullseyes on our backs, but it was funny to see how intense things got. Every day we had one big event that made the organiser, Mr. Papp, explode. It was his first time planning and leading a school trip, which was not a great idea on the school’s part. He took us to a hotel, barely a hotel, that was meant for partying, drinking and staying only for one night- which led to many problems. You can imagine the state of the rooms- they were horrible. Despite being constantly threatened with going back home, we had an incredible time. I love it when not everyone goes on the school trips, because everyone gets closer so quickly, and it’s also with the people you least expect. Paris will forever be a fond memory for me. – Paula Martin ‘29
I went to Orlando, Florida, this summer with my entire family. I went with my two brothers, my mom, and my dad. One of my brothers is Nathan, and he is 20; my other brother is Aidan, and he is 22. We were in Florida for a couple of days and already did three Universal Parks and Disney; now we were headed to the more beachy part of Florida. As we left our first resort, I made my dad stop at 7Brew because I don’t have one of those in my area, and I’ve always wanted to try it. I had to order for Nathan too because he was too scared, but nonetheless, 7Brew was very good. After a couple of hours of driving, we got to our Airbnb that our parents surprised us with. It was a cute house that was on the ocean, and it had a small pool and a hot tub in the back. I realized, though, that I needed the perfect room and I wanted to choose first. So, I dropped my bags at the front door and ran up the stairs. I started checking the rooms; the first two I looked inside were kind of boring. The next one I saw was painted all black, and it had two beds, L.E.D. lights, a TV, red accents, posters, and a guitar. It was a really cool room, and I was almost certain I wanted that one, but just in case, I looked at the room to the left of it. It was a basic room with pink bedding, a vanity, and good window light. I did like this room a lot, but then my brother, Nathan, came running up the stairs and was saying how he wanted the dark room, so of course I needed to make sure I got it so he couldn’t. We started arguing about it and going back and forth, but eventually I said I picked it first, so I got the dark room, and he got the room with the vanity. But a few minutes later, I decided I liked his room better, and I tried to reason with him to get it. I was saying how I’d give him 30 bucks (I wasn’t actually going to), but he kept saying no because he liked the mattress. I eventually decided I didn’t even want the dark room because it was too depressing, so I went downstairs to see if there was a room down there. There was. I walked into the room, and it had two beds and a cow-pattern rug. I walked in a little further, and it had its own bathroom. That was the deal breaker for me; automatically, I needed that room just because of the bathroom. I ended up being very content with my decision even after the rollercoaster of fun arguments that came with it. – Trinity Nardelli ‘28
