BY SARAH CARPENTER (‘20)

Granville High school is expanding its cultural opportunities for students with two international trips in 2020.

During the summer of 2020, Latin teacher Derick Fisher and Counselor Brandi Cooper will be leading a trip to Italy. The trip will span 12 days and will cover several different locations.

According to the tour itinerary, some of the locations they will be visiting are Rome, Assisi, Sorrento, Syracuse and Agrigento, where they will see the Colosseum, the Roman Forum, the ruins of Pompeii and much more. The students will also be participating in several different activities that are aimed at giving them the full Italian cultural experience.

The tour itinerary states that the students will, “participate in an Italian cooking class, have free time at the beach in Sperlonga, enjoy a boat cruise, ride in the Mt. Etna cable car and enjoy a night ferry to Sicily.”

During spring break of 2020, more students will be heading to Japan for nine days, with the trip being led by English and social studies teacher Dana Decker.

“I wanted to go to a place where we could experience a culture where people maybe don’t eat like us, they don’t worship like us and their family structure may be a little different from ours,” Decker said. “A lot of what our world history is centered on the west and I think there are a lot of big holes in what we experience, which is why Japan is so interesting to me.”

Approximately 35 students will be going on the trip, which is 14 students over the original limit of 21 students.

“I think it will be more fun with more people,” junior Grace Portzline said. “It’ll be more people that get to experience the trip of a lifetime together.”

The trip will take students to four major areas in Japan, Tokyo, Kyoto, Kamakura and Hakone. In these places, they will be able to see the iconic statue Great Buddha, Mt. Fuji, traditional Japanese shrines, and much more.

“I am most excited to travel on a bullet train,” Portzline stated. “They don’t have anything like that here so it’ll just be a cool experience.”

Even though the trip is a little less than a year away, several students have already begun to count down the days until it begins.

“I’m really excited to experience a culture that is different than ours,” junior Lauren Kiernan said. “I really want to branch out and try new foods, maybe I’ll even try octopus or something.”