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A gallery of student’s vacation experiences from summer

Written by Addie Aadland and Blen Belachew, Designed by Alex Cowdrey

Olivia Mastenbrook Traveled To Costa Rica

Most people take a road trip or visit a family nearby over the summer, but some fly 5 hours across the world to help people in need. Senior Olivia Mastenbrook traveled to Costa Rica this summer with her local youth ministry to volunteer and provide assistance to those in need. Mastenbrook traveled for a week with her team, Resurrection, to construct a new worship space for a Costa Rican Methodist group.

“We were there to be a church. We were there to serve, pray and have experiences with others,” Mastenbrook said. The group previously worshiped in a shed without electricity and a single bathroom.

Mastenbrook said the most challenging part of her trip was the language barrier between English and Spanish, however, she said it was exciting to see the cultural difference and be a part of a team. Despite the challenges, Mastenbrook said her ministry team plans to go back to Costa Rica next year to worship in the new space they had built.

Ishika Katukam Traveled To India

Due to distance, many people have to travel out of the country to see their family. Junior Ishika Katukam traveled to India this summer to visit her family whom she had not seen in over a year. During her stay, she said the most exciting part was celebrating a big cultural wedding with her family. Katukam said that Indian weddings are culturally different from American weddings because of the number of people there and other cultural events aside from the wedding. Katukam said she participated in Haldi and Mehndi, two traditional Indian wedding ceremonies, and wore bright-colored traditional clothing.

Katukam said the wedding was special to her because it brought together family and friends that she doesn’t see often. “Communicating on the phone isn’t the same as spending time with my family in person every day. This trip emotionally impacted me because it made me realize we don’t get to see our family often,” Katukam said. Additionally, Katukam said she visited her family in different parts of the country, ate various types of cultural meals and visited temples too. She said she plans to go see her family in three years and visit tourist attractions the next time she goes.

Mayah Newman Traveled To Europe

Most families plan out vacations months in advance but for the Newman family they like planning vacations in the spur of the moment. Junior Mayah Newman and her family traveled around Europe for ten days. Their destinations consisted of Paris, London and Greece.

“There’s nothing like the feeling of stepping off the airplane after a long flight, being in a new country and realizing you are about to embark on the best trip of your life,” Newman said.

While in Europe Newman said her favorite part of the trip was experiencing and trying all the different types of foods, however, the hardest part was getting used to the time zone and how different the culture there is.

“Everybody acts differently and it is a lot harder to socialize because everyone has different standards of what is weird,” Newman said.

In Europe part of the culture is appearance and how you are portrayed. In Europe you tend to dress nicer than you would in the United States. When visiting Europe the way you dress is very important because it can lead to better service and serve as protection against being earmarked as an “out-of-towner” by pick-pocketers. “If you wear sweatpants or leggings in Europe you are going to be seen as lazy or something so you have to dress up and look cute,” Newman said.

Lastly, Newman said it is definitely going to be a lot harder to travel anywhere else cause it just won’t live up to how this trip was and that she plans to visit Europe again, just different parts.