EXPANDING HORIZIONS Senior Harper Gerardi travels to Austria for semester abroad OVIYA SRIHARI staff writer
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iking, biking and skiing. Beautiful sightseeing. The last school bell of the day ringing at 1:30 p.m., releasing students to rolling, green landscapes framed by the snow-capped Alps. This was a semester in the life of senior Harper Gerardi, who spent the first half of her senior year studying in Austria. Gerardi studied abroad during the fall semester through Greenheart International Exchange, a company based in Chicago that plans study abroad trips for students worldwide. The inspiration for her trip came from her aunt. “[Harper] ... said to me, ‘I’m ready for something different. I don’t want to do another same old, same old high school experience,’” Harper’s mother, Debbie Gerardi, said. “So we texted her aunt, who’s done a lot of traveling … She said, ‘Well, maybe Harper could explore doing a study abroad program.’” Through Greenheart, Gerardi traveled to Vienna, Salzburg and Krotz, stayed with a host family in the rural region of Styria and also took a short trip to Dublin, Ireland with other members of her exchange program. Though she was initially apprehensive about missing part of her senior year, Harper decided senior year was the perfect opportunity to travel abroad and add to her high school experience. “I think that traveling during senior year was good because I’m older, and I feel like I’ve had a lot
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Senior Harper Gerardi stands in front of a mountain in Austria. Gerardi spent three months attending school in the country. “My favorite part was getting to see how different things are and how people live totally different lives than we do here,” Gerardi said. (Photos courtesy of Harper Gerardi)
more time to mature,” Harper said. “I was really doing things all on my own. I had to ride the transportation on my own [and] figure things out as well.” Being away for the first semester of her senior year meant Harper would miss events such as her last homecoming dance, football season and first day of school. Lizzy Feinberg, one of Harper’s close friends since middle school, missed her friend for half of their last year of high school together. “At first I was thinking that [studying abroad] was sort of crazy — and she was going to be missing college applications,” Feinberg said. “But then when she told me all of her plans and how she already had a lot of it figured out, I was like, ‘Good for you.’” During her time away, Harper experienced a whirlwind of different emotions. She first was in a sense of disbelief that she followed through with her plans to travel abroad. “In three words, the trip would be independent, challenging and exciting,” Harper said. “Challenging … at times with the language barrier and just not really knowing what to expect — it was hard — then excit-
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ing because I was in a new country.” Aside from being an interesting experience, Harper’s time in Austria expanded her way of thinking. Feinberg noticed Harper’s broadened outlook of life gained from her time away in Austria. “I think that it was cool for her to experience something on her own and take a step back from St. Louis and our whole friend group here,” Feinberg said. “She gets to come back and have a new perspective, and I think that it’s pretty cool … she now has a totally different way of seeing things.” However, what Harper believes she will always keep from her time spent abroad — other than her newly-developed German skills – are the memories she’s made and the experiences she’s gained. Through travel, Harper made new friends, too. “My best memory was [when] I got to go to Dublin with a bunch of other exchange students from all over the world,” Harper said. “I met people from New Zealand and Mexico and such. Everything was so green and beautiful. It was … an amazing experience, totally different than life in St. Louis. I’m really glad I got another view.”
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