Following the Equator | EF's Educational Travel Blog

EF Group Leader Spotlight: Gail Ingram

High school history teacher Gail Ingram has made a career out of bringing the world to her small South Carolina town of Cheraw—and, more importantly, of showing her students the world on her educational tours.

Gail is a longtime EF Group Leader, a frequent mentor to new group leaders and a regular presenter on EF's Free International Training Tours. Gail also has won two national teaching award from National History Day, including the Patricia Behring Teacher of the Year Award this year.

Now, we are honored to have Gail join us here as a regular contributor to Following the Equator. Gail—pictured above with her daughter, Ruth, on tour this summer in Scotland—has a lot of wonderful stories and valuable advice to share, plus she's got a terrific sense of humor. So, in recognition of her joining our blog team, we'd like to introduce her in the Group Leader Spotlight.

Finding new favorites in Europe

By Christina Harsanyi | EF copywriter

One of the most enjoyable parts of my job has always been researching all of the interesting destinations students can travel on an EF educational tour, so when it came time to plan my own European tour, I had plenty of ideas. And finally, I had the time to do some exploring.

Six countries and three-and-a-half weeks later, I’ve returned home with a few new favorite places and a strong desire to pack my life’s possessions into a backpack and live a nomadic life for the next few years.

Split, Croatia

By the time we made it to the charming coastal city of Split, Croatia (above), we had a sightseeing system in place: read about our next destination while in transit and then hit the ground running. So I was a little surprised that despite looking in a couple of guidebooks, I couldn’t find any opening hours for Diocletian’s Palace. I also couldn’t quite figure out why the lady running our guesthouse gave me a funny look when I asked her what time the palace closed. When we did venture to Diocletian’s Palace (right), I was pleasantly surprised to find that it was not a palace in the traditional sense at all.

Emperor Diocletian built the palace in preparation for his retirement in the 3rd century. After his death, the palace remained empty for a few centuries, but since then the residents of Split have created an entire community out of its remains. Although the basement is preserved as a museum, other sections have been converted into apartments, restaurants, businesses and even a church. The dichotomy of old and new was ever present between the Roman artifacts scattered around the palace and the clothing stores selling the latest European fashions. For the first time ever, I checked my email at an Internet café housed in an old palace room.

Mostar, Bosnia

One of the benefits of traveling to Croatia (besides the historical sites, gorgeous beaches, delicious seafood and friendly people) is the ease of traveling to nearby countries. And as someone who aspires one day to be part of the Travelers’ Century Club, I took advantage of the opportunity to take a day-trip to Mostar, Bosnia. The main attraction of the town is the Old Bridge (Stari Most), which was built by the Ottoman Empire in the 16th century. The bridge (right) connected the two parts of the city, divided by the Neretva River, for more than 400 years before it was destroyed during the war in 1993. Restored by UNESCO, the Old Bridge is a symbol of the coexistence of religious, cultural and ethnic communities.

A Muslim Bosnian woman (married to a Catholic man) explained the significance of the bridge as such: Prior to the war, the Old City was a melting pot of different religious and ethnic groups. After the war, groups were divided by religious lines and depending on your religion, you were often forced to move to one side of the river or the other. The destruction of the bridge symbolized the destruction of the multicultural community. She described the sadness of being prevented from visiting family members practicing different religions and the slow process of reconciliation as the area tries to rebuild after the war. Listening to her experiences was one of the most poignant history lessons I have had in a long time, and a good reminder that one of the most educational aspects of traveling is simply interacting with and learning from the local people.

Stonehenge, England

You’ll find Stonehenge on many EF tours to the United Kingdom, which convinced me that I should check it out, too. Conveniently enough, I have a friend who lives nearby so a free place to stay certainly sealed the deal. The circle of stones, which evolved between 3,000 B.C. and 1,600 B.C., is shrouded in mystery. Stonehenge could have been a place for sun worship, a burial site, a healing center or even a large calendar. Even more mysterious is how the stones, the largest of which weighs 45 tons, were transported to their current location from Wales. Archaeologists agree that it would have been very difficult to transport such large stones more than 100 miles. As a result, some theorists believe it was constructed by the Wizard Merlin or even the devil.

Budapest, Hungary

Like our resident expert tour director, Paul Mattesini, who wrote about students traveling to Central Europe, I too recommend a visit, especially to Hungary. Given, I may be a bit biased because my family is from Budapest. My visit to Hungary, the final stop on my trip, was all too short, but I did manage to canvas the city in the few days that I was there.

I will leave you with a few recommendations: Make sure to visit the neoclassical St. Stephen’s Basilica. Besides being quite pretty, the church holds the right hand of King Stephen, the first Christian king of Hungary and patron saint of the basilica. Those who like classical music may enjoy a visit to the Béla Bartók house. The museum is the final Hungarian home of the composer and displays a variety of artifacts from his career. Ask your EF Tour Director to help you arrange a visit here during your free time. Finally, for great views of the city at night, visit the Fisherman’s Bastion. It’s free to climb to the top in the evening.

Back in Boston, as I am sifting through photos from my trip, I’m reminded of a sign I saw in Croatia. Posted near the house of Marco Polo, it read: "Old is nice" (perhaps, the European equivalent of America’s "Bigger is better"). Many of the "old" places I saw were indeed quite nice, and having been home for a few weeks, I’m ready to hit the road again. After all, if I’m going to make it to the Travelers' Century Club, I have many more countries to explore.

EF Group Leader Spotlight: Janet McKinney

High school Spanish teacher Janet McKinney first began traveling with students when she had the opportunity to fill in for a teacher who was unable to travel to Spain on EF's Adventure in Spain tour. Several years later, she continues to travel with EF because she believes that seeing the world firsthand is one of the best ways to get an education. Here, she shares her experiences.

Tell us about yourself. What is your teaching background?
I have been teaching Spanish for the past 10 years and high school for the past five. It is so great when you see a student “get it.”  I love working with teenagers because often they think they can’t get it and they don’t try.  However, when they realize they can and they do put in the effort, the rewards are so great. It is fun to see that transformation.

What sort of skills do you think traveling teaches your students?
Students who travel gain an ability to be more independent and to see a more global world. They develop a desire to go back to the places we visited or beyond. Several of our previous students who traveled on an educational tour with EF have gone on to complete study abroad programs in Europe. Traveling with EF has given them a sense of adventure and independence.

How do you promote your tour to your students?
I am lucky to teach at a school where the administration is very supportive of offering travel opportunities to our students. We have taken students on many trips both national and international. There are also many teachers who are willing to chaperone these trips, so we never have to wonder if we have the support. We have been able to promote these trips at the school by advertising and through word of mouth. We now have more students who want to travel than we can accommodate.

What advice would you give someone who has never left the country?
I have loved every trip I have taken with my students. It is amazing how much they love everything they see. They take thousands of pictures. Also, they develop closer and new friendships with the other students on tour. This past year on our Dublin, London and Paris tour, part of our group was delayed by a day due to a cancelled flight. However, the students had a really great attitude and made the best of a difficult situation. That is good advice for students, teachers and group leaders alike.

Do you have any good advice for new group leaders?
The best advice I can give to a new group leader is to start talking about the trip to get students excited about it and to utilize your tour consultant who will help you in any way you need.

Why students should tour Central Europe

By Paul Mattesini | EF Tour Director

I work with a lot of EF Group Leaders who ask my advice on which tour they should do next. I often suggest From Rome to Athens or Central European Quartet. "Why would I want to go to Central/Eastern Europe" is a common sort of reply. "There is no Colosseum or Eiffel Tower in Budapest, and what does Vienna do" is another sort of reply that I just made up.

So, here are some thoughts on why Central European Quartet is a great tour to take and also a chance for me to stop having to run through it each time I am asked in future — I can just direct the questioner to this blog.

Currency — Oh, the euro is fun, easy and all that. However, touring in Hungary and the Czech Republic gives you a chance to mix with old-school currency changes and exchange rates. Unfamiliar banknotes with pictures of unknown national heroes. Banks even want to tell you about the designers (I hope that moustache appears on a future banknote).

Statues — The Cold War, it all happened before Twitter, so it can sometimes be deemed as irrelevant to our lives as the Crimean War. However, one thing teachers and others of a certain age will always remember are those monumental statues to Soviet leaders. Just outside of Budapest is the fabulous Memento Park, featuring huge sculptures of the era. Your EF Tour Director can arrange a quick visit; trust me, it’s worth it.

Food — Stop for lunch at one of the service stations on the Austrian or German motorway, and you will be astonished at the range of things on offer. From sandwiches stuffed with smoked meats, cheeses and the like, meat dishes cooked to order as you watch and arrays of pastries, strudels and the famous Sacher Torte.

Prague — What a city. Seriously, what a city. Your EF guided sightseeing tour will take you through the castle grounds and down the hill across the Charles Bridge to the Old Town. From here, you have an afternoon to explore. Just wandering around this amazing place is a joy in itself. Stunning architecture, all sorts of shopping, boat rides on the river, etc. It is just one of those places that you might approach wondering, "What is there to see," and you leave thinking, "I need to come back and see more."

Berlin — A superbly modern European city that blends itself so well into its longer history (try the Reichstag Dome, Glockenturm or Potsdamer Platz). You will also get to visit the Checkpoint Charlie Museum as well as having time to see the Brandenburg Gate and the thoughtfully perceived Holocaust Memorial.

The other bits — While travelling between the cities, enjoy a chance to briefly visit Brno and Dresden (to go inside the Zwinger Museum), not forgetting the Hundertwasse House in Vienna and a walk along Budapest’s Andrássy útca.

Photo: pavelm via Flickr (CC license)

San Francisco and Barcelona join together as sister cities

By Christina Harsanyi | EF Copywriter

This morning I came across an interesting article about the city of San Francisco’s decision to become the sister city to Barcelona, Spain. With the help of the non-profit organization, Sister Cities International, mayors from the two cities signed an agreement designed to provide opportunities for cultural exchange and community partnerships.

Created as a result of Dwight D. Eisenhower’s citizen diplomacy initiative of 1956, the sister cities program aims to promote cultural understanding, stimulate economic development and foster global cooperation, goals similar to those of EF Educational Tours (to break down barriers of language, culture and geography through educational travel opportunities for students).

What will San Francisco and Barcelona do as sister cities? Sister Cities offers a wide variety of conferences and initiatives, some of which are specifically geared toward students. The Sister Schools Program pairs students together to participate in letter/webcast exchanges, fundraising projects and leadership development activities. The organization also hosts a Youth Leadership Conference and encourages families to host international exchange students.

At present, more than 2,000 cities are partnered in 136 countries across the globe. Check out which cities, your community has partnered with.

How to navigate three exceptional art galleries

By Paul Mattesini | EF Tour Director

A tour director friend of mine just finished a London, Paris and Madrid tour. Quite a super trip to go on, and one that offers a chance to visit three exceptional galleries. EF tours are busy places; sometimes a visit to a sight can be limited in scope due to the huge range of other great places to get to in a city. It seems a shame to lose some time coming to terms with what a museum has to offer and what you might want to see while standing, clutching your ticket, in the doorway.

Fortunately, the British Museum, Louvre and Prado all offer some great online help for you to do a little pre-tour planning.

Although not included in the actual tour, London’s British Museum is free of charge to enter (great price) and open until 8:30 p.m. on Thursdays and Fridays, making it an outstanding choice for free time. In 2010, BBC Radio 4 has been running a superb "History of the World in 100 Objects" series in conjunction with the museum, and this offers a chance to get a great overview of the range and depth of exhibits on offer. Maximize your time and make use of the museum’s sheets offering the best way to spend one or three hours at the museum. Make sure to have a look inside the reading room, restored in the late 20th century and now available for all to visit. Around the museum, the neighborhood of Bloomsbury is a relaxing place to get lunch or just enjoy the atmosphere.

Meanwhile in Paris, one of the great ways to enter the Louvre is via the Carrousel. Your EF Tour Director can lead you to this point, having first given you some time to see the large glass pyramid (above) and courtyard as well as views of Place de la Concorde and the Arc de Triomphe through the small arch. Heading down some stairs, you immediately see some of the original fortification walls and the inverted pyramid. Your tour director can point you toward the information desk (free floor plans available) and entrance to the three main galleries. I would suggest heading up the stairs toward Sully and all the way to the end of the corridor. Going down some steps, you will walk through parts of the old fortifications. Where do you go from here? Well, the Louvre website offers some great self-guided routes that you can follow, each of them 90 minutes.

The Prado in Madrid, located close to the Ritz hotel, was originally designed to be a natural history museum, so you will find plenty of animal sculptures around the exterior. The museum website has a choice of three self-guided routes to follow around the gallery. Featuring some of the great European art and sculpture, this easily accessible art gallery can be a relaxing treat after the overwhelming size of the Louvre. Also, if you are in the mood, it is only half a mile or so to walk from the Prado to the excellent Reina Sofia gallery (featuring Picasso’s Guernica and so much more).

Photo: Al Ianni via Flickr (CC license)

My tour experience: Japan

Cassandra Lund has traveled on more than 15 EF tours and has tours planned through 2013. Lund is a magazine journalism major at Temple University in Philadelphia, and she hopes to write for a travel magazine after her graduation in 2012. Here, she writes about her experiences on her recent EF tour to Japan.

By Cassandra Lund | EF student traveler

My EF brochure reads "Japan: Land of the Rising Sun." I did not realize how this would become the theme of my trip until I woke up to my alarm clock at 1:30 a.m. in order to make it to the airport in the States. Osaka, Japan, was my destination.

Japan is a destination considered exotic compared to the more popular destinations of Europe and North America. When travelers go to Japan, it is important for them to read up on the customs and plan ahead for their time spent there.

Customs such as chopstick etiquette, how to visit a temple or shrine and bowing to say hello and thank you are important for travelers to know. Some websites our group used to read up on the culture were gojapan.about.com and fodors.com/world/asia/japan. These websites are both easy to navigate and offer many great tips.

 

Greece is the word

 I read in the paper last week that Greece plans to sell some of its islands off to private investors in the hope of clearing some of its rather spectacular debt. This is, naturally, a shame as it will result in private complexes that you and I might not be welcome in. So, we can help the Greeks by going on tour there – trust me, there are few finer countries in which to spend 10 days or so.

I lived in Boston for a couple of winters. I know what it means to escape the cold that hits parts of North America, so imagine spending a warm, sunny day in March (March!) underneath an olive tree, while exceptional local guides unlock some of the mysteries of Delphi or Olympia.  The guides are great; they need to be. Often you find yourself looking at the ruins of original ruins, so a touch of imagination is needed. Tourism can often be easy – there it is, get a photo, got it, now move along. However, in Greece you need someone to help move your imagination along, to introduce the stories and the concepts behind the rocks you look at. The narrative really matters and where better than Delphi to understand the roots of political corruption, manipulation and cunning. Fabulous stuff.

Around Athens we often use hotels in the beach resort of Glyfada. If you are lucky enough to end up within striking distance then I urge you to get the tram and jump off at the first stop after the tram leaves the beach. Opposite you will be a gyro stand with tables outside. Indulge in, arguably, the finest gyro Greece has to offer, all for less than $3 wrapped and ready to go. Run by a superb Greek-American who lived in Chicago for many years, I would tell you his name but I was too busy hoovering gyros to chat much.

Some of our educational tours to Greece offer the possibility of a cruise extension; fabulous lazy days spent admiring islands such as Santorini and Crete or visiting the Turkish resort town of Kusadasi. If you don’t have time for that, your tour director can help hook you up on a one-day island cruise from Athens.  A chance to visit the islands of Aegina, Poros and Hydra, dip your toes in the ocean and just relax. Honourable mention on the one-day cruise to the on-board ‘entertainment’ offered during the last leg as you return to Athens. No-one believes me until they see it, but the Elvis impersonator will do cat impressions…see it to believe it.

If you are going any time this year, or next, have a superb time and tell a friend!

Group Leader Spotlight: Phil Leswing

First-time group leader Phil Leswing teaches psychology at Greenfield-Central High School in Greenfield, Indiana. Phil (pictured at left with his wife and son) began organizing his 2011 educational tour to Spain, France and Italy this past October, anticipating he would travel with a small group. Two hundred people showed up at his first meeting, and he now has a group of almost 70 travelers. Here, he shares his story.

What inspired you to take an EF tour?

The joy and inspiration I get from traveling was the first factor that motivated me to travel with EF. When traveling with a group, I get as much joy and inspiration from seeing other people excited as I do from my own experience. There is a powerful force generated by groups of people traveling together. I chose EF because of two things that seem like they can’t coexist, but they do. The professional side of EF is outstanding. I also appreciate the personal side of the company. The open and constant communication has made it easy as a first-time group leader to feel like I’ve been doing this for years.


How do you use your blog to promote your tour? Do you use any other types of social media (ex. Facebook, Twitter) to promote your tour?

I use the blog for trip and meeting updates right now. As we get closer, I’ll be adding information about the destinations and our trip details. My Twitter just announces the trip and connects to the blog, so it is not really in use yet, but I can see us using it in the future.


As a first-time group leader, you've been incredibly successful at recruiting students for your tour. What’s your secret to success? How do you encourage students to sign up for your tour? 

The first thing that made recruiting students successful was finding a core of social students who were very interested in going on a trip. I then involved them in the decision-making process of where we would go on our trip. We set up our first recruitment meeting in October, and I started going to classes and talking up the trip. The posters and itineraries that EF provides were hung up and distributed before our meeting, so even more people were getting exited. We had over 200 people show up for our initial recruitment meeting. I was amazed by the turnout. I had gotten some gelato to share with the group. I had Flickr slideshows going of the destinations we would be traveling to, and I had EF YouTube videos playing. One of the potential chaperones had traveled with EF in the past, so he spoke with the group about the professionalism and personal connection that EF provides. We had a best price deadline of October 31, and a first-night sign-up raffle for $50 off the trip.

One of my own

In my time with EF, I have been lucky enough to attend many conventions and events where I meet staff from other EF offices. Talking to current staff, I have often heard the opener, "I went on an EF tour in high school." I always asked who the tour director was; it was fun to hear about.

People on tour always say they will stay in touch, and they often do. It is much rarer to run into people outside of another tour. Back in 2000 when I was working in our London office, someone buzzed to come in. She had been on a tour with me in 1993 and now worked for Northwest Airlines and was visiting London. She had found the EF office by chance and was meaning to ask if anyone knew me. In 1998 an ex-participant from a tour was in London working for a year. We met a few times; she developed her support for Arsenal football club and was able to enjoy them winning the championship that season.

Despite such marvellous meetings, none of my own was working for EF, until April of last year. I received an email from Kevin Lynch. He was on tour with me (A Capital Connection) as a student in 2003. I remember his group well. The group leader, Doug Tieszen, was one of the most engaging I have travelled with; few others will spend their first jet-lagged evening in Europe chatting about Kurt Vonnegut with me. A small group (seven plus Doug), they were superb together and so much fun to be around. Kevin sent me a photo with his email, taken outside our London hotel. I remember the hotel, the Blakemore, and the photo. I had, fortunately, forgotten my haircut.

Kevin had left high school and made his way to Denver and EF via college in Idaho and is now working as a regional accounts coordinator. He genuinely shared how travel with EF had made such a difference to him. I am lucky to have been part of it. One of mine, working for EF. I am so proud! Get him on as many conventions as possible; I want Kevin to share his tale with the world!

Global Citizen Spotlight: Lucy Chen

“Almost a week later, and I’m still jet-lagged. I guess it's just my body telling me to never ever leave Europe mode. Not that I want to. I spent 10 days being my crazy self, boarding too many flights, exploring picturesque cities, eating too much chocolate, running on four hours of sleep each night, playing pretzel on top of the Swiss alps, visiting Willi-Graf-Gymnasium in Berlin, painting blocks to recreate the Berlin Wall for the 20th anniversary, being photographed and videotaped 24/7, eating doners (yum), being way too American and tourist-like, yodeling, lying down on the streets of Berlin spelling "Berlin," doing the same in Prague, making new friends, writing too many journal entries, laughing, crying, and doing so much more. Gosh, I miss it…so, so much. Life was so surreal those 10 days…”

I wrote that in my journal a few days after I came home (which then seemed like the most boring and trivial place on earth) from my EF Global Citizen Scholarship tour of Berlin, Munich, Prague, Lucerne, and Dachau. Even eight months later, typing on my friend Bridget’s Facebook wall, I found myself again reminiscing about some of the same exact moments. Yes, we’re still friends, and collectively, along with Aswar, Matt, Sajda, Sharvani, Lindsay, Dizz, Shawaunna, and Kylie, we probably still remember all our adventures in Europe like it was yesterday.

This past summer, I was honored to represent the youth of the United States on a scholarship tour of Berlin, Munich, Prague, Dachau, Lucerne, and Washington, D.C., as one of the 10 national winners of the EF Global Citizen Scholarship. Yes, as a Chinese-American, I grew up with Mandarin and the dialect of Shanghai being my first languages, and in high school, I was taking the most challenging classes, learning about the world, and studying French. At the World Affairs Council of Philadelphia, I also tackled international issues, serving on the Student Advisory Council and as Model Senate Chair of the Foreign Relations Committee and Model UN Chair, but this trip made everything real.

Helping cheats prosper

I heard a report on English radio last week that said more students than ever are cheating in exams (I took this to mean that more than ever have been caught.). Anyway, I seem to stand alone in seeing this cheating as a good thing. Students are taking electronic devices into exams and using them to call up the facts required. I would like to think they are saying, “I don’t need to memorise all of this stuff; I will always have the facts at hand. Let’s spend more time on concepts.” There is always a place in education for stuffing the well with basic facts; perhaps we don’t need to stuff them so deeply any more.

I thought about this when I sat down to write my first posting for this blog. My first tour was in March 1993. I had a general idea of what was expected, but I had one overriding concern: What do I talk about?

Of course, I could babble on about the sites in as much as I knew them and punctuate the day with nuggets of advice on food, public transport and currencies. But what would I actually talk about? How could I be educational? I stumbled across an idea that has served me well ever since: Talk about what you enjoy. My early tours were littered with commentaries that were not much more than lists of historical events padded out with a few hilarious tales. Subsequently, I realised that I was not offering too much more than could be found in any good history book (and a few bad ones).

So, I adapted. I began to talk less about what I had learned and more of what interests me.  Suddenly, I found myself discussing writers I enjoy and their views on travel. I played classical music to groups, read poetry and went through local newspapers with them. I know most tour directors bring their own interests to the microphone; it is a wonderful liberty we are granted. On tour, local city guides do a first-class job of stuffing the wells of knowledge; I am there to concentrate on concepts. I am excited to introduce new ideas on how we look at the world around us, what it means to be somewhere else, who we are when we travel and why we are that way.

A good friend used to introduce the role of the tour director to potential new recruits as someone who is “different.” Not a teacher, parent, sports coach, employee or any member of an association from home, but a whole new person for students to prod and ask questions of. I revel in that role.

So, if students on my tour take a quiz on the bus, they are welcome to cheat and look up facts. However, they won’t find the answers online to many of the other questions we ask each other during a tour.