Adventures Cross Country

Logan Holloway

Class of: 2013

Name of Program: Adventures Cross Country

When you did the program: July 3- August 1

Location: Southern Europe: Italy, Switzerland, and France

Type of Program: Travel, Multi-sport leadership program

Short Summary: For one month I went on an amazing trip to Southern Europe where I visited famous places such as the Vatican, the Leaning Tower of Pisa, Rome, Paris, and the country side of Switzerland. While on this adventure, I sea kayaked, backpacked 72 miles in the Alps, river kayaked, and white water rafted. The trip guides are eccentric and absolutely wonderful. If you are looking for a trip that has fantastic views of mountains, visits to ancient historical sights of which you have only learned about in class, and experiencing new cultures, then you should seriously look into this trip. I highly recommend looking at the Adventures Cross country (also known as ARCC) website as they provide trips to all over the world, ranging from Multi-sport leaderships, Community service trips, and Gap years. I also did a community service trip to Costa Rica with ARCC which also was absolutely amazing too. If you have any questions or would like to talk more contact me at Jholloway@bayschoolsf.org.

About how many kids were in the program? 20

Who were the adults and what role did they play in your experience? There were 2 adults and they were our guide leaders. They were the ones who made sure the trip progressed and made sure everything was going well.

How much free time did you have and what did you do with it? I would say around 1 to 2 hours after a big day of activities or hiking. We would usually rest or talk with each other.

Did you have room and board or a home stay in another country? Yes, in Europe we would stay in Refugios which are basically family owned houses scattered throughout the Alps. The Refugios are nice places to sleep and they offer really good meals. As for the sleeping arrangement, lots of times in a Refugio there will be what we call a chicken coop. Basically, all the beds would be lined up next to each other and you would have bunk beds.

What were the other students in your program like and how were the relationships that you formed? I felt like our group bonded very well in that we were all working and socializing together. Everyone had a shared goal which was to have the most enjoyable time in Europe.

What kinds of activities, social events, and trips were organized for the students? Every day we would have circle meetings which took place before breakfast, and after dinner. Also, throughout the trip our guide leaders had us play fun group games like the human knot and birdy on the perch.

If you had academic classes or homework, how many hours a day did you spend on schoolwork? No homework or schoolwork.

About how much of your own money do you think you spent on gifts, food, transportation and other things not provided by the program? About $200 (mostly on souvenirs)

Did you have a curfew? If so, what time? I got to be in bed by 10 pm

How organized was the program? How much flexibility was there with the agendas? How much of a say did the students have in this? Well there was a set schedule for the trip to happen. As for flexibility, when doing a trip, the schedule had to have flexibility because things may not always go as planned. Often after the main activity of the day ended, our guide leaders would give us the option to go on additional hikes or go swimming in glacier water lakes (very cold). In addition, we would have a leader of the day which means each person from the group would lead for a day. This means waking up everybody in the morning, leading the group when hiking, and knowing where you are going on a hike. Of course, the guide leaders are there to help you if you get lost.

How was the food? Rate from 1-5 (1 being the worst and 5 being the best): 4

What is at least one thing you would do to improve the program? I want Adventures Cross Country to offer trips to Australia where maybe we could scuba dive ect...

Who would you recommend this program to? Who would this program not be best suited to? I would recommend this program to people who love to travel and are willing to make new friends or meet new people. You have to be fit to some degree to do some of the activities. Although, on the trip we had a few girls who had bad knees and they were real troopers getting through the backpacking sections. Also, you have to have some degree of tolerance for foreign cultures and trying new foods.

Rate your overall experience (from 1 to 5): 5 (life-changing), 4 (great experience)

Other comments: I think my biggest takeaway was hiking 52 miles in the Alps. I remember standing at the border between Italy and Switzerland staring at the huge mountain before me. I had a wonderful time. I think Adventures Cross Country is one of the best outdoor programs available to go on trips around the world.