Evendays

In the first year of Swiss high school, those who continue on to college get assigned a class according to their “major”. As you regular Evendays readers know, about 25% of high school students actually go on to college, and those folks must chose an emphasis early on. (sciences, humanities, languages, economics, etc.) In tenth grade, Daughter was assigned a class in the math-physics division with 17 boys and 3 girls.

As a senior, the class makes their Senior trip. I imagine the goal, years ago, was to educate students, visit museums and learn hands-on about stuff they’d been studying in class. Son 1 and 2 both went to Italy and visited volcanoes and ancient cities. Daughter and her class went to Marrakech, Morocco, during Ramadan.

She enjoyed the spices and a trip to the beach and being with friends. Much more difficult were the constant buzzing of peddlers and the uncomfortable-ness of eating lunch when Muslim Moroccans were fasting. (She said she learned to “skip” lunch out of respect for the locals…) She got back on Saturday night, loaded with spices for couscous, a bag of tea and coffee… Happy to be home and sleep in her own bed.

We got to the airport, went through the customs line, got checked out and okayed by those friendly folks protecting our borders, went to the mystery carousel that spit out our luggage after the mandatory waiting period, met two people from Abilene before we even got out the doors…

I am one of the world’s worst travellers. My mind tends to turn to mush about 48 hours before take-off. I have been known to forget passports in a drawer, airline tickets on the dining room table and, the worst sin of all, to actually believe the man at the airline counter who assured me that my visa would be waiting when I arrived in a certain, un-named, Latin-american country.

I tend to get more and more irritable as the packing process grows longer. 38% of the stuff I bring I never use, for my pre-voyage mind is filled with thoughts like: This pocket widget will really come in handy if ever…

The night before the trip is nearly always a losing battle to fall asleep. But then you go through those doors out into the arrival area, you search those faces for just one you can recognize…

And there it is. That makes the trip worth it.