Over the summer, beginning on June 21 and concluding on June 29, eleven students and one teacher will accompany French teacher Emily Mullen on a European getaway. They will be traveling across Europe from Paris, France to Lausanne and Geneva, Switzerland and ending in Nice, France.

In order for this trip to take place, Mullen had to find a company to help with the reservations and the execution of the desired itinerary. 

“I am traveling with a company called Passports…They book all of our airline tickets; they make all our hotel reservations. They’re in charge of all of our transportation, whether that’s by train or bus, and then they provide us with the tour director who meets us at the airport in Paris and then is with us the entire time until we go back to the airport in Nice,” stated Mullen.

Though this trip features Rolla High School students and staff, it is not sponsored by the school.

“This is actually not a school sponsored trip. It’s not a school affiliated trip. The school is nice enough to let me use the school facilities for our group meetings, and to hang up promotional posters and things like that when it’s time to start talking about it…But it is an unaffiliated trip that I do because I think it’s important,” stated Mullen.

This trip will give the students a unique experience that educates them on different aspects of travel and history.

“For student travel, we always try to make sure that we’re seeing as many things as possible and doing as many interesting things as possible for all different kinds of interests. So, maybe your interest is very heavily in art. And of course, we’re going to be going to the Louvre, the biggest art museum in the world. There’s art everywhere when you travel all through Europe,” said Mullen. “If you are a fan of history, obviously there’s going to be a ton of history in just embedded in the trip, but it’s really just a good experience to to get out of your comfort zone and to learn that…there are going to be bumps in the road when you travel, but that you can still have a good experience and and that’s often some of the best parts of the trip ends up being the things that didn’t go the way that we thought they would. Because we get to have that shared experience together.”

Junior Camilla Ragan is excited to look into history, while also being surrounded by the familiar faces of her friends.

“I’m really excited to see the Mona Lisa at the Louvre Museum,” stated Ragan.

Above all, Mullen is excited to see how her students will grow and gain confidence in themselves.

“The best part of every trip is always seeing how much the students grow from the time we leave until we get back. Because there’s always just such a change in their levels of confidence and independence after having navigated their way through parts of Europe and seen things that they know that not everybody gets to experience,” stated Mullen.