Over the summer, many students travel and gain new experiences. For seniors Claire Hannasch and Jahnavi Parasker, traveling to Japan was the highlight of their summer. They traveled from June 12-21 through EF educational tours. The two were accompanied by social teachers Molly Cowan-Johnson, Kim Thompson and Catherine Whitten.
Hannasch and Parasker had been planning to go on the trip since their sophomore year of high school. Although Covid pushed back their trip until this past summer, Hannasch was still excited to go and experience a new country.
“One evening in Atami, a small group ran down to the beach at night and went swimming,” Hannasch said. “We buried Nick in the sand with a mermaid tail. Other people were setting off fireworks, and you could see the city — everything was so surreal and beautiful.”
Parasker was excited to visit Japan due to its culture.
“The only other countries I’ve been to are India, Asia and Europe, so it was a great new experience,” Parasker said.
The group got to see many different spots in Japan.
“We landed in Osaka and spent the evening in the city to get dinner before leaving for Hiroshima the next day,” Hannasch said. “We visited temples, shrines and a couple castles.”
The trip had planned activities to explore and teach students more about Japan.
“We visited Himeji, Osaka and Kiyomizu,” Parasker said. “We got to tour Hiroshima and visit the peace memorial, which was emotional but a very educational experience.”
While in Japan, Parasker visited the famous landmark, Mount Fuji.
“We rode a cable car to see Mount Fuji and got a great view from the mountains,” she said.
Despite the challenges of being in a different country, food was one thing they didn’t worry about.
“The food was amazing — every day we had to find our own lunch, so getting to explore whatever town or city we were in with friends to find food was so much fun,” Hannasch said. “The food was always delicious, and the desserts were so unique and pretty”
Although traveling days were long and tiring, it all paid off with the amazing experience the group took away.
“We went to the beach three times and had late night beach trips,” Parasker said. “ I really enjoyed the beach with my friends and being able to experience such a great trip.”
