Elli Chew, CFNN Reporter
9 countries, 18 cities, 28 days. Civics and American History teacher Arleen Casianos, has paired together with the Swedish company, EF Tours, to take a “Grand Tour” of Europe! The tour will take place between June and July in the summer of 2021.
EF Tours stands for Educational First Tours. The Swedish originated company was started more than 50 years-ago by a Swedish family who wanted to give students the opportunity to travel and learn outside of the classroom. EF Tours’ mission is “Opening the World Through Education.”
Although this trip is not sponsored by Cumberland County Schools, most teachers believe it is a great opportunity to travel and learn outside of the classroom. During this trip, you can do assignments that can count for either high school or college credit, but they do cost extra.
The EF “Grand Tour” trip will take you to England, France, Belgium, The Netherlands, Germany, Switzerland, Austria, Italy, and Greece. Where you’ll travel by plane, train, and bus. You’ll fly from Fayetteville, North Carolina to London, England and travel on either bus or train from then on until you fly from Athens, Greece back to Fayetteville, North Carolina.
After talking to Ms. Casianos I learned of her previous trip that she took with them last summer. “They are very detailed oriented, they have everything planned out to the minute what you do, and I think it is very economical because it is basically one price for everything,” says Casianos.
While talking to her I asked what she likes about the company and the trips they take, she says “I like that you can meet kids from other schools. I met someone last summer, she and I are still really good friends and talk pretty much everyday.” She also discussed the connections she made with the kids, and how they all became a family.
When asking her what all the trip will consist of she said, “We will fly out to London and will spend about three days there, and then we will be going to Paris for about three days, then we go to Brussels, Amsterdam, Heidelberg, Lucerne and the Alps area. Then to Munich, Insbrooke, Venice, Florence, Assisi, and from there we will go to Pompeii, the Scarento region, Capri, then tho Rome. We will spend two days in Rome, then we fly from Rome to Athens, And then we will go from Athens to Delphi.”
Through this trip, you’ll have the opportunity to see several landmarks with your own eyes, rather than through a textbook!
“In Athens, we will see the Olympic Stadium, Acropolis and its museum, take a walking tour of Athens etc. There is going to be a lot to see, like when we are in London we will be seeing the Piccadilly Circus, St. Paul’s Cathedral, WestMinister Abbey, the changing of the guard at Buckingham Palace. There is one day in London where we get to explore completely by ourselves,” says Casianos.
Ms. Casianos will be having a student meeting January 27th, 2020, after school for students who have already signed up, as well as for students who may be interested. She will also be holding a parent meeting on February 3rd, 2020 at the Eastern Regional Public Library, across from Cape Fear High School. The meeting will be from 6 to 7 pm.
She hopes that new students will be able to come and join this once in a lifetime traveling experience!
Cape Fear News Network 