European cultures fascinate me. The dominant culture in North America stemmed from our European pioneers. However, while we Canadians still love our tea, we don’t have the “afternoon tea” philosophy of the British. The US fought for their autonomy from Britain with a war funded by the French. Canada was quietly granted independence shortly after WWI. Lord Balfour, a British Lord, wrote a report that basically convinced Britain that a partial separation would be best. However, even today, our political system closely mirrors Britain’s and there are many traditions that say we require the Governor General’s permission before doing anything. Like calling an electoral vote. (Information courtesy of Grade 10 and 11 socials studies).
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While everyone else was planning their distinguished university careers, I was traipsing through my memories of Mexico. Perhaps it was my long tradition of skipping school for a good cause (namely travel), but instead of condemning myself immediately to four more years of school, I decided to take a gap year.
Gap year: a UK term for taking a year off during your education.
When I informed my mother of my plans for postponing my postsecondary education, she—wait for it—was overjoyed.
There was one small flaw in my plan. I am not an overly independent person and I had never traveled by myself. Going to Europe—solo—seemed a bit out of my league. So, “it was suggested” that we all travel together as a family for the first several months. My parents had sabbaticals coming to them, so …
I’ll skip the months of family debate about countries, organization, and the “can’t we go back to Mexico?” question posed repeatedly by my mother.
We fly first to Florida to visit my Great-Aunt and Uncle. From there, we will fly to Athens via New York and Dusseldorf. Greece was my brother’s only demand on our travel plans. Mine was France. And my mum wants to go to Spain. My Father’s request was Sweden—but that’s not going to happen, unfortunately.
We will spend 2.5 weeks in Greece, take the boat to Italy, and meet my grandparents in Venice on Oct. 9th. After approximately another 2.5 weeks in Italy, we will travel on to France and then Spain. I am not withholding all the choice details in our itinerary—we truly have very few plans. Almost the only thing that is fixed is our departure date.
After our European tour, my family will return to Vancouver, and I will fly to Israel. I have a large extended family there who I have never met, but with whom I am anxious to spend time. I’d also like to spend time on an Eco-Kibbutz that my Aunt connected me with.
Through all this my brother will be “homeschooling” himself. As part of his studies he will be writing a blog. The address is http://blog44.ca/georgel/. Please read his posts for an alternate, and probably more detailed, version of reality.
Going, going—GONE!
