Sleepy, disheveled headed students from eighth-12 grade, faculty members and parents traveled to the Minneapolis-Saint Paul International Airport, stood in line for hours, and flew thousands of miles to travel to Europe.
The group visited Cinque Terre, Italy; Monaco; Nice, France and Barcelona, Spain.
Senior Alexa Drescher was one of the many students who packed on buses and planes to gain knowledge about other cultures and the way the people lived.
“I liked the beach opportunities,” Drescher said. “My favorite was going around new cities and learning about their history.”
Drescher said she enjoyed visiting other cities the most because “the history tells us a lot about what made our world now, and how we have developed. It gives us an insight on how we can make our world better.”
Gerald Bizjak, EL (English Learner) and Macroeconomics teacher, was the main organizer of the Europe Trip. Bizjak was inspired to create a trip to other countries because he did not have a passport until he was 38.
“When I started to travel internationally,” Bizjak said. “I thought it was so awesome. I wanted kids to have
that opportunity to experience that.”
Though the future plans are uncertain, Bizjak wish he would have started the journey sooner. The total process of the trip was 19 months long; it consisted of asking teachers for student recommendations, writing letters to send home to students, and making it available for all students. Bizjak said he wanted to give an opportunity to all of the students at Albert Lea High School.
“You never know what you are going to run into,” Bizjak said. “That is my favorite thing. You can’t take away a memory.”
Sophomore Emily Taylor journeyed through Europe with Bizjak and Drescher, but her favorite part was Barcelona, Spain.
“I liked going to the Sagrada Familia (a large Roman-Catholic Church in Barcelona),” Taylor said. “The culture is completely different than ours, and I understood some of the Spanish said–mostly food though.”

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