Far from the Wood
By Austin Henry, Staff writer
May 16, 2023
It is the dream of many to travel.
It is the dream of many to explore.
It is a dream for many to breathe the air that rests in many different parts of the world.
Traveling is something that can be the highlight of many people’s lives and senior Jake Deshiro and a group of NHS AP Capstone students got a unique opportunity to travel across the ocean and experience the wonders of Ireland, Wales, and London over the course of April Break.
The itinerary covered several countries.
"I saw Ireland, Wales, and England, although we did have a six-hour layover in Newark beforehand," said DeShiro.
Deshiro was able to make the long layover productive, although would have appreciated seeing one more city.
“It was really close to New York City so while I'm glad I got work done, I wish I was able to go and walk around New York and really see America before going to Ireland,” said Deshiro.
DeShiro’s favorite part of Ireland was seeing many historical and cultural sites.
"The second day...we got to do the Ring of Kerry and although it was rainy and gloomy I was still able to get some good pictures. It was really cool because whilst most days we saw one or two sites, here we saw like five sites.”
He also noted many similarities between Ireland and Norwood.
“We ate a lot of potatoes and there were pubs everywhere, meaning a lot of bar-style food like we have in Norwood. There were also huge stretches of greenery but when I got back I was able to better appreciate the little areas of green that we have preserved,” said DeShiro.
It was actually the smallest country on the trip that yielded the most excitement for DeShiro.
“Wales was actually my favorite part of the trip. Wales was amazing. We saw a large castle and whilst we had seen castles before, this was a CASTLE CASTLE. It had fortifications, it was right on the water and it even had a little town built into it with the BEST fish and chips,” he said.
Jake's final stop was London.
“London was very interesting. It was not like New York City in the sense that it had really fascinating architecture and it was clean. The preservation of their history in their architecture was really fascinating. We took a walking tour through Westminster Abbey and it was just beautiful.”
Jake is a big advocate for traveling and believes that this trip was very meaningful.
“Going on this trip I also gained all the experience from the AP Capstone program which has helped me in almost every way to become a better student and is honestly invaluable. This trip also gave me a chance to experience my own culture in a deeper depth and it made me feel at home in a different country and that is a feeling that everyone should feel at least once."