School is finally out and summer has come for everyone here in Brunswick County, North Carolina.Our Class of 2023 has graduated, teachers have closed their classroom doors for the last time during the 2022-2023 school year, people are traveling with their family on vacation, students are working, and even some may be at summer camp.  Like I always say “summertime in the Sunshine”, but do you know what 30 people from Brunswick County Early College High School and a group eight from Phoenix, Arizona did in June? 

Would you believe me if I told you I was able to cross something huge off my bucket list at 18 years old along with my fellow classmates ranging from 15-18 years old? Imagine being in high school and traveling on a plane to another country across the world. Getting onto the plane and hearing the music as it’s upbeat, making you feel excited for your adventure. Getting ready for take-off knowing that you will see the blue sky, and fluffy clouds, seeing the world below you, knowing that you are about to enter another world in just about 16 hours. Soon enough you will hear the overhead speaker say “Flight attendants prepare for landing” as you eagerly look out the window to see if you are really where you’re supposed to be. Hearing sounds you have never heard, animals you haven’t seen, a language you don’t understand, the city life compared to a tiny street life, and you realize there is so much more to the “life” you thought you were living is so unbelievable. I personally still think I never actually left, there is no way that we truly went to Japan. 

Every year ECHS Teacher Leah Brown led 26 travelers and 4 chaperones through Education First (EF) Tours on this life-changing experience. Traveling through EF Tours allows teachers, students, and families to travel and learn world culture through transportation, customs, traditions, food, and so much more. It gives students an unbelievable learning experience outside of the classroom.

 Throughout our trip in Japan, travelers went to shrines, temples, an Indoor Theme Park, ate traditional Japanese food, and even wore traditional Japanese clothing called a “kimono to dinner in Atami, Japan, visited the Bamboo Forest, Great Buddha, rode a bullet train to Kyoto, and so much more adventures with our tour guide, Tak, from EF Tours. Personally, my favorite part of the trip was experiencing the sushi conveyor belt of course (if you know me well, you know how much I love sushi), but seeing Mount Fuji, visiting the “Great Buddha of Kamakura”, Arashiyama Bamboo Forest, the Bullet train that goes 180 miles per hour, the “Golden Pavilion”, a Zen Buddhist Castle in Kyoto, the “Nijo Castle, and the Fushimi Inari-Taisha shrine. 

During our tour, we learned the difference between shrines and temples. Shrines are structures created to support the Shinto religious tradition and are distinguished by an entrance torii gate. Temples have a sanmon gate at the entrance and are constructed to support the Buddhist religious heritage. Many shrines are different because they represent different aspects of Japan. For example, the Fushimi Inari-Taisha shrine has a fox which represents the messenger for a well-known deity linked to foxes, rice, domestic happiness, commercial success, and general wealth. While the Hachimangu shrine is dedicated to the Minamoto family’s and all samurai’s patron god is Hachiman. At Tsurugaoka Hachimangu Shrine, the deified spirits of the ancient Emperor Ojin—also known as Hachiman, Hime-gami, and Empress Jingu—are revered.

This trip was over in just nine short days, but the learning and traveling never has to end. Our travel was a total of 16,044 miles from Raleigh International Airport to Dallas, Texas to Tokyo, Japan and from there we traveled from Tokyo to Kamakura, Owakundani where we saw Mount Fuji, took a cruise on Mount Ashi, Kyoto, Nara, to Osaka, backup to Tokyo where we flew to LA, California, and back home to Raleigh NC. Leah Perkins is planning another EF Tour trip to Iceland in the Spring of 2024 and Laura Askue is planning her first EF Tour trip as a group leader to London and Dublin in the Summer of 2024. 

 Margie Steve