Students, staff explore diverse cultures, reset for school year with summer travel
Junior Summer Evans spent a memorable 20 days in Asia, along with her close friend and fellow junior Hannah Casale. Around a week of this time was spent in South Korea.
One notable spot they visited was the Korean Demilitarized Zone, a strip of land in between North and South Korea, which is considered incredibly dangerous, yet still remains a popular attraction.
“We went to the DMZ to learn more about the history of North and South Korea,” Evans said.
The food was a highlight of the trip for Evans and Casale. They enjoyed a popular Asian treat, mochi, four times over the course of a week.
“When we were in Seoul, we stayed in this market area, and in the morning, we’d wake up and go to this mochi place (where) there’d be (a) grandma making mochi,” Evans said.
Another notable cuisine in Asia is Korean Barbeque, which Evans and Casale also enjoyed multiple times throughout their stay.
“There were a lot of Korean Barbeque places, where people would come and have the meat grilled right in front of you, and that was a cool experience,” Evans said.
While accompanied by Casale’s mother, Evans and Casale spent a lot of their time traveling nearby on their own.
“Hannah and I would do our own shopping, and go explore different places while her mom was at the temples.”
Although the trip was a successful 20 days of learning about new cultures, trying unique foods, and venturing through unfamiliar cities, Evans did not always appreciate the bustle of urban Asia. Not all trips have to be filled with people, as Evans understood in hindsight.
“I think if I went back, I’d probably want to see more of the suburbs, not main cities, because where both of the places we went, there were a lot of tourists.”
Biology teacher Joshua Little had a busier summer than most, with two and a half weeks of travel to Europe, lab work at San Jose State University and passing exams in order to become a personal trainer.
Among the European countries on Little’s itinerary — including Germany, Switzerland and Italy — one particularly significant stop was Italy. The trip celebrated Little’s tenth anniversary with his partner, fulfilling architectural and tourist dreams.
For Little, other than hiking Pinterest-esque mountains and exploring small towns, the vacation was a chance to bring all the things he’s learned to life.
“It was cool to see all the things that you learned about in school and in documentaries,” he said.
Even though the two and a half weeks of travel didn’t cultivate an overwhelming desire to be back at home in the way that many tourists become homesick, he still missed the uniformity of life in California and the comfort of an everyday regimen.
“You’re just not sleeping in your own bed, and you’re in another country that speaks a different language,” he said. “Even though you know most people speak English, it’s just a different vibe.”
While all of the landmarks and tourist attractions are important parts of vacation, sometimes it’s about the journey to get there — including the flight.
“Seeing all the sights of Europe was really nice, but I think flying first class for the very first time was fun,” said Little.
Fulfillment stems from hitting your goals, something Little knows all too well from this summer. Instead of kicking back and watching the summer float away, he knew exactly what to accomplish.
“People were like, ‘Aren’t you supposed to relax?’” Little said. “I’m like, ‘I can’t relax.’ I have to take advantage of all the opportunities.”
Junior Alisa Sonehara spent her summer immersed in many different cultures, traveling to Japan, Korea and Taiwan. Although she has visited Korea and Japan every summer for the past three years, Japan remains her favorite country to visit. While she doesn’t participate in many tourist attractions, she finds value in the quality time she spent with family during her stay.
“Most of the time, I just stay with my grandma and help her clean the house,” Sonehara said. “At the end of the day, even if I don’t do anything super touristy, being surrounded by the culture, the good food and being with my family is the most important for me.”
A normal day for Sonehara inJapan consisted of spending time at her grandma’s house, exploring the Machida area located in Tokyo, window shopping for things to bring back to the United States and occasionally training for track and field. During her trip in Japan, Sonehara and her family also visited Hakone, a hot springs village west of Tokyo. This was her first experience with hot springs, which is a well- known cultural practice for Japanese people.
“Hot springs are a very Japanese-oriented culturalist kind of thing, but (it) was really fun,” Sonehara said. “Hakone is really famous for their hot springs and luxury hotels.”
Another reason Sonehara keeps Japan close to her heart is because of the unique fashion she sees there. Clothing is a special aspect of her life and she admires the wide array of personalized styles amongst Japanese people. “For me, clothing is a big way to express myself,” Sonehara said. “So being surrounded by people who dress nice and who are trying to show who they are through fashion is really amazing to me. That’s definitely a value that I always bring back with me to the states.”
Math teacher Rachel Congress let the beautiful architecture and gentle waves of Greece wash away the stress of teaching.
This two-week trip with her husband fulfilled a long-time bucket list item, and with restaurant recommendations from retired Gunn math teacher Chris Karas — who now lives in Greece — one highlight of the couple’s vacation was tasting a varied spread of the traditional cuisine.
“The food was actually one of the reasons I wanted to go,” Congress said. “We went to these tiny little restaurants that aren’t really well known and off the beaten path where somebody’s grandma would be cooking in the kitchen making homemade recipes.”
For Congress, a highlight was Greece’s balance of modern and historical life. Famous ruins such as the Acropolis, Hadrian’s Library and Lyceum displayed glimpses of ancient Greece and the history of philosophy and mathematics.
“Everything is so close to each other so you can just walk a few blocks and stumble on to a historical site,” she said. “The history is just so integrated — you can see it’s getting absorbed into the newer construction.”
Other than exploring the mainland, Congress spent a week on a cruise ship to visit the nearby islands such as Santorini and Mykonos. Not only was it a more cost effective method of travel, there were many on-board activities such as karaoke and trivia contests to keep the couple occupied in their spare time.
“The nice thing about the vacation and the cruise was that it required less planning on our side than we’ve done for trips before,” she said. “Just being able to walk around and decide what you want to do without pre-planning or making a schedule is really nice. It felt really luxurious and it definitely felt like it lowered my stress level a lot.”
From the beaches of the Philippines, to the mountains of China and back to his parents’
home in the United States, math teacher Marcus Jamison has seen it all. During his leave of absence for the past two years, Jamison found solace from the constant work agenda as a global explorer.
His time off was structured in six-month sessions. Four months were spent traveling abroad to Europe, Asia, Central America and South America. A month was spent in the United States and another was spent with his parents. Whether it was scuba diving in tropical waters or taking on yoga-training sessions, Jamison’s trips varied from solo adventures to joint trips with his roommates or parents. Along the way, Jamison fully embraced the natural high of spontaneous travel decisions.
“The only times I prepared (for travel) were from January 2024 to July 2024, but (the itinerary) got messed up,” he said. “I learned to go with the flow and be truly free enough to allow things to happen. It was a new sense of adventure for me.”
From his two-year travel saga, Jamison was on his way to master the art of carry-on packing. He has brought back souvenirs that reflect a deep interest in international history, such as Nepal’s Tibetan singing bowls and Bhutan’s prayer flags. Jamison’s commitment to learning about other countries extends to involving himself with the people, becoming some of his most memorable times. For example, in festivals with locals, Jamison celebrated Mongolia’s independence from China, Russia and Mongol leader Genghis Khan.
“It was so much fun and a wonderful blend of past
culture and modern age,” he said.
Coming into the school year, Jamison knows his passions for culture and travel will be brought to his classroom.
“These trips mean freedom and knowledge,” he said. “I find a lot of pride that 99% of my students feel confident that I’ve been in a space that they are familiar with. I hope our common knowledge of culture allows for their sense of belonging.”
Senior Matthew Tsien gazed down from 1285 feet above the ground, taking in the mosaic of skyscrapers and winding roads rimmed by gentle mountain peaks dotted with vegetation in Taipei, Taiwan.
During this one-week family trip in June, Tsien’s main pursuit was visiting Taipei 101, a popular architectural tourist attraction. He and his family took a 37-second elevator ride up to the observation deck on the 89th floor of the skyscraper.
“It was really cool to see the city from (so high
up),” he said. “The weather was really bad — it would just start raining randomly — but when we went, the view was good.”
Tsien last visited Taiwan when he was five, so he didn’t remember much about the country. However, having not been in such a long time allowed him to explore the city anew.
“This was basically my first time (in Taiwan),” he said. “My parents like traveling and they planned everything out, so I didn’t really know what we were doing until it happened.”
The street markets lined with food stalls and crowded with locals turned out to be the perfect place for Tsien to experience the country’s vibrant culture.
“We could barely walk through (the alleys), but the food was good,” he said. “I had some really good steak.”
For Tsien, this trip was more than just tourism. He also used this opportunity to connect with the Taiwanese half of his identity by meeting with relatives he rarely sees and visiting the apartment complex his father grew up in.
“(My dad) told me it used to be the tallest building in
the city, but now it’s just a massage parlor,” he said. “It was interesting to see because it’s different from where I grew up.”
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