At age 12, Kelsey Phinney was invited to take part in an excursion that many would view as the trip of a lifetime.
From June 18 to July 7 she witnessed a vast array of some of the most popular tourist destinations in the world during a grandiose, whirlwind tour through France, Greece and Italy.
The Mona Lisa at the Louvre, the Vatican’s Sistine Chapel and the Parthenon of Athens were but a few highlights. Of course, that may not seem so great when you’re twelve.
France was “too crowded, too fancy and too different,” said Phinney. She said she liked that Italy was more laid back, but in the end it was “Ok, I guess.” And Greece? “I liked it more than the other two countries.”
Kelsey’s mother, Katy, sits adjacent to her daughter and her mouth drops at the soon to be Lakeview seventh grader’s comments. In disbelief she looks at her and says, “I would dream to go to those places.”
Kelsey shrugs as if to say, I’m just being honest. What am I to do?
After all the world is often a lot smaller through the eyes a twelve-year-old, and it’s not as if she didn’t get anything out of the journey. It just wasn’t what was expected.
People to People
Kelsey’s experience began when a letter reached her home in Wood Lake and informed her that she had been nominated as an appropriate representative of the organization People to People.
People to People was founded by President Dwight Eisenhower as a vehicle to promote citizen to citizen interaction across the globe so to foster cultural understanding and promote world peace. According to its website, since 1956 it has worked to achieve this goal offering various ambassador programs to all seven continents to over 400,000 individuals.
The letter peaked the interest of Kelsey and her mother enough that the two attended a regional meeting along with approximately 300 youth who had been nominated across the state. Having decided that she would apply to be a part of the program, she was tasked to obtain three references and undergo an interview. Given the thumbs up, all that was left was a little fundraising.
At a cost of just over $7,000 it was no paltry expense. But with the assistance of her mother and the Greater Midwest Fund Raising organization she set out to cut into the sum by selling baked goods.
Receiving a few boosts from family members like Luke Hildahl, of Granite Falls – “He bought like 12 pizzas and fourteen cheesecakes,” smiled Kelsey – the Wood Lake youth offset her total costs by roughly $2,000.
Fighting cold feet as the day approached, Kelsey boarded the plane, and along with 46 other 6th-8th graders, mostly from Minnesota, headed for Paris.
At first, she admitted, it was a tough go. Kelsey was the youngest of all the ambassadors and making friends did not come easy. Exacerbating the issue was France’s excess of people. She said it was crowded beyond belief and claimed there were pick-pockets everywhere. As proof, she cited a student had her neck pouch snatched, another who was deprived of her money and one girl that was left without a camera.
On the bright side, Kelsey did enjoy playing basketball with a group of French youth, even though they played the game extremely rough.
Travelling to the more relaxed country of Italy, a gondola ride past the Colosseum, a trip to the Vatican and a climb up Mount Vesuvius proved to be more to her liking. Yet, all the aforementioned paled in comparison when it came to an American Cemetery, in all of place Assisi. She couldn’t pin-point exactly what it was about the cemetery that held such appeal but the site, where 4,000 Americans were buried in 1944 after falling during the capture of Rome, fascinated her.
Said Kelsey, “I just like learning about soldiers, I guess.”
As the trip progressed, Kelsey indicated that she grew more and more comfortable with being on her own, and with the nature of the trip in general.
Greece proved to be her favorite location, and she said she had been interested in seeing the Colosseum since she was little girl. Still, it was not the monuments of the great Greek civilization that made the day, once again, it was physical activity. Hoops with a group of Greek youth was tough to beat, she said, but the chance to witness and take part in folkloric dances alongside professional dancers also ranked up there.
A learning experience
Even with her growing comfort, when the day to return to the United States came Kelsey said she was ready to “sleep in my own bed, play with my dog and see my usual friends.”
Looking back, “At times I regret not being able to enjoy the things we saw because I was homesick. But I did have fun,” she said.
And she did learn much.
About “independence” and “responsibility,” said Kelsey. About “Holding onto your stuff and making sure nobody takes it.”
She also became more aware of her interest. Recognizing that every aspect of the trip that involved physical activity was her favorite, Kelsey said that if she were to take part in People to People again she would travel with their sports program instead.
There aren’t many twelve year olds who get the chance to go off and learn to get along on their own in such a foreign environment, particularly without mom and dad. With her new found strength and independence, she said that in the future, “I think I would be able to be more open.”
France, Greece and Italy would be the trip of a lifetime for many. It was the trip of a lifetime for Kelsey too.
