The following text may have been generated by Optical Character Recognition, with varying degrees of accuracy. Reader beware!

Wednesday September 5, 2001 THE OAKVILLE BEAVER B5 Three-weekEuropean mother-daughter vacation follows English classes in Britain Stories by Angela Blackburn OAKVILLE BEAVER STAFF For Jennifer Becker, Great Britain was so great that a month wasn't enough. When the 18-year-old St. Ignatius of Loyola OAC student wrapped up her English studies with MEI International Academy, she and her mom, Karen, spent three more weeks touring Europe. "It's an extended holi day, a m other-daughter trip," said her dad, Ewald Becker. By the third week of August the duo was still soaking up the scenery in France before finally hop ping aboard a flight home. It was early July when Becker headed to Europe on a quest to study English lit erature. "We started in London. We w ent to Oxford, Stratford and ended in Edinburgh," said Becker. "I chose to go to Great Britain partly because my family is British, and it just looked like it was a very good opportunity," said Becker. Her travails began with taking in classes at the likes o f Soho and Trafalgar Squares and the Tower of London. There were stops at Westminster Abbey and the Cathedral of St. Paul's -- as well as other stand-out pitstops like that at the famed Harrod's department store. Shakespeare never came so close to being resurrected as at London's Globe Theatre or the Royal Shakespeare Theatre at S tratford-U pon- Avon. "Actually, I got a little Shakespeared out," laughed Becker. The Great Britain tour was rounded off by ventur ing into Scotland for a wee stop to peek at Edinburgh Castle and its environs. In fact, it was the last stop that most enchanted Becker. "I found Britain to be a lot like Canada, probably because everybody spoke English and London seemed a lot like Toronto. It was very multi-cultural, but a lot bigger," observed Becker. However, the youth who's long been involved in com petitive synchronized skating, said she was fasci nated by the much older Edinburgh which was much smaller and more compara ble to Oakville. Becker had been to Provence, in the south of France on an exchange trip when she was in Grade 8, but this time around she and her mom visited family just outside of Strasbourg and then spent nearly a week in Paris. Becker said that while she enjoyed the sightseeing on the MEI adventure, she was disappointed that so much of the studying was done in an independent for mat. Her independent living skills certainly improved though and Becker admitted that her favourite part of the trip included staying in a flat with a quartet of room mates in Edinburgh. Learning how to balance study with social life should be invaluable when Becker heads to university next year where she hopes to study international develop ment or law. Becker said that while her parents paid the $4,500 tuition, she earned the spending money for both her MEI adventure and her extended trip -- costly in itself since Europe and par ticularly France, was very expensive. "Over there you don't go to the North American chains like M cD onald's, even Burger King, it's too expensive," she said. QEP grad earns final OAC credit in Rome Nicole Paara will always remember standing where Christians once did as they were fed to the lions in Rome's Colosseum -- luckily thousands of years before Paara got there. The 19-year-old warmed up to a summer spent in Italy studying Classical Civilization with MEI International Academy. It was Paara's way of picking up the final high school credit she needed to graduate, having attended Queen Elizabeth Park Secondary School. Paara is working at a Toronto public relations firm before checking into Humber College's public relations program. "If you have the money, definitely do it," said Paara, recommending MEI. Though the trip cost upwards o f $5,000, Paara said she split the cost with her parents. "It was mind-boggling. You don't realize until you're home, looking at your photos, that you were actually there. It really doesn't sink in while you're there," she said. Paara's Italian adventure began in July. It started in Rome with stops at the Roman Forum and The Colosseum. "The Colosseum was very neat. I'd seen Gladiator just before I left, but when you see it (the Colosseum) on TV, it doesn't look that big, but when you see where they caged the animals and the people and you stand right there, it completely takes you," said Paara. Students also saw The Pantheon, Vatican Museum and Sistine Chapel, the Ancient Forum, and took in Trajan's Markets. Then came their Tuscany road trip with stops at the Satumia Hot Springs and a Mediterranean beach. "It was easily the nicest beach I'd ever seen in my life," said Paara who has traveled to British Columbia, Florida, Denver, New York and Cuba. It was Paara's choice to venture to Italy. "I love the language and it was just something I'd always had in my head ...to visit Venice, to go see the cul ture, to eat the food," said Paara. She did all that and more. By the time Paara was ready to fly home, she said she and her fellow students knew enough Italian to get by -- a far cry from their humble beginnings a month earlier. Italy, she said, was the location where so much of clas sical civilization came to be. She learned of the founding of Rome, the rise of Christianity, the fall of the Roman Empire and all the various emperors. "We saw St. Peter's Basilica, perhaps the greatest church in the world," said Paara. What was disappointing was to see so much of the ancient buildings in ruins and decaying, she said. Paara's mom is a teacher and it was through her that Paara discovered MEI. The daughter of a colleague took M EI's full-semester course and it all provided the impe tus for Paara to try out MEI and its offerings. The youth noted the school work, while challenging, was never enough to prevent students from exploring and living the educational experience they were in. "They did n't want you holed up in your hotel rooms with your nose in a book," she said. "The history just came alive." However it also did something else for Paara. Admittedly, the traveling imbued her with worldly confidence, but it also made her aware of her home in Canada. "There are so many comforts of home that you miss while you're away," she said. Yet still, it's hard to put aside memories of how the stu dents participated in a scavenger hunt in the medieval city of Siena before heading to Florence where they saw Ponte Vecchio and finally, to Venice and its Piazza San Marco. "I definitely want to go back," said Paara. Photo by Barrie Erskine Jennifer Becker, 18, enjoyed Europe so much that she extended her trip there with her mom, Karen, after studying English in Great Britain for most of July. I r/ 1 _J X / A\ L_ U J A is s m t OFF ALL P no exercise required! · New /mage N ov A ttitude N ott Wardrcbc N ov Me Jackie You don't need to speak to her to know how good she must feel! Vines Trees & Shrubs Small Fruit Perennials* Annuals* Spring & Sum mer C hem icals Lawn & G arden Fertilizer* -· Clay, C oncrete & * Plastic Pots J > Statuary & Fountains Plant Supports Preformed Pond-Liners some exceptions · - vl o, / / / lose up to 7 lbs. per week! · 57 inche&v 40 pounds smaller guaranteed weight loss! liynter 100% . , nappia1 ! W e M T tU q fo p w S ightM ii ABBEYWOOD DR. 9AGRAM Garden Centre All Specials are while quantities last, unless otherwise stated. AGRAM reserves th e right to limit quantities. AGRAM GARDEN CENTRE located on th e corner o f Highway # 5 and 9 th Line - Entrance o ff 9 th Line. ( 905 ) 257-3577 <0 H w y #5 c 3 <D ® I Conveniently located o ff 9 th Line! Upper Middle --* -- i u n t l N f v » tr i yV o' 3 ° 3- I c n gJ -------Q f : W -- r* E 1395 Abbeywood Rd. OAKVILLE (In the Bruno's Fine Foods plaza) O p e n M on day - Frid ay 9-7 & S atu rd ay 9-4 1905} 469-4532 0NE-ST0P GARDENING OPEN 7 DAYS A WEEK OPEN Monday-Friday 8-7 Saturday 9-6 Sunday 9-5