Bullis Blog | Global Studies Trips

  Hello again, Bullis community! It has been an eventful, insightful, and collaborative Day #2 in La Fortuna! One half of our students experienced the value and impact of serving a local community and learned about the process of cheesemaking from a local entrepreneur. Across the way, the other half of our group conquered the thrilling rapids of the Balsa River, went souvenir shopping, and enjoyed some relaxing time at the hot springs. We ended our day with a thoughtful, reflective closing circle to ground us in our experiences. Students had quite a bit to say about these experiences:  Z oe A. '30 writes: Pura vida! Overall, today was a great day! Because of the time difference, I woke up early, but breakfast was at 8:30 AM, so I relaxed in bed and chatted with friends. When it was finally time to get ready, my roommate Sammi and I got out of the door swiftly and took a longer route to enjoy the morning scenery, including Volcano Arenal. My first day of breakfast was gre...

By Ashley H. '23 The final day of our trip began with biking around the beautiful city of Munich! Our guided tour was phenomenal, as we experienced the culture of Germany by exploring the English Garden. This large park is twice the size of Central Park. Along our route, we stopped at the Eisbach, a man-made river used for surfing. We found this tradition fascinating, learning that the river was first used in 1972 with ironing boards instead of surfboards! We then briefly stopped to take pictures at Temple Monopteros , a gorgeous landmark that overlooks the city and the park. After this liberating morning, our day shifted when we visited the Dachau Concentration Camp Memorial Site . In contrast to our freeing time on the bikes earlier in the day, our experience at Dachau was filled with feelings of confinement and restriction. The weather was fitting and incredibly powerful for the occasion, as it was rainy, windy, and miserably cold. Walking into the camp, I felt an immediate sta...

We had a fabulous last day on the trip in Florence. We started off taking a drawing class at The Accademia D'Arte , where we experimented with white charcoal on black paper as well as making blind contour continuous line drawings — this ended in a lot of giggles. After lunch and shopping, we moved on to a leather factory, learned the dos and dont's of shopping for leather, and saw the process of authentic leather making. Our next stop was to the Farmacia Santa Maria Novella, the oldest pharmacy in Italy, where we had the great opportunity of smelling the first scent ever made.  We had our final group dinner, followed by our last gelato trip, and shared our favorite memories in Italy.

March 30 - 31, 2023 Our final two nights in Spain brought us to Torremolinos, situated on the Mediterranean coast. We enjoyed ice cream, shopping, and time on the beach after our two-day trips by bus to Ronda and Granada. Ronda is a cliffside town with Roman origins. Puente Nuevo, constructed in the eighteenth century, connects the two sides of the town divided by the Guadalevín River. Before leaving Ronda, we got a chance to visit the bull ring in the center of town. In Granada, we admired the beauty of the architecture at the Alhambra. Then, to our surprise, we bumped into Coach Bruce Kelley and his family wandering the streets! At the Generalife Gardens, we learned how the combination of water, the symbol of life, along with taste, scent, and color are essential elements in Islamic garden design. Mazes of orange trees, blooming flowers, and the sound of flowing water in the fountains provided a peaceful ending to our tour.

By Ryan T. ‘24 Our group began our day with a bus tour on a double-decker bus. This tour gave us a beautiful view of the city of Munich. Our first stop was the Nymphenburg Palace . This Palace is massive and wrapped around the entire property, so everywhere we looked was part of the Palace. We also visited the gardens behind the castle. We visited BMW world  and were able to “test” (sit in/on) a few of the cars and motorcycles. We continued through the city and learned about its history. At 11:00 am, we stopped to view the Town Hall Tower and the famous Munich Glockenspiel, which chimes several times a day. We then stopped at a large shopping mall and got lunch which was a buffet with tons of different options. After a short break to shop, we took the U-Bahn (German subway, like the Metro) to continue our tour on foot. We visited the  White Rose Memorial , which described the underground resistance movement to the Nazi Regime and the tragic murders of university students who ...