We started our journey on the 16th September with sixteen Mitchell High School students leaving for Europe. They all turned up with their proud parents, their siblings and extend members of the family with grins on their faces from ear to ear. There were tears shed and some cheers of joy when we said our final goodbyes headed for Singapore.

The first leg of the trip started with an eight hour flight to Singapore where we arrived at 11pm. Many of the students were exhausted and took up the opportunity to explore the shops at the airport. They also discovered the butterfly farm, which to their disbelief they could only see three butterflies.

The students now, very tired eyed, reboarded the plane at 1.30am, 3.30am Australian time to head to Europe for a twelve hour flight. This part of the trip, many students were able to get some shut eye, but for some, they couldn't wait to get off as they were feeling unwell due to the turbulence the plane encountered.

We arrived at Rome airport at 8am, Italy time, where the students were greeted by Tiziana our tour guide. We quickly hopped on the bus for a trip to Tivoli, where the students took part in a tour of the Villa d'Este, redesigned by the Emperor Ippolito in the eighteen century. This place was extremely impressive for its architecture and beautiful gardens. This place is well known for its numerous garden fountains and pools, which were well engineered ahead of their time.

For lunch, students enjoyed their first taste of real Italian pizza which was delicious. They were also impressed with how cheap this meal cost. Exhausted and tired eyed, we returned back to Hotel Valle, where we checked-in and freshened up. We spent the afternoon exploring the streets of Rome taking in the sites. Down the road from the hotel is the spectacular site of the Colossuem, the ancient market Il Foro and the Monumental di Victorio Emanuele II, built for the fallen soldiers in 1885. Students experienced their first Italian meal, Prima Antipasto which was extremely oily and not well received by the students and second course consisted of baked chicken and roasted rosemary potato chips and fresh fruit salad. As a treat, students had a gelato, which brought a smile to their face.

The students quickly returned to their rooms to finally go to bed. This has been a very BIG and LONG exhausting day.