This summer, the Alumni Association is offering graduating seniors a chance to explore Europe with their peers.
The European Odyssey will cover seven countries in 19 days with the opportunity to visit Greece for four days.
“Many colleges across the country offer a graduation trip for their seniors, and we wanted to do that for ours,” Kathy Hart, the associate executive director of the Alumni Association, said. “It’s a great way for the students to get an introduction to Europe.”
This is the third year that the Alumni Association has offered a European graduation trip. This trip will include visits to England, France, the Netherlands, Germany, Austria, Italy, and the Vatican City.
The group will depart for London on May 17 and will either return to the United States from Rome on June 4 or, for students participating in the Greece add-on, continue on to Athens for four more days.
“I would recommend this trip to seniors because it is safe and requires no planning,” Hart said. “Also they’ll be going with a group of people their age, which is always fun.”
According to Leah Bartlett, event intern at the Alumni Association, the trip was expanded from last year and now is 23 days long. She said that the Alumni Association has had a lot more success recruiting students for this year’s trip than the previous year’s trips.
“We might choose to expand the trip even more depending on how this year’s trip goes,” Bartlett said. “The students really enjoy the entire trip; it’s a great end to the best years of their lives.”
While the trip is marketed to seniors, participants are allowed to bring friends and family under the age of 25.
The deadline for students to register for the trip is a month before the departure date.
According to Hart, 31 students have signed up for the trip. NCSU students will be sharing this trip with a group from the University of Georgia.
“A lot of other universities have graduation trips like this one; it’s sort of their tradition,” Bartlett said. “N.C. State isn’t known for having traditions, so we wanted to establish this trip so that students can get involved in the Alumni Association and build a tradition that State badly needs.”
The entire European Odyssey costs $2650. The Greece Add-On is an additional $530. The cost includes first-class hotels, meals, ground and sea transportation, a tour director from London to Greece and city tours. Airfare is not included but can be arranged through the Alumni Association’s Web site.
Hart plans to organize a meet-and-greet session for the trip participants sometime in April so that they can get to know each other and answer any questions about the trip.
“This trip is designed to give students a smorgasbord view of Europe and all of its different cultures,” Hart said. “So that when they have another opportunity to travel they will be able visit their favorite countries again.”
