Jaydon Mangiaracina
Staff Writer
Every year a group of students travel around the world together on their Junior Journey trip. Junior Journey is an opportunity that Florida Southern offers where students with junior credits get to choose a discounted price of the trips offered. Each student with junior credits gets the opportunity to go on one of the trips at a discounted price and then other trips if you choose to go on more will be at the full price of what the school offers. Trips with the Junior Journey discount range, depend on the trip and are between $1,050 to $6,303, with payment plans offered.
When getting the chance to interview some students who went on the trips, all of the students described it as an amazing opportunity to see the world with their classmates.
“The trip was an incredible mix of learning the history, and culture, seeing famous sights from “Game of Thrones”, eating really good traditional Croatian food, as well as getting to enjoy the beach and the wonderful nightlife Croatia has to offer,” Mathew Fromer said. He went on the Croatia trip through May 6-19.
After asking another student from the same trip about her experience, both students expressed how much they would reccomend the trip.
“During the trip, I was able to make a lot of new friends and really bond with the ones I already knew. We got to explore lots of the little stores and markets through Trogir and Split, and with having our professor as a local we got to see a lot of the hidden spots most tourists didn’t know about. We explored many Game of Thrones spots, toured museums, and got to see many cool sights by going on four wheelers and climbing to the top of towers for views…” Sarah Grundig said.
Withthese great experiences of getting to see the world safely at a discounted price as a junior, the students are also advised to bring extra money for their personal endeavors, such as going out to get food, souvenirs, and excursions in their free time. The students recommended bringing around $500 to $700 for the trips.
Summer semester abroad opportunities were also offered. The semester abroad opportunities are more limited to where you go. This summer students went to Spain with faculty and took classes to get credit while they were there for a month. The trip cost $3,460 at the Junior Journey discount price and $5,460 at the regular price. With this price, the trip included transportation, most meals, all of the excursions, and activities, as well as ending the trip with six credit hours of the Spanish classes that the students had to take.
“I would recommend this trip 100%,” Haley Madden said. “It was such an amazing time that everyone should get to experience. We were able to stay with a host family who helped us fully immerse into the culture. With weekly excursions outside of Alicante (the city where we stayed) and daily activities we were able to see so much in the five weeks we were there. We also took Spanish classes that focused on speaking and grammar which really helped us to understand the language… I would definitely say be prepared to walk everywhere so bring comfortable walking shoes. In all, this was one of the best times of my life and I’m so happy I made the decision to go. If you have the opportunity, take it.”
Florida Southern College continues it’s discounted opportunities to see the world around us and learn about different cultures. Taking these opportunities won’t be regrettable. Students who want to seek more info can visit the travel fair on Oct. 9 to see the Junior Journey trips offered this year.
