DC School Trip

I am able to go on the 8th Grade Washington DC school trip as a chaperone.  While some people think this should be dreaded, I really enjoy it.  Here are the perks: 1) I don’t have to cook for 3 days. 2) I get to travel. 3) I see things I maybe missed before on the trip. 4) I get to know the students a little better. 5) I get to know my co-workers better. 6) I only have to be responsible for packing my stuff. 7) I do not have to plan it, strategize about what to do if things go wrong, or be concerned with the details. Here are some non-perks: 1) I end up with a little less sleep. 2) There are occasional attitudes.

So, we leave around 7:30 on the first day in a fancy tour bus.

We end the day with a tour of Gettysburg – the fields where the fighting happened and a tour in one of the historic homes.

Every night, my major responsibility is to make sure my rooms of girls are in their rooms, and I have their phones.  This year, I collected 16 of them.  My roommate collected 12.  Plus our phones.  We had 30 phones charging in our room.  Yep, that’s a lot of charging going on.

Then, we wake up (kinda early) to leave for DC on the second day.  This day is packed full.  I logged 8.75 miles on my iPhone pedometer!  We see memorials, monuments, buildings, and museums. 

   

We end this night with a dinner cruise with other schools on board.  It looks so serene on the top deck….

…filled with jr. high students.  And I didn’t even get a picture (or maybe audio would be better) of the dance party going on below deck.

This is a late night!  The next day we wake up early again head back to DC to see some more things before leaving by about 1pm for home.  We get in between 9-10pm to the school.  And wake up to teach the next day…