Shops, food, and culture. What’s not to love about traveling abroad?

Beaver Area High School English teacher Ms. Melanie Barker traveled to Romania this summer. Romania is located Eastern Europe. But it wasn’t just a pleasure trip.

Ms. Barker was accompanied by seven other group members and five translators on her journey. The trip was a Vacation Bible School mission trip and focused on 40 kids in Romania.

“I didn’t even have my passport [when I first heard about the trip], and I missed the sign-up deadline for the trip. One morning, [junior] Spencer Hagen [who was also on the trip] came into my class and told me they needed one more adult to go. I decided to go right then; it was like I was meant to go,” Ms. Barker explained.

On her trip she saw the infamous Vlad Dracula’s (yes, that Dracula) castle and many sunflower fields.

“The fields of sunflowers and the castle were beautiful,” Ms. Barker exclaimed.

During her trip Ms. Barker spent lots of time with her group members and the kids.

“We sang, ate meals together, and prayed. The translators helped us have conversations during meals with the children,” Ms. Barker said.

Ms. Barker’s favorite part of the trip wasn’t the cool places she’d visited, like Vlad Dracula’s castle, but instead was the memories she made with the kids on the trip.

“The kids performed a skit that showed how Jesus erases your sins; it was beautiful!” Ms. Barker said.

Ms. Barker also was pleasantly surprised by the unexpected friendships she made on her trip.

“I got really close with two of the translators. One was a math teacher who loved literature and the other was a high school graduate who loved French. We had a lot in common to bond over,” Ms. Barker, who also teaches French, explained.

Ms. Barker also noted that she saw lots of vendors selling fruit unlike here in America where we think of a trip to the supermarket.

“Right outside of Vlad Dracula’s castle there were stands selling baskets of hand-picked berries, like raspberries, blackberries, and a little red berry we don’t have here,” Ms. Barker explained. Her favorite food on the trip included some of these berries.

Ms. Barker noticed some cultural differences but not many.

“They [the Romanian’s] were very friendly and outgoing, and the older women at church were very conservative in the way they dressed,” she said.

Ms. Barker also loved how happy the kids were when she brought them letters from students in Fellowship of the Word, a club at Beaver Area High School she co-sponsors with Mrs. Shugert.

“They were so excited that Americans were thinking of them. They quickly wrote letters for me to take back with me; I loved being the mailman for international communication for the kids,” Ms. Barker said, “The trip was great!”