About 40 PCI students travelled to Italy this year for a monumental trip of a lifetime. Four of the students were part of a delegation to present their experiences at the Portage La Prairie School Division Board this week.

"Actually a big highlight was getting lost in Venice -- just an interesting experience learning very quickly to navigate," says grade 12 student Alec Finney.

He says Venice has canals, making the challenge a little more complex. Finney says the city's definitely not easy to get around in, and he had to ask locals for help. They realized they were lost about 30 minutes before they had to return to their rendezvous point. Then they took another 40 minutes running to that location.

Grade 12 student Ryan Martens adds, "The highlight of the trip for me was being able to connect with the students that you don't always connect with."

He explains this was especially true for the grade twelves whom he learned are planning to go to university. Martens says they decided to keep in touch, noting they've created lifetime friendships.

"My favourite part of the trip was probably Venice," says grade 11 student Samuel Yonka. "I went around a bunch of different landmarks. We saw the old arsenal, and our favourite part was the Doge's palace."

Presenting to the school board (photo by Mike Blume)

He says the Doge's palace was a massive complex of government rooms. Yonka says a unique experience was getting lost in the dungeons there. He notes it was a bit frightful to think people were imprisoned there.

Grade ten student Kelsey Lavallee shares what stood out for her.

"My highlight was this little town we went to, called Luca," explains Lavallee. "It was a medieval town that was still surrounded by the brick walls. You could go up on the walls, and there was a lot of really old architecture there."

She says she climbed an extremely tall tower that had a garden on the very top. Lavallee says another highlight for her was visiting the Leaning Tower of Pisa, noting it was always her dream to see it.