Spending time in Europe

Times Reporter

 

Strathmore High School student Parker Gavey took part in the Lions International Youth Exchange program this past summer, opting to go to Finland. His sister went on a trip last year through the program so he had already known it existed. Gavey is in the Leos group at school, which also promotes the trip. 

“I’ve been to other parts of Europe, I’ve been very lucky to travel and I’ve always wanted to go to a Scandinavian country. When the Lions presented this opportunity to go somewhere, I went,” said Gavey, about why he chose Finland. 

He was in Finland for three weeks, two of which were with a host family and nine days were at a camp. The family had a son his age, and two daughters; one is nine and the other is 14. 

“I loved it,” said Gavey. 

“The father and the boy that was my age spoke (English) quite fluently. The mother was alright, we could talk and both of the girls didn’t really (speak English).”

He said ordering food was tough because most of the people didn’t speak English, and there were times when he would have to ask his host family to just order him something. He did try to learn Finnish before heading out on his trip, but found it was a very difficult language to learn. One of his favourite parts of the trip was the camp.

“I loved the camp, the camp was so much fun. Everyone was great, it was like just a big group of people, there wasn’t little small groups it was just 30 people hanging out all the time,” said Gavey. 

He said the camp was kind of a dorm room style area, but it was also like camping. 

While he had fun in Finland, Gavey would like to go somewhere else next time if he has the opportunity. One idea he is considering is central Europe, though he said he doesn’t really know for sure at this point.