Summer is here, and my goal is to visit as many new places as possible in my time off from work.
My first stop just so happens to be work-related, an end of the year field trip for our outgoing 8th graders to none other than Seattle, Washington.
Here are all the stops we made along the way, and their corresponding rating (out of 5 stars).
- LAX Airport. Yuck. Airports are the worst. Lines are the worst. Seats are uncomfortable. We of course flew economy all the way. 0 Stars.
2. Seattle-Tacoma International Airport: Kind of a step up from LAX since it’s not LAX, but it was still annoying having to wait to get some luggage. 1 Star
3. The First Costco. Nothing special, and it was also missing a bunch of supplies. Unremarkable. 1 Star.
4. AIRBNB: For our stay this week, we went to an AIRBNB to house 30 students and 5 adults, the girls sleeping upstairs and the boys sleeping downstairs. The location itself (Monroe, Washington) was pretty nice and stunning; we could take in the beauty outside, and enjoy the sounds of nature and the nice weather (minus the mosquitoes). We spent much of our time inside the house cooking (not me obviously), playing games which included Egyptian War and of course Mafia. 4 Stars.
5. Our first trek to the actual city of Seattle took us to the Pacific Science Center, a decent museum with many fun exhibits, including an outdoor butterfly garden. The only downside though was the roughly hour 17 minute drive we had to take everyday from our AIRBNB to get to the city… 3 Stars
https://www.instagram.com/p/BkLU0sbjv5-/?taken-by=mrtranrise
6. Our next stop was in conjunction with the Science Center, watching a laser show. Even though the Roy G. Bilf part was exceptional (5 Stars), the rest of the laser show proved uninspiring with technical difficulties putting 70% of us to sleep. 1 Star.
7. At the Museum of Popular Culture we got to visit cool exhibits like the Medieval Room, The Sound Room, and of course the Marvel Comics Exhibit, where we took some pictures with cool replicas of the superheroes in the Marvel Cinematic Universe.
8. The Space Needle was pretty underwhelming. It took us to the top and we got a decent view of the city but to be highlighted as the main attraction of Seattle, it was kind of inadequate in my eyes.
9. The University of Washington gave us a nice tour, and though it might be the RKHS of colleges, it was a very beautiful school full of cherries trees that don’t produce cherries.
10. The Seattle Aquarium was okay for an aquarium, but having visited the Aquarium of the Pacific many times in my life, I was unimpressed. 2 Stars.
11. Pike’s place was pretty crowded and reminded me much of a Farmer’s Market. It was funny seeing students accidentally go to the wrong Starbucks and order the same drinks they always do. At least order a mug children so that you have a souvenir. Shrug. The gum wall was pretty lit, even though I didn’t have gum to put on it. 4 Stars.
12. Seattle Art Museum: Even though it was pretty cool and students got to learn some calligraphy and art, I think they were mostly tired being that it was the last day of the trip. The tour guide nearly put most of our group to sleep as well sadly with her monotone demeanor and her diarrhea of the mouth. I did like that it incorporated Medieval Japanese and Medieval Chinese history and culture though. 3 Stars.
13. Boat Ride: To hallmark the end of our trip, we went on a nice little short boat ride, which despite being underwhelming provided great photo opportunities. 3 Stars.
In terms of the overall trip, I enjoyed the time spent with students and adults alike. From kids making fun of my Targus backpack to all the nights playing Mafia, I’m glad I was able to have a proper sendoff with my favorite set of students I have ever taught (thus far). There was a little too much driving though so I’m going to opt out of any future trips that involve that high degree of vehicular movement (especially since I struggled tremendously parking in the super tight parking lot). The kids were fun, but a little out of control for being “top scholars”. Having to deal with a student’s emotional crisis and drama on the last night was worth it to provide closure to the end of the trip and gave me the opportunity to see all kids as who they ultimately are, despite it causing me to have 0 hours of sleep.
I’m hoping I can go back to Seattle sometime in the future. Until then, thank you to my car (Team Phil’s) for putting up with my bad driving, and to my fellow chaperones for putting up with some annoying students all week long. We did it, and with that victory overcome, summer break is finally here for me.
