1995 School Magazine

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6ir16' 6rammsr Srbool IGrisbane 1995

another tour, this time to the ancient historical sites of Mycenae, Olympia, Delphi, and Meteora. Not even a ferry strike cor-rld stop us! Our driver, Spiro, could take a bus through the narrowest gap where no else would even dare. Our hotel in Athens lelt much to be desired but the others on our tour were magnificent, especially the hotel at Delphi

with its views from the heights of Mt Parnassus to the Corinthian Gulf in the distance. The ever-present olive trees brightened up a rather stark landscape of rocks and mountains. It was staggering to look at the sites and imagine what life was like up to 3500 years ago. Australia is such a young country by European standards! The monasteries perched atop their rock pinnacles at Meteora are quite an amazing sight. Our stay in Greece finished on a particularly pleasant note with a day cruise of three of the Greek islands. 'We were ready for our J4 hour trip home via Hong Kong and Cairns. At the end, al1 of us discovered that we had a new appreciation of Greek and Roman history. \fle would like to thank Mrs Hancock for allowing this trip, Mrs Basford and her husband for their organisation and coordination, and also the fwo mothers, Mrs Kent and Mrs McCurdy, for joining us. \7e al1 had a wonderfui time. Our only complaint was that it was too short! MELISSA KINGSTON

The Acropolis

U.S. SPACE TRIP 1995

The next day we flew from Los Angeles, via Dallas, Texas, to Huntsville , Alabama, where we were to spend the next week in Space Camp.

^ftnce again this year, a troop of Grammar girls visited the \-/united States on what is commonly known as the

"Space Trip". The main purpose of the trip was to attend U.S. Space Camp; however, we managed to squeeze in a sizeable amount of sight-seeing and shopping. After flying from Brisbane to Syd- ney and doing our last minute duty- free shopping, twenty-one stlldents and three teachers finally boarded the aeroplane to Los Angeles. We stopped over in Fiji, after a three hour flight, having just an hour to buy souvenirs, before reboarding the aeroplane for a further nine hours. 'We arrived in a humid Los Ange- 1es and were driven to the beautiful Marriott Airport Hotel. ril/e ate at Denny's Restaurant that night to ex- perience the lirst of what was to be one of manytypical "American" meals ... burger and fries.

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The U.S. Space and Rocket Centre in Huntsville, Alabama, is the home ol Space Camp, where we spent almost half of our time in the United States. Along with typical American cafeteria food and a minimum of sleep on a lumpy bed, Space Camp involved many beneficial experiences. From SCUBA diving to designing and building our own miniature rockets and egg-drop boxes, we did it all. Various mechanical electronic simulators were utilised in order to make the experience as true to life as possible. \7e were also given lectures and seminars on many aspects of space travel, both present and future, from some of NASA's top scientists and engineers. It was at times like these that we realised how little we really do know about this field of science in Australia.

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The lollowing day, suffering from jet lag, and an overdose of fat, we were treated to an interesting continental breakfast! The remainder of that day we spent at Universal Studios. On the way we passed through the well-known Sunset Boulevard and Melrose. That afternoon we made an unscheduled stop at the \7alk of Fame and the Chinese Theatre.

Althor-rgh we may not have realised at the time, one of the most valuable pafis of the "Space Camp experience" was the close contact that we had with American students of our own age and the knowledge we gained in comparing the way we live and interact with each other.

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