Erin Mullins (12 year old) Blogs about her People to People Trip -- Tale of Two Cities

My guest blogger today is my beautiful, smart, chatty and funny daughter Erin. Many of you supported and prayed for Erin this past year as she raised money for her Tale of Two Cities Trip to Europe. I asked her to write about her experiences. Over the next couple of entries, she will tell about her time in France and England, and I’ll post some of her pictures. Thank you for allowing me this indulgence. We are very proud of her, the hard work she put into going, and what she learned as a result of this trip. Hope you enjoy!




ERIN MULLINS (12 YEARS OLD):

My adventure started when my mom handed me a letter and asked me if I would like to be a part of People to People Ambassador Program. I was very excited. I learned that People to People was a program started by President Eisenhower. He created this program so children could help there be fewer wars. President Eisenhower believed if children could meet other children from other countries and become friends, the children wouldn’t want war. I was nominated by one of my teachers to be in this program. I don’t know who nominated me, but I would like to know so I could thank them.

If I wanted to go on this trip, which I did, I had to do a lot of work. The trip to France and England was really expensive, so I started raising money. I did car washes, sold Christmas cookies, and even cleaned my uncle’s backyard. While I was saving I also had to take online classes and quizzes about the countries where I would be going. I was the first one to finish taking all of the quizzes.

Mrs. Wendy was the Shreveport group leader. I was the only girl in the group. There were two other boys, Michael and Racelyn. I also had to make a presentation in front of Mrs. Wendy. I did it on Stonehenge. There were several legends about Stonehenge including this one. The devil bought stones from a woman and was putting them up and said, “No one will ever see me.” A farmer saw him and said, “Oh yes they will.” As he was going to tell the people, the devil threw a stone on him.

In addition to the classes, quizzes and presentation, I had to pack. I put my clothes in ziplock bags, rolled them up and sealed them. It was pretty boring. I also had a lanyard I had to wear. Before I could leave I had to have US Currency changed to euros and pounds.

The only thing I was really nervous about was the long plane ride there, but it wasn’t that long after all. We flew with Delta, so each of the seats had their own television.

I was looking forward to going to the Eiffle Tower and to see the changing of the guards. I also was really excited to try escargot (snails) even though it did not taste like chicken. Mosst of all I looked forward to telling my family all of the great things I did on this trip. This was the beginning of my great adventure.