How much can you cram into a three-week trip to a foreign country?
A lot.
That’s the answer for a group of seven teens and a chaperone from Croatia on their three-week journey to Watsonville that wrapped up over the weekend.
The Santa Cruz Beach Boardwalk, Yosemite, San Francisco, Monterey Bay Aquarium, Rodeo Salinas, San Juan Bautista, an agricultural tour in the Pajaro Valley, the Martinelli’s plant and Company Store were the hot spots. Add to that the list of restaurants and points of interest their host families piled on.
The visitors, from the Student Ambassador Cultural Exchange Program Croatia, is the first such visit through the program. An American body of visitors—their counterpart—already completed their visit to Croatia last summer.
“I feel so lucky to be on this tour,” said 17-year-old Paula Bronzan. “This is my first time to come to America. One of the most incredible things is the nature: I didn’t expect the nature to be so beautiful. I always thought of the rolling golden hills of California. And the weather—I am so surprised that it can get so cold at night; I was thinking warm beaches and palm trees.”
Luka Grgurin, 14, also said it was his first U.S. visit.
“The people here are so warm,” he said. “It’s a different vibe. I really didn’t expect it. For me, one of the best things was San Francisco. I’ve never seen so many really steep streets. And I was able to ride the cable car. They let us stand on the outside. I loved that. You know, Mark Twain said, ‘The coldest winter I ever spent was a summer in San Francisco.’ Now I know what he meant.”
On July 21 the group was given a tour of the Martinell’s plant on West Beach Street. Then they swung around the corner to sample Martinelli’s beverages and check out the wealth of hats, shirts, caps, aprons, kitchen towels and more at the Company Store. They also got to watch a short video on the history of the company.
Teresa Del Piero, one of the host families and a member of the Student Cultural Exchange program, said the trip wrapped up July 21 with a farewell lunch at the California Grill.
“I think all of us really felt so welcome here and that made our trip really, really nice,” Bronzan said.
I am surprised that a visit to Gizdich Ranch was not included on their tour!