Adventuring in the Alps 1 summer, 3 cities Harmony Abroad December 2024
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Photo by Arjun Jindal
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VIA VERDE
Palo Alto High School’s Travel Magazine
MISSION STATEMENT
Via Verde aims to be a travel magazine that uses the power of the student press and desktop publishing to pursue the values of the Palo Alto Unified School District, Palo Alto High School and scholastic journalism. More specifically, the mission of the Via Verde is to provide:
The Paly community with information on travel issues from student perspectives; a forum for students to submit and publish their experiences related to travel; and an independent journalistic magazine that models integrity and creativity seeking to educate its readers on local and international cultures;
The larger scholastic journalism community with a role model publication that embodies the best of scholastic journalism and for future student-created magazines; and,
The magazine’s student staff with journalistic and leadership opportunities that increase their ability and desire to participate meaningfully in our society and global community; and skills to become leaders within future endeavors.
LETTER FROM THE EDITOR
Welcome aboard to Via Verde! We are delighted to have you travel around the world through a Paly student lens.
Via Verde, Paly’s unique student travel magazine is back for its fourth issue in Volume 4. Via Verde serves as a space where students are encouraged to broaden their perspectives on local and international travels with the discovery of new cultures.
In this issue, staff writer Hadrien de Martel takes us on a journey to the Alps, while three Paly students share their unique study abroad experiences.
Additionally, staff writer Divij Motwani reflects on his European adventure with the Paly choir, where singing together deepened connections and created lasting memories.
Via Verde can’t wait to share this new journey with you, traversing the globe, together.
Bon Voyage!
Anika Nair
DECEMBER
2024 VOLUME 5 ISSUE 1
EDITOR-IN-CHIEF
Anika Nair
MANAGING EDITOR
STAFF WRITERS
Sarina Grewal
Hadrien
Divij
ADVISER
CONNECT @viaverde.mag
issuu.com/viaverdemag
Chiara Martin
de Martel
Motwani
Xander Yap
Motoko Iwata
Amani Fossati-Moiane
Paul Kandell
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ON THE COVER
After an exhausting morning of skiing, Luca takes a break to lie in the snow and take in the Tahoe sun.
Photo by Luca Vostrejs
Text by HADREIN DE MARTEL
Photo by BLANCHE LE GOUVELLO
Adventuring in the Alps
Spending four days in the Swiss-Austrian Alps
Going through the mountains: A winding path goes through the valleys passing inbetween rocky mountains. The sun shines bright, as we walk towards our destination.
As I trudged up the final few steps, I reached the top of the mountain. I felt like I was on top of the world. On both sides of me, lush, green valleys filled with trees and snow patches seemed to extend endlessly. As the clouds embraced me, all I could feel was a giddy sort of excitement as I thought about what I had accomplished.
During the summer, I traveled to the Swiss-Austrian Alps with my parents and cousins where we spent four days hiking in the Rätikun mountains, seeing gorgeous animals, plants, and valleys all throughout.
It was a unique experience, different from anything I had done before. For each of those four days, we were immersed in a beautiful mountainous landscape, each day featuring a grueling hike.
Before the trip, I was nervous because my cousins don’t hike often and personally, I wasn’t sure if I was prepared enough. But I was also extremely excited. Normally, I barely get to spend any time with my cousins since they live in France, but now I had the opportunity to spend a lot more time with them while discovering a new country.
As we arrived at Lünersee, a vast man-made lake filled with gorgeous cyan water, I set my fears aside and took my first step into nature leaving civilization behind. The first day was simple, a fivehour hike that would serve as an introduction to the picturesque mountains.
We dipped in and out of valleys, following a small creek, and on either side of me, big cows grazed freely. Beautiful flowers of every color surrounded me and hills were covered in green, different from the dry, and rocky California landscape.
After the hike, we arrived at the first of the mountain huts, called Lindauer. The hut was extremely clean and featured an older architecture where typical German food like schnitzel and bratwurst were offered. As night fell, thunder shook the valley, serving as a warning of the massive storms that could come and go at any instant.
The next day’s hike wasn’t so simple. The hardest of the four days, we would have to climb up a seemingly endless amount of switchbacks to reach the top of a mountain.
Only after a lot of struggle, and many, many breaks were we finally able to reach the top. By far my favorite moment of the trip, I stood tall gazing down at the dozens of valleys with my family next to me.
This excitement kept me going even af-
ter my legs had turned to lead, and arrival seemed impossible. I quickly drifted to sleep that night.
The next morning, my worst fear had been realized. As I looked outside, ominous gray clouds loomed in the distance as yellow bolts flashed through the sky. Rain poured down on the hut, not a blue patch to be seen in the sky.
After much deliberation, and as the rain slowly settled, we made the decision to follow through with our plan and continue
the hike anyway. As we walked we constantly gazed at the sky, hoping that the storm would not follow us. In a stroke of luck, the storm had gone in the opposite direction and we had only suffered under light rain.
The last day was a short and simple hike and gave me time to reflect on my trip. In these four days, I discovered a new landscape, a new culture, and I had spent more time with my cousins than I had in the past four years.
Rising up: Clouds rise up from the valley as the sun begins to set. Green hills extend endlessly into the distance, as yellow colors begin to flash in the sky. Photo by Blanche LeGouvello
In the clouds: Fogs rolls in as we eat at the top of the mountain. Visibility is low, as we get our warm layers back on and get ready to continue the hike. Pictured: Hadrien de Martel (left) Hippolye LeGou-
Text by XANDER YAP and MOTOKO IWATA
ONE SUMMER THREE CITIES
For Palo Alto High School students, summers are an opportunity to discover the world, their passions and themselves. These three pieces look at the experiences of three students, who travelled in pursuit of new educational perspectives that they cannot get during the school year.
NEW TECHNOLOGIES: Elsa Lagerblad looks through a component of a weather monitoring satellite during a museum trip.
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Sky High Adventures
Sophomore Elsa Lagerblad spent her summer studying aerospace engineering in Toulouse, France. The program she chose was CIEE where they took her to study abroad for four weeks in the beautiful city Toulouse, the fourth-largest city in France. Her program consisted of unique experiences such as building a mini rocket as a team that they got to launch or a trip to Airbus, the biggest plane manufacturer in the world.
Lagerblad was introduced to CIEE after attending their annual talk at Palo Alto High School, which focuses on exposing students to study abroad options. “I looked at their website and I found this program,” Lagerblad said. “I thought it looked really interesting, so I applied.”
For Lagerblad, this was her first international program, and the first time requiring her to be completely independent. “It really opened my eyes to how I function completely on my own,” Lagerblad said. “We had to do everything on our own from transportation, laundry, food: all of that was on us. That made the experience so much more immersive.”
Over the four-week long program, Lagerblad explored her passion for aerospace engineering through activities such as designing a rocket for a hypothetical trip to Mars.
“Our rocket was very good in theory, but its practical results were not quite what we expected.”
The study abroad helped cement Lagerblad’s desire to pursue aerospace engineering in the future. “Doing the program made me realize just how many opportunities there are within aerospace,” Lagerblad said. “It introduced me to a taster of how working in an aerospace company would be like, because we worked in these teams to build rockets and other things. The whole experience really solidified my intentions to become an aerospace engineer.”
The program being international came with its own struggles: Lagerblad’s biggest challenge was that she didn’t know French. “It definitely hampered my ability to just get around because I couldn’t read any street signs,” Lagerblad said. “I didn’t know what was going on. But luckily, there were people on the program who did speak French that could help me.”
Lagerbald said the program expanded her horizons not only in academics, but also socially, since CIEE programs have people from across the United States. “I love getting to meet people from all over the US,” Laberblad said. “Otherwise, I probably wouldn’t ever be able to talk to them. It was really, really fun in that sense.”
LEARNING HISTORY: Lagerblad goes to a museum of the paleolithic age in Southern France. This was part of one of the program’s weekend-long trips.
ROCKET SCIENCE: At Cité de l’Espace, Lagerblad poses in front of a rocket. The program taught Lagerblad more about Airbus and aerospace.
Building Bridges in Boston
“There’s nobody to tell you to do anything,” Chen said. “You make all the decisions by yourself, which is very refreshing.”
This summer Junior Dylan Chen attended the Tufts pre-college program where he experienced life in college. In the two-week long experience, he attended classes to study both international relations and Russian.
Chen picked this program because he wanted to experience a college lifestyle to determine what things he would be looking for in a college he may want to attend in the future. “I feel that [this experience] can be helpful, especially in my college app application process, when I determine what sort of college I want to attend.”
Chen said that the program also made him realize what he wanted to pursue. “It [the program] made me realize that the material taught, the field of research and interest really suits me.” Chen said, “It made me realize that maybe I do want to major in international relations.”
During the program, Chen learned about adapting to a new environment by making new friends. “Number one, be open to make friends and approach people,” Chen said. “You [should] say hi to your roommate when you meet them and ask them, ‘do you wanna go to the dinner hall together?’ Just be friendly to everyone.”
According to Chen, he also attended the program because he wanted to explore international relations with an equally passionate community. “It
[Tufts] was one of the best programs I’ve ever attended because you meet so many like minded people that share the same interests as you.” Chen explained that the community was one of the best things at the program. “You find so much common language between you and all the other participants and you don’t find this gathering of so many like-minded people elsewhere,” Chen said. “At the same time, the college-level professors were very helpful, and they were always friendly.”
Even though the academics of a college can be scary, Chen said the community of Tufts really helped. “Once you build up a group of friends, you’re able to adapt very fast because there’s people helping you out,” Chen said. “Living and interacting with friends makes you feel better.”
WEEKEND TRIPS: Dylan Chen goes to the Museum of Fine Arts as a part of one of his group excursions.
BUILDING COMMUNITY:
Creative Writing Collaborations
“We live to experi -
ence.” For junior Jade Rothbaum, this summer was another new experience – one that changed her life.
Rothbaum attended the Interlochen Center for the Arts, an organization providing an immersive arts education in Michigan that accepts over 3,000 youth from around the world each summer for its summer program, and also operates a boarding school yearround.
Rothbaum attended specifically Interlochen’s Creative Writing program, where there were genre workshops on fiction, nonfiction, playwriting and poetry.
For Rothbaum, the immersive experience at Interlochen taught her a lot, even beyond the classroom. “I learned a lot, and not just because of what you’re doing in the classroom,” Rothbaum said. “There was
a lot I learned about myself in terms of what environment I do or don’t work well in, or how I interact with others in different settings.”
According to Rothbaum, the experience of sharing writing was new and valuable. “During the second week of camp, we had activities where we would bring pieces to classes and workshop them,” Rothbaum said. “That was something that was new for me. I haven’t really had a lot of writer friends or people that I’ve shared my work with on a regular basis. So it was really cool and amazing to meet people that I could connect with over something that I hadn’t much before.”
After the program, Rothbaum received an invitation to apply to the boarding school – a choice that came with a decision to pursue her dreams. “A little bit after I came home and the camp was over, they [Interlochen] reached out to me, so I ended up applying and
getting accepted,” Roth baum said. “I had a hard time choosing; there was a lot of weight with the deci sion.”
Rothbaum transferred to Interlochen after two years at Paly to focus on her pas sion. “One reason I really wanted to focus on writing is because I think commu nication, and the ability to communicate to others, especially through words, is a skill that is essential in our new world,” Roth baum said. “Now especially, as things can be so easily transmitted online.”
Overall, Rothbaum said that she would recommend the experience of trying a summer program to all students. “There’s a lot to be learned, not only aca demically but also about yourself about trying out different situations.” Roth baum said. “There is always a perspective you haven’t explored before. Trying new things or trying things in a different way is the way to do that.”
Jade Rothbaum participates in a creative writing workshop at her Interlochen Center for the Arts program.
SAUSALITO, CALIFORNIA
Photo by Sanjana Adatrao
Text by Amani Fossati-Moiane
Photo by Sarah Gilmore
Gilmore In
Bahrain
Mathematics teacher Sarah Gilmore, brings diverse experiences to her role as a teacher at Palo Alto High School. Before joining the Paly community, she taught at an American international school in Bahrain. Her time in there provided her with unique insights into global education systems and the similiarities and differences in student experiences across continents.
Ms. Gilmore is known for a fun and engaging classroom environment, one of her most notable projects being the Probability Carnival which she brought over from her time teaching in Bahrain. Students in this project, design and build their own mini carnival games, incorporating probability to determine the odds of winning each game.
Ms. Gilmore’s innovative apporach to teaching ensures that her students are actively involved in their learning process, fostering a love for math and and its real world applications.
“It was very different in a great way. I made a lot of great friends. The Bahraini people are very nice. There's a huge rock culture music in Bahrain, which I was super surprised about, but it was a great time.”
—Sarah Gilmore
BUSTLING STREETS: Bahrain’s metropolitan city came alive with crowds filling its dense streets. Tall buildings and apartments showcased the city’s modern and dynamic spirit.
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“Kids are kids everywhere. I’d say that kids in Bahrain were very similar to kids in Iowa, very similar to kids in California.”
—Sarah Gilmore
“The education system was definitely different. It was vastly different. Parents had a lot more say over kids’ grades, and it was widely accepted for parents to go talk to superintendents or, you know, very high up in their whatever school they were at, to argue points back or argue grades back.”
—Sarah Gilmore
WATCHING SUNSETS: Whether from her home or the serene shores of the beach Ms. Gilmore often spent her evenings marveling at the Bahrain sunset, a vibrant display across the sky.
EDUCATION IN ACTION: Ms. Gilmore brought the lessons and teaching practices she honed in Bahrain to her classroom in Palo Alto, where she now teaches the same subjects with a new group of learners.
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Alone in the Big Apple
Text and photos by SARINA GREWAL
LIGHT ON THE LAWN : Despite its location in bustling Manhattan, Columbia’s campus is full of lawns and park areas. After dinner, I would usually go out to watch the sunset with my friends.
When you’re visiting a city on the other side of the country, the last thing you want to hear is your chaperone saying “oh crap, we left a kid behind” — especially when you’re the kid in question. As I hung up the phone and contemplated the quickly darkening street before me, I could feel the cold panic settling over my skin.
My experience at Columbia University’s Pre-College Programs involved a lot of personal freedom. Every day after class, I made my own choice of what to do: whether exploring the University’s huge libraries or venturing to tourist destinations like Coney Island, I had almost complete control over where I was at any given moment.
So, when my dorm group and I went on a group outing to SoHo, I decided to push my new independence by ditching the rest of my group to wander by myself. I was having a great time until I arrived at the designated rendezvous point and was met with an empty street.
Immediately, as I registered how cold and dark it was starting to get, I started freaking out. My breathing became shallow and I started hyperventilating. But, once I got myself together, I realized that I needed to take the initiative and do something to help myself. I called my RA, figured out a new meeting point, and navigated there by myself — scared but still going.
It wasn’t until I fell back onto my thin dorm-room mattress that the anxiety finally left me. My adventure hammered it in for me that independence has a time and place. Lesson learned: summer programs are a great place to develop self-sufficiency — but, hopefully, without being left scared and alone in the Big Apple.
CORNDOGS AT CONEY ISLAND: One of the many tourist destinations I visited on my trip was Coney Island. My day at the theme park was filled with fun rides, cheap food, and an overall good time.
HALLS OF HISTORY: Columbia really leans into its long history — its classrooms still use blackboards, and its library stairwell is decorated with a picture of President Eisenhower. I saw that painting every morning as I walked into Butler Library to study.
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GLACIER NATIONAL PARK, MONTANA Hidden Gem
This past summer, Palo Alto High School junior Estelle Dufour spent a week in Glacier National Park, Montana, hiking with her family. Anticipating just another camping trip, her expectations were beyond exceeded.
“I went to Glacier National Park and we expected everything around it to be really boring and dull, but there was actually a lot to do around the national park,” Dufour said. “We went to lakes, visited the nearby towns, ate at a bunch of good restaurants, and the people were really nice. And the national park itself was incredible, definitely one of the prettiest places I’ve ever been. I would highly recommend visiting both the towns and the national park because I had a great experience.”
Text by CHIARA MARTIN
Photos by CHARLES DUFOUR
TWO THUMBS UP (dominant)
After a long morning hike, Estelle Dufour poses for a picture in front of one of the many stunning lakes. “We woke up at 4 a.m. to hike to this lake hidden up in the mountains,” Dufour said. “It’s usually a hike people do in the mornings because later in the day it becomes overcast and gets covered in clouds.”
STEP BY STEP (left) Almost to the top of the mountain, Dufour keeps climbing steadily. “We took a day hike up a mountain to go see a glacier,” Dufour said. “At the top we jumped into the glacier. This hike was one of our shorter hikes, around six hours. Our hikes were usually a day long, and we’d get tired because it was also really hot outside.”
CASCADING WATERS (below)
Dufour poses in front of a flowing waterfall. “This hike was an extra activity we added on, but it turned out to be one of my favorites,” Dufour said. “It was so beautiful. I was the only one who was brave enough to go in the water.”
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Harmony Abroad
The sound of our voices filled the grand halls of ancient cathedrals, blending with the rich history of Spain and Portugal — a journey where music and culture intertwined at every step. Over the past summer, I was given the opportunity to travel to Spain and Portugal with the Palo Alto High School choir. A 10 day trip right as school ended, filled with exploration and music within the antiquated architecture that filled Western Europe.
After a series of long, arduous flights, our trip began in Portugal’s coastal, capital city: Lisbon. Known for its fascinating architecture and colorful neighborhoods, it was our first look into the ancient pathways,
rustic buildings, and cathedrals that would surround us for the rest of the journey. We began the day with a walking tour, where we explored the vast Catholic structures before splitting into small groups and searching for a place to eat.
After the excitement of our first day in Lisbon, it was time for us to prepare for the real reason we were here: to sing. That evening, we stepped into our travel buses and headed to our first rehearsal of the trip, at the Basilica da Estrela. Singing in the massive construction was indescribable, forming sounds unlike any that we would get within Paly’s Performing Arts Center. Bass voices created the foundation, interwinding with
Tenor, Alto, and Soprano voices that all layered to create harmony.
Upon finishing the first practice of our repertoire, we all went back together to the hotel for our first night abroad (and the long day made sleeping easy!).
The next day we were back at it again, with another day of sightseeing in Lisbon, visiting the Belem Quarter on the Tagus River, Jeronimos Monastery, and the Monument of Discoveries among the breathtaking architecture in our trip. In the evening we came back together for our first performance of the tour, singing to a crowd filled with “Lisboetas” (which we learned to be an affectionate name for Lisbon’s natives). As every first
Text by DIVIJ MOTWANI
Photos courtesy of Palo Alto High School Choirs
SINGING IN UNISON: The boys of Paly choir take the stage to deliver a powerful a capella piece they had been perfecting all year.
STANDING ON HISTORY: Every performance carried an extra weight, as many of the locations the choir sang at were historical, giving the choir an opportunity to stand where countless generations had gathered.
performance goes, there were many things to learn and improve — and Mrs. Kerby constantly balanced the tone and dynamics withinin this alien performance hall.
The following day, we quickly packed up our luggage and got into our buses heading to Porto, a coastal city located three hours north of Lisbon. On the way, we visited The University of Coimbra, founded in 1290, and is one of the oldest universities in the world. I have to admit, I didn’t exactly expect to be touring colleges on a choir trip, but I’m glad that I did — the university was beautiful.
Upon arriving in Porto, we checked into our next hotel, and donned our choir clothes once again for our next concert — this time in Porto’s Igreja San Martinho de Cedofeita. This church took on a Brutalist architecture style, looking similar to a concrete bunker. This created a completely different acoustic environment in comparison to the traditionally “echoey” churches that you would normally see. The tone was much cleaner, and I could hear each and every voice surrounding me. After a quick 8:30 pm rehearsal, we performed just one hour later to yet another
local audience.
We rested in our hotels before continuing our trip onwards the next morning. We started off the day with another sightseeing tour of Porto, before transferring to the Basilica de Santa Maria de Vigo, where we rehearsed in the afternoon for our third concert. By this point, we felt like one giant family that was road tripping. Whether it was karaoke in the busses, or playing late night
card games, we were all getting to know each other better.
Once back on the bus, we continued onwards to Finisterre, a small fishing village in Spain. Here, I also got my first taste of Spanish cuisine abroad — some fresh seafood paella. We then had a small walking tour before continuing onwards to Santiago de Compostela, Spain. Although a seemingly small town, Santiago de Compostela upheld
BEAUTIFUL VENUES: During their journey, the Paly choir had the privilege of performing in awe-inspiring venues. Among them was the Iglesia de San Martín de Cedofeita, where their voices filled the brutalist architecture.
deep history as the final destination for pilgrims walking the famed Camino de Santiago pilgrim route. Here we spent the day sightseeing, trying more Spanish cuisine, and spending time connecting with the other choir members with conversations about each other.
As we continued onwards, my time with the other students strengthened the connections that I had built since I came to Paly in freshman year. These were students that I
had spent my entire high school with, hundreds of hours spent singing. But it was also the new students — the freshman that the upperclassman rarely had the opportunity to interact with. And as we experienced different cultures and peered into the lives of many unique people, we also learned more about each other.
As we arrived in Oviedo, Spain, we spent our 6th and 7th day exploring the city and traveling around the beautiful medieval
dwellings nestled within the “Old Town” of Oviedo. As the day came to a close, we met with a local choir in Oviedo, who hosted and sang with us for our penultimate concert. Our choirs with different languages, culture, and people seemed to be extremely different. But as our voices united and we became one, a true connection formed— bridging the gap between us. Afterwards, we were invited for a small gathering that the local choir had setup for us, allowing them to share their culture,
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just as we had done through our song.
As we finished our concert in Oviedo, we spent the night before leaving for Leon — the city where we would be hosting our final concert of the tour. By this point we had shifted away from the cliques that had formed at the start of the tour. We went through our experiences together, fending off homesickness by listening to each other’s stories, whilst singing in the streets of the cities we would visit. Our final performance was in
the Catedral de Burgos, a UNESCO World Heritage site constructed in 1221. Here, all our practice and experience would culminate in our final performance of the year’s repertoire. It was an unforgettable and emotional experience.
As our trip came to an end, we spent our final day traveling to the Spanish capital of Madrid to explore the city on our own. Walking around together, we spent our last time with the seniors before they would head
off to college. These were students who had mentored us in choir and been a part of our journey since day one — and I cried saying goodbye. Ending the day, we took a Flamenco dancing lesson. I constantly toppled over, feeling embarrassed at first. But we all did it together, and as we laughed and kept dancing, it was a testament to how close we had truly become. As the sun set, we enjoyed a final Flamenco show, bringing an end to our journey.
MAKING MEMORIES: Beyond the music, the trip created unforgettable memories. Late nights and bus rides brought choir members close together, forming deep connections and friendships.
