From seeing grand, towering cathedrals in Scandinavia to the snowy Patagonian mountains, Bexley student groups were well-travelled this summer as the Vocal Ensemble and a group of Spanish students went on international trips to Europe and South America, respectively.
Thirty Vocal Ensemble students went on a 12-day tour of Denmark and Sweden that included six promoted concerts, high school choral director Amy Blosser said. The first three days of the trip were spent in the Danish capital of Copenhagen, Blosser explained. There, the jet-lagged group gave what she described as their first and most difficult performance: a 45 minute a cappella concert, which meant the group was limited to their songs that had no accompaniment.
Blosser said that performance was the first of many opportunities throughout the trip to perform in great acoustic venues the choir doesn’t have access to in Bexley.
“It’s like the difference between playing on a middle school football field and a professional football field,” she said.
VE President and senior Jake Peacock explained performing with a “thick” acoustic can be more technically difficult because the echo can cause errors.
“If you do it right, it can be the best concert you’ve ever performed, so it’s a really gratifying experience,” Peacock said.
Of all the places where the group performed,, Blosser specifically noted their performance at Uppsala Cathedral, the largest cathedral in Sweden.
Although the group was kept busy with performances, Peacock said they also had time for recreation throughout the trip. Outside of the performances, he said he enjoyed exploring cities, shopping, eating and admiring the architecture of the places they traveled.
One of his favorite moments, he said, was swimming in the chilly ocean just off the island of Styrsö with Jacob Bednar, a fellow Vocal Ensemble member.
Blosser said the group experienced cultural differences in Sweden, such as a less car-dependent walking culture. Blosser was also a big fan of fika, a culturally-important daily coffee break, she added. Peacock said there were small differences, like which side of the sidewalk people walked on, but he didn’t notice major differences in people’s behavior.
“People are more similar around the world than you think,” he said.
In the southern hemisphere, members of the high school’s Spanish department visited two Argentinian cities and two Chilean cities on their trip, Spanish teacher Lauren Robbins explained. The group, she said, consisted of 31 students, two parents, and five Spanish teachers. She said they spent two nights in each city, and some extra days travelling to and from South America.
Buenos Aires, Argentina was the group’s first destination, Robbins said. In Spanish IV, she explained, students learn that these locations were the sites of historic protests that began during a conflict called The Dirty War and continue to this day.
“Seeing La Plaza de Mayo and La Casa Rosada in real life was really cool because I’ve taught about it for so long, but I’ve never been,” Robbins said. “It was pretty powerful knowing the history and how the protests are still happening ”
After Buenos Aires, the group went south to Bariloche, Argentina where junior Annmarie Carleton said the group hiked, went on gondola rides and saw gorgeous mountains.
Robbins said the breathtaking sights of Bariloche were some of her favorite parts of the trip.
“I could spend tons of time in Patagonia just looking at the views,” she said. “It was absolutely incredible.”
Afterward, Robbins said, the group took buses across the Argentinian border to Puerto Varas, Chile, and then flew from there to the capital, Santiago.
Carleton said her favorite parts of the trip were going to street markets, art museums and stores where she spoke with vendors and artisans in Spanish.
At one street market, Carleton said, she went to buy a bracelet for her sister as the rest of the group was leaving. As Carleton tried to communicate using broken Spanish, a vendor helped her rush to get the bracelet and return to the group in time, she said.
“We were both laughing and it was a really fun moment of bonding of language,” she said.
Even though the trip was overwhelmingly positive, the group faced major travel issues both leaving and returning to Columbus, Robbins said. An hour before she planned to go to the airport in Columbus, she said, everybody received a text notifying them their flight had been canceled. After three hours on the phone with American Airlines, Robbins said they ended up flying to DC, then to the JFK airport in New York City and finally to Buenos Aires 24 hours later than planned.
Unfortunately, there were even more issues on the way back to Bexley, Robbins said. The group first boarded a plane in Santiago but had to get off for a maintenance issue, she explained. After sitting in the airport for two or three hours, Robbins said, the flight was canceled and the group spent an extra night in Santiago. Then, they flew to Miami where they spent the night since they were so late, she said. Robbins said the group was then split up on their way home, but they all eventually made it.
“We all slept for a couple days after that,” she said. “It was exhausting.”
Despite this, Robbins said the students handled the situation well.
“They really held it together, which helped all of us adults hold it together,” she explained.
Although Carleton and the rest of the group struggled with these issues, she said it helped her connect with other students on the trip.
“It brought us together,” she said. “It kind of cut the awkwardness of meeting new people because you’re already conquering struggles together.”
Robbins said despite the setbacks, the overall experience was positive for everyone involved.
“It was an absolutely amazing trip,” she said. “Very educational. The students, I think, got a lot out of it, and at the end of the day they really learned how to navigate an airport.”
Published and digitized October 2025.
