The traveling teacher

For this article we interviewed Mr. Zitrick who is a AP Psychology, AP European History, Sociology, and Modern World History teacher here at Tuscarora. We were fortunate enough to be able to sit down with him and get to know about his travels. He has traveled to places such as Wales, Ireland, and many places in the United States.

Q: Where have you traveled?

A: I’ve traveled to Wales with my wife for our honeymoon, and my high school graduation gift was a trip to Ireland with family and friends for 2 weeks.

Q: What was the culture like there?

A: It was what I expected, because we visited with a 65 year old woman who was a family friend she had moved back to Dublin to live with her sister. So, when we were traveling around it was very traditional Irish culture in a lot of ways. We stayed with friends who made dinner for us. In Ireland special meals can often last for more than six hours and sometimes don’t wrap up until after midnight. During the afternoon hours we would stop for tea at pubs and stuff like that.

Q: Was there anything different there?

A: There were body language differences. They tended to be closer talkers then we are. Their personal bubble was a little bit smaller than ours here in the States. They’re also very informed about American politics and knew what was going on far more than what we knew what was going on there. So that was pretty interesting, I tended to try to actively observe the differences. In a lot of ways no matter where you go you find similar threads of humanity. There were the interesting little sub culture differences though.

Q: What were some interesting sites?

A: The coolest place we went to was a historic site that was a monastery from the 400’s. So your there and its 1600 years old. It was amazing to just be there and in that site, it was a valley were the first Irish monks (some of the first Christians in Ireland) and they settled in this valley it was a really cultural experience because you could really feel the age. Between Ireland and wales for me as a history teacher it was always the castles that would fascinate me most, just to be in that architecture walking around was an incredible experience.

Q: Where have you traveled to in the united states?

A: Last summer my wife and I went to San Francisco, California to see giant sequoias in person it was like check that off the bucket list. They’re hundreds of years old, it was amazing.

Q: Where you more outdoors or in the city?

A: The first few days we stayed in Alameda for my nephew’s bar mitzvah, it was a great little party and it was on a ship (bay cruise) that traveled past Alcatraz and the golden gate bridge. The rest of the time we went up north in to wine country. For a few nights we stayed in a tree house 40 feet of the ground and then we stayed at a winery. We mostly avoided the city.

Q: Would you consider yourself adventurous?

A: When we were in wales we purposefully climbed the highest mountain and stood at the top of it. It was an amazing experience because you’re up at their highest point in the country and the wind comes off of the Irish Sea 20 miles from the coast and you’re getting hit by 60-70 mph winds and then 5 minutes later the weather could break and it be sunny and warm. We try to go to unique places.

Q: Would you consider you self-well-traveled?

A: No, I try to tour regionally, like going to Harpers Ferry, Gettysburg, and Antietam. We just did Charlottesburg Virginia for the first time 2 months ago. That’s a tour I think every person should take.

Q: What have you brought back from you travels?

A: We named both our children’s middle names after castles in wales. For my daughter Raglan Castle and for my son, who should be born in about 2 weeks, Cardiff Castle.