Ten days can be all it takes to change one’s life, especially when those 10 days are spent touring Paris and Italy.

A group of 35 Oak Harbor High School students past and present, parents and faculty members recently completed such a life changing trip.

The European vacation was the brainchild of high school history teacher Jim Crouch and his wife Sandra and high school art teacher Peggy Whiteman and her husband, high school history teacher Steve Whiteman.

The couples sat down last fall and thought about where they would like to take a group of students to give them a life lesson in history and culture. The Crouches had lived in Naples, and had a list of favorite places. Major cities were added until the trip was “enormous,” Crouch said. They finally went with an itinerary of Paris, Rome, Florence, Pisa, and the lesser traveled Tuscan destinations of San Gimignano and Siena.

“We thought the world of them,” Crouch said of the latter locales.

While planning the itinerary was tough, choosing a goal was simple.

“My goal is to get young people excited about history and broaden their world view,” said Crouch, who teaches world history.

The group booked their trip through Passports, a tour company specializing in student travel. The $2,000 price tag included airfare, lodging, some meals, museum fees and a French courier named Maryse Adams who accompanied them on the entire trip.

Participants Stacey Donnell and Elizabeth Case-Smith were impressed with how much bigger some things were in real life, and how much larger other things were. The Vatican was huge, while the Mona Lisa was much smaller than expected. It was a surprise to learn that services were still held in the centuries old Cathedral of Notre Dame.

“It wasn’t just a tourist trap,” Stacey said.

While being in a larger group made it hard to feel the French or Italian culture, they had more of an opportunity to interact with people on the subways and in restaurants.

“We learned not to make eye contact with men,” Elizabeth said. They also noted how “skinny” the French women appeared.

The group had some reservations about how they would be received as Americans, given the current political climate, but they didn’t meet any direct opposition. In Italy they saw random anti-American graffiti and bumper stickers.

“We didn’t really feel any anti-American sentiment,” Joan Donnell, Stacey’s mother, said. Stacey was joined on the trip by her mother, and father Clark Donnell.

The students were ready to experience new cultures, but food is always a big test. Stacey and Elizabeth said the cold water from public fountains was great, but milk served warm just didn’t go with cereal.

They enjoyed the Louvre, but their tight schedule only allowed them half a day in the world’s largest art museum.

“We like to say we skipped through the Louvre,” Joan Donnell said.

The Louvre was a highlight for art teacher Peggy Whiteman, who had never been there before.

“I was overwhelmed at the immensity of the pieces,” she said. Many of the works are executed on huge canvasses, but that gets lost when you only see them in art books.

Whiteman said she spent as much time as possible in the Renaissance section, and was most impressed by the Michelangelo marble statues.

“They have such soul and movement,” she said.

Whiteman said the large group didn’t detract from her experience.

“We had a fantastic bunch, we all got along,” she said. “We got to be like a little family.”

She felt the trip was a life-changing experience, and hoped it was for the students as well.

“Hopefully this will make the students life-long learners and tease their appetite for more,” she said.

With the first trip deemed a success, the group is already talking about a possible trip next year. Eastern Europe is the favored preliminary destination. That itinerary could include the historic cities of Budapest, Prague, Crakow and Munich, Crouch said.

The travel bug seems to have bitten Stacey and Elizabeth. Stacey, who will be a senior this year, would like to see the south of France. Elizabeth, who just graduated and will attend University of Puget Sound in the fall, would like to do a semester — or more — abroad.

“Maybe Spain, Australia and Greece,” she said.