Junior Spencer Layman took the trip of-a-lifetime this past June when he got to visit seven countries including Britain, France, Switzerland, Liechtenstien, Austria, Italy, and Germany over the course of 16 days. He traveled with a small group of other band members, directors, and parents.

Layman said his time in London was the most memorable. While there, they visited the Tower of London, Windsor Castle, watched the changing of the guard at Buckingham Palace, rode the London Eye, and got to watch the musical “Wicked” at a local theatre.

“We got a lot of time to walk around London and experience it for ourselves,” Layman said. “We got the chance to explore and go anywhere we wanted. The freedom they gave us was really nice.”

Since he was able to explore and learn about some of the most historical countries and cities in the world, there were a lot of remarkable moments for Layman.

“The most jaw-dropping moment was being in the Swiss-Alps,” Layman said. “The views were breath-taking everywhere you looked.”

Layman said there were also a lot of confusing and surprising differences between America and Europe. His group’s tour guide, Nigel, explained to them that the mannerisms of the people in Europe are way different, most hotels don’t have air conditioning, and ice in drinks is purely just an American thing.

“Everywhere I went the bathroom situation at the hotels left me sitting around for 10 minutes trying to learn how to turn the showers on at every single hotel.”

One can only imagine the unreal views, art, and culture experienced on this once-in-a-lifetime trip and to be able to go on this journey, Layman said he is eternally grateful.

“You learn all the history that has happened in these places and actually being there makes it very surreal,” Layman said.