Emily Goldberg ’12
Web Sports Editor
During the summer after graduation, most Staples students will say their goodbyes to their family and friends, and head off to college. Yet, “goodbye” usually only means until Thanksgiving or sometimes even earlier.
However, this was not the case for Philippa Nicklin ’09 and Sophie Gordon ’09. These two adventuresome girls said their goodbyes on Sept. 8, but they would not return to Westport until eight months later, after nothing less but traveling the world.
The girls planned a gap year between graduation and college so that they could travel and volunteer in various countries nationwide.
“Philippa had talked about taking a gap year since her sophomore year, and we encouraged it because she is young in her grade and this seems to be a good point in her schooling to take the time to do something like this,” said Philippa’s mother, Lynn Nicklin.
As excited as they were, the girls did have their initial concerns about the trip. “I was really nervous about being away for so long, but so far it has been ok. I have been able to talk to my family and friends via email and have even spoken to my parents on the phone a couple of times,” said Nicklin.
Sophie’s father, Adam Gordon, agrees with Nicklin, saying the communication has been better than he had expected it to be, “We set up times for us to have phone call conversations every week or two. We are all hunched round the phone for those calls and takes some understanding that we are here in the US and Sophie is there in India chatting away about what’s happening in very different parts of the world,” said Gordon.
The girl’s itinerary includes stops in England, India, Thailand, Vietnam, Australia, South Africa, and Tanzania. The two will spend half of their trip doing volunteer work, and half traveling.
Their volunteer work includes two months in India and two months in Tanzania. Currently the girls are volunteering at an orphanage in Jaipur, India.
Only seven weeks into their trip, the girls are already having a spectacular time, exceeding their greatest expectations. “It was a real culture shock when I first arrived, but after adjusting to all the differences, I have really grown to love it out here,” said Gordon.
One difficulty that the girls have admittedly encountered is the language barrier, and that many people have a hard time understand them. “A lot of things such as getting an auto-rickshaw or buying train tickets can be near impossible,” said Gordon.
The girls’ favorite experience so far was visiting the Golden Temple, in Amritsar, India. “It was such an amazing experience. There are so many things here that are different from home but a huge one would be the amount of poverty we encounter on a daily basis,” said Gordon, “Everywhere we go we see children and families living under nothing more than a plastic tarp – very eye opening.”
You can follow Sophie and Philippa’s trip and look at additional pictures by reading their blog at http://sophieandphilippa.blogspot.com/.
