Day 1
Finally, it’s our turn to go to Armenia. When we got into the bus we started singing, like we are going to do in Armenia. While we were waiting to board we ate lunch at Durgins. We were really looking forward to the plane ride until we found out how long it was. We only slept for one hour because it’s hard to get comfortable in a plane. We watched lots of movies and played some games. We can’t wait until we reach our beautiful homeland.
-Chris Ashjian and Ben Surenian
Day 2
We were tired after the long ride from Boston to France. When we came into the France airport, I immediately thought, ” Wow, this is way cooler than the Logan airport.” We went through security, and went directly to the food, because we were very hungry. I sat with my friends, Alique H. and Alec. We went on our flight, which felt like 1,000s of hours, because we were anxiously waiting to reach Armenia.
When we began landing, we soon saw Ararat Ler! Some people started crying with tears of joy, and I was one of them. We met up with our friend, Izabell, who greeted us with bread and salt. When we reached our hotel room, I fell asleep right away. Since we were on the plane for pretty much 2 days, and haven’t eaten a decent meal in a while, we ate our food like pigs. That was a great start to our class adventure.
-Sevan Soukiasian
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Day 3
Today we started out with breakfast at the Marriot hotel. Then we went out and took a picture. After the picture got taken we got on the bus and our tour guide explained the places. Our tour guide told us the history behind the historical statues and buildings.
When we got to Karni we went to Keghart the church carved in a big rock. When we went in and saw all the carvings and leaking water. Then we went up and saw some more carvings. In a lot of parts of the church we took pictures. We went and saw women make lavash. When we were done watching them make the lavash we went to lunch.
Our next stop was lake Sevan, which was 1 hour away. When we were next to Sevan. We went up 231 stairs to lake Sevan monastery. We saw a lot of Khatchkars. Then we went to get souvenirs from people. When all the parents came down we went to feel the water of lake Sevan. After we went to the english learning center and made friends with some of them. Also we played some games altogether.
Then we walked to a dinner place called Anteb, it was very good. We walked back when we were done to our hotels.
-Sevana Stepanian
Day 4
Today we went to The Alexander Tamanian Statue. It was very big and beautiful.
After we took a lot of pictures, we went up the Cascade stairs. We saw a really awesome view of Ararat Mt. There was over 300 stairs, which was even more than the stairs to the Lake Sevan monastery! After that we went to Mousa Ler. This one had 118 stairs to climb up, which was okay for me. Then we planted trees with A.T.P! I planted 8-9 trees! It was an awesome experience connecting with my Armenian roots.
When we all finished planting trees we went to the bathroom. On our way back, we saw a stray dog. It looked so lonely and nice we all crowded up to it (which was pretty stupid). When we got to it of course Andrew called it a savage, and got really close to the dog. This dog flipped out got up, barked at everyone and almost bit us. We all ran back to the A.T.p’s truck, and we were all out of breath and scared.
Later we went inside Mousa Ler to a museum. The lady explained a lot about Armenian history. When we went upstairs in the museum we saw a room that was supposed to look like the Mediterranean Sea, and it did. There was a projector in there that showed pictures of World War I.
When the bus ride ended out of Mousa Ler, we went to Berj Broshyan’s house. Some Armenian girls and boys prepared a play for us about “hampartsoum”. They sang, danced and gave us flowers.
Before the play ate amazing Armenian food. There was Tan-Abour, potatoes, and lots of fruit.
A few hours later, we went to The Club restaurant. We ate mantè, fish, and a lot more. Sevana’s mom played the piano and we all sang along.
All in all we had lots of fun today, and I can’t wait for tomorrow!
-Alique Haserjian
Day 5
Today we visited Dilijan. On our way there we went through a two and a half kelometer long tunnel that connected Kegharkounik province with Davoush. Once we came out the other end of the tunnel all we saw were trees. The entire area was covered in trees and flowers. I can’t find words to explain how pretty Dilijan was.
After we looked at the scenery we drove to UWC Dilijan college. The parents and Digin Ardemis had arranged for us to have a tour of the school. It was amazing! First we got to visit the library, where we sat on very comfortable seats and wrote in the “visitor book”. The “visitor book” is a book where the visitors of the school get to write down what they think of the school so far. I even got to write right next to the spot where George Clooney wrote when he visited Dilijan! After the library we went to the art gallery. The students are amazing at art. We even visited the gym where they have a pool and a bunch of exercise equipment. The last thing that we got to see at UWC was the principle of the school. He spoke to us and answered any questions that we had. I loved UWC Dilijan College.
We just finished up touring Haghartzeen. We saw an 800 year old tree that had been struck by lightning. There used to be a small hole in the tree. The legend says that if you passed by the tree you have to make a wish. After you make your wish you have to try to go through othe hole. If you make it then your wish will come true, but if you don’t it wont come true. Since the tree got struck by lightning the hole got much bigger so the legend does not work anymore. We also saw two churches which both had secret passages. One of the churches even had a stone column that was hollow so that it was easy to make around. In the old days they used to keep treasures inside of the stone.
We just went to Barz Lij. At the lake I was obsessed with collecting obsidian. Obsidian is a shiny black volcanic rock which is very sharp. Now we are headed off to Lebanon Restaurant to eat dinner. I had so much fun today. I hope tomorrow is just as fun or maybe even better.
-Sophia Kahvejian
Day 6
Today our trip was to Sartarabad. When we woke up, we we’re already anxious to get there. We wore our orange t-shirts, ate breakfast, and got on the bus. It was about an hour long drive to Sartarabad, but we didn’t mind. On our drive there we saw beautiful sights of mountains, hills, and amazing greenery. When we arrived to Sartarabad it was very hot, and we had to wear our hats.
At Sartarabad, the first thing we saw was a large monument with 12 bells on it. We took pictures with the young children dressed as army men. We waited a little bit there because the guards didn’t let us go in without the Armenian president there. After a while, we decided to go down a path which directed you around and to the monument. After the little walk there, we sang and took pictures next to a wall with art carved on it. An Armenian singer from California came and sang, and at the end a group of dancers danced.
After the ride back, my dad and me had 7 hours of free time to spend. We decided to go to Vernisage, a flee market. There, we bought 2 necklaces for my sister. Vernisage was very busy today, probably because it was May 28, the day Armenia was free for the first time in 600 years. The market had a large variety of items, spanning from jewelry to antique items. If you ever get a chance to go to Yerevan, please do visit Vernisage.
The dinner we had was amazing. It was a middle eastern based restaurant called Abo Hagob. We ate bread and hummus, fattoush, chicken kebab with fries, and cake for dessert. There was live entertainment, and we enjoyed it very much. Overall today was a great and amazing day.
-Andrew Sarkissian
Day 7
Today we went to Oshagan, the resting place of Meshrob Mashdots. It was so cool. When we entered little kids were singing. After they sang we went down into a kind of basement like place and we recited “Khoseh Hayeren”. When we finished up with that we went outside to take some pictures. We took some pictures next to our letters in Armenian and we took a picture next to the Meshrob Mashdots statue. Then we entered the bus and were on our way to the church of Echmiadzin.
After the long ride we reached Echmiadzin. When we walked in the through the gate we saw the church. It was so big and so pretty not paying attention to the construction. All of a sudden we hear bells, we don’t know whats happening then we see the Catholicos come through the gates. When he walked in he gave a blessing by patting us on the head, then after we walked into the church to light up candles. We also had taken pictures, gone to gift shops and finally walked into the bus and were on the way to Dzidzernagapert and a restaurant.
We reached a restaurant finally and we ate so much food. It was so good and tasty. We had french fries, soujouk, bastrma, lavash, fried chicken and feta salad. This was what we did at the restaurant.
When we reached Dzidzernagapert we entered a museum. It was a recap for us for the Armenian Genocide. We saw videos of Armenian orphans. We also saw the videos of the injured Armenians during the genocide. After all this happened we went to Dzidzernagapert, put our flowers down and started to pray. It was so sad to remember the genocide but we remember the strong Armenians fighting for there rights and freedom.
-Alexander Nalbandyan
Day 8
Today, we started our trip by going to Gomidas’s garden. Gomidas was a very famous Armenian composer who wrote many famous Armenian songs. In Gomidas’s garden we saw the grave of Gomidas and other very famous writers, actors, and composers, like William Saroyan.
Second, we went to Khor Virab where Gregory the Illuminator was imprisoned by King Drtad. When we went down the very steep ladder it was a little bit creepy because the ladder shook a lot. But I have to say that going up the ladder was a lot more scary, and I think a lot of my friends agree with me.
Third, we went to Noravank. That’s where architect Momik built Noravank for his love. At Noravank we saw the red paint of the cochineal.
We ended the day by going to Jermuk and saw waterfalls and went to the pool at the hotel in Jermuk.
We had a lot of fun today.
-Alec DerSirakian
Day 9
After spending a fun night in Jermuk we headed out early to Datev Monastery. It was a very long trip getting there. Once we got there we all had to go to the bathroom, it took 3 hours to get there and there were no bathrooms on the way. We had to split into two groups to get on to the tram. Some of us got on the first tram to get to the monastery. After we landed in the tram to the monastery we started down the hill to look at cool things.We took more pictures in front of the church and in the tram. In the tram you get the best view over the trees and fields.
On our way there Nouné told us stories about the meaning of the hot springs we saw in Jermuk and about Datev. There was this one story about the hot spring that one day a hunter was out one day and was deer hunting. He shot a deer but the deer ran away and fell in the water. The hunter thought the deer was gone but the deer came out of the water perfectly fine and the deer ran away without any wounds.
Once we got to the monastery it started to rain. We were blessed by the priest. Nouné took us to the secret passages and told us about why they where made and where they would lead us to, unfortunately we couldn’t go in them. After all the fun we had to get back on the tram to eat lunch. The food was one of the best meals we’ve eaten the whole trip! After lunch we got back on the bus for our 5 hour ride to the Marriott.
On our way to the Marriott we stopped a couple times. Once was to go to the bathroom, the second was to take a picture in front of the beautiful sunset over Ararat. Mount Ararat was so clear to see it was absolutely amazing. After we all got on the bus and headed back on the road. We sang and did quizzes.
-Taline Antoine
Day 11
After having a fun and relaxing free day, we started day eleven off by visiting Tumo. Tumo is an after school program which specializes in activities such as engineering, programming, music recording etc. TUMO is actually an abbreviation of Hovhannes Tumanyan, because the first TUMO that was built in Yerevan was next to his garden.
After arriving at TUMO we met with Ani who showed us the study rooms and explained to us that there are TUMO’s all over Armenia with over 8,000 students in total. We learned that there are TUMO schools in Yerevan, Dilijan, Gyumri and Stepanagerd. The biggest school is the one in Yerevan, which was the one we went to.
After touring the main floor we split up into four groups to learn about one of four programs. The four activities were programming, film making, game development and robotics. We all learned the basics about those and even created parts of those programs. After creating and learning about those activities our parents came and toured the school while we ate lunch. We then finished our lunch and got souvenir TUMO necklaces and pins.
After spending the morning at TUMO we went to Dasaran. Dasaran is Armenian for classroom. During our arrival the fourth graders from “Vartanants Aspedneroo 106 Tbrots” presented dances, songs and welcoming sayings. Together we learned about science and did some experiments with them.
Then we went into the lobby of the school and the teachers and principal gave us candy and souvenirs. We each made a question for the apposing school to answer with a two minute film. Each school has one month to make the film, answer the question and send it to Dasaran School for all of their 450,000 students to watch.
The school gave us a username and password for their school website. The teachers also took individual pictures of all us for our profile picture. During the photography both schools signed a shirt to put up in the Dasaran School in Yerevan.
With our new friends we went to the Tankaran across our hotel. We saw paintings from the artists Ayvasovaski and Sureniance. The paintings were so beautiful and each were unique in their own way; from the pastel paintings to even self portraits made out of rocks. Our new friends left and we headed off to the hotel to get ready for dinner.
For dinner we went to a mouth watering pizza place called Pizza Toria.
Today has been one of my favorite days of this trip so far. If today was this good I can’t wait to see what the future holds for the rest of our time in our georgous motherland, Armenia.
– Alique Stepanian
Day 12
Today, we are heading to Lori to see Hovhaness Tumanians house/museum, to the Haghpat monastery. On our way there, we stopped at the Letters Park. we took pictures as a class, next to the letters “s” + “v”. Also, everyone took pictures near there letters, and Digin Vicky took separate pictures of every student next to his own letter in his/her first name.
This was the letter park that we stopped at on our way to Lori. Before, going to Hovhaness Tumanians house/museum, we stopped at a store and saw how long it took to make and how they make bread from a “tonir”. On our way to the museum/house of Hovhaness Tumanian, we past by the church Sbidag and Asdvazazin.
We finally made it to the museum, after that long ride. We saw how Hovhaness Tumanian’s family lived, and what they wore. We saw the books and poems, many pictures, many paintings. We had fun at the Hovhaness Tumanian house/museum.
Once we were done, we went to Haghpat Monestary. We saw holes and museums they put treasures and books in. There were mini shops that people sold cute mini souvenirs. We took many pictures and some of us ran up a mini hill. This was what we did at Haghpat Monestary.
We had a lot of fun today.
-Izabell Tenekedzhyan
Day 13
Today is our last day in Armenia. Today is a students only day. We are going to the Madenataran . To go to the Madenataran we needed to walk to the metro. The metro goes very fast. After getting off the metro, we walked 10 minutes to get to madenataran. When we got there, Chris read about the building. The building was designed by Mark Gregorian.
The Madenataran holds 17,000 manuscripts in Armenian and about 4,000 manuscripts in other languages. We walked in and started the tour of the place. We saw hsga and Tzug, and learned the real names of the books. Hsga was Msho jarendir and Tzug was Donatsouyts. We saw books that were written in liquid gold. The pictures in the manuscripts were incredible. We saw herbs that they used to use and use to make medicine. It takes 54 herbs to make one medicine serum. We also saw stones, herds, and insects that make colors. We saw the famous cochineal that gives red paint. When we got out of the building we went tp the gift shop and took a picture in front Mesrob Mashdots.
We took the bus to the Sassountzi Tavid statue. It was amazing. Yervant Kochar designed the statue. The statue was big and tall. On the statue there was the sword and the horse. His sword was named Toor Gaydzagy and his horses name was goorgik chalalin. Iloved the Sassountzi Tavid statue. We took a picture and left to go to the same thing.
Next we saw Vartan Mamigonian statue. On the way Ben saw a car that had a monkey in the front seat that was wearing a sweater. It was so funny. The Vartan Mamigonian statue was built by Yervant Kochar, the same person who built who built the Sassountzi Tavid statue. The statue was large and fun to see. We took a picture and headed to the ministry of diaspora.
The ministry of diaspora was cool. When we got to the building we needed to give the guards our pass ports to get through. We took the elevator to the eighth floor and the took the stairs to the ninth floor. When we got to the ninth floor we walked into a room with tables and chairs and sat down. We listened to women telling us about how she heard that her son got wounded. We also saw a wounded solider who told us about defending the borders of Artsakh with his fifteen friends. To honor the soldiers we sang a song and recited a poem.
After leaving the ministry of diaspora, we picked up the parents and headed to Grand Candy. Grand Candy was so good. I tried a chocolate bonchic and it was awesome. The chocolate and candy was so good. I wish there was a Grand Candy in Boston.
After having a few hours to ourselves we took the bus to our final dinner at Parvana. The food was amazing. We got to dance and play in a park behind the restaurant. It was so much fun hanging out with my friends at our final dinner. I can’t believe it is our last day. I hope to come back soon.
-Vana Karaguesian