Skip to Content
Categories:

Across the World with Mr. Ash

Brian Ash, a history teacher at Waterford High School (WHS), has been to 60 countries and taken 16 student trips with WHS. Here are his favorite locations:
Across the World with Mr. Ash
Dublin, Ireland
Dublin, Ireland

During a study abroad trip while attending graduate school at Trinity College, Ash journeyed to Dublin, Ireland to study Celtic religious traditions. He considers it to be the first time he travelled alone as an adult. 

Ash had many highlights from his trip, including seeing the Book of Kells, an old manuscript from the 8th or 9th century of the four gospels of the New Testament. Ash said, “There is a rich literary history there.” 

Another highlight of his trip was the General Post Office (GPO) of Dublin, which still bears bullet holes from the Irish uprising against British rule in 1916, commonly referred to as the 1916 Easter Rising. 

Ash also visited the Kilmainham Gaol, an old prison that operated from 1796 until 1924. During its operation, the prison held many prisoners including the leaders of the 1916 Easter Rising, who were subsequently executed. 

Ash also commented on another reason people typically visit Dublin: “The other reason for going to Dublin, which I probably shouldn’t put in a student publication, is Guinness.”

Kyiv, Ukraine
Kyiv, Ukraine

Ash was a volunteer in the Peace Corps from 1997 to 1999 when he was around 26. He was stationed in the Ukraine, and Kyiv was his city of choice.

“I was there teaching English at a teachers college, more specifically, English conversation and American literature. It was like if you go to UCONN studying to become a Spanish teacher, they would bring somebody from Spain to be your professor.”

Ash appreciated Kyiv’s rich history, mentioning how it is a less ‘well-known’ European city. Since it is the capital of Ukraine, there is an abundance of museums and cultural landmarks to visit ranging from historic cathedrals to vast botanical gardens.

“When I was younger, everybody wanted to go to Prague, right? Because it was not really part of the tourist trail. Everybody wants to go somewhere where there aren’t a lot of tourists. And now Prague is more well known, it’s still a great city, but Kyiv is less visited and not a lot of Americans go there.”

Egypt
Egypt

While backpacking through the Middle East on a winter break during his time in the Peace Corps, Ash decided to spend some time in Egypt. He has also taken some WHS students there with school librarian, Matthew Cadorette. 

While Ash was in Giza touring around with some of his friends, he made note of the Pyramid of Khufu, the largest of the three main pyramids in Giza: “they have the sarcophagus there, you kind of have to stay bent over the whole way down to it and then it opens up to the king’s chamber.”

Ash also took time during his trip to appreciate the Egyptian landscape: “I just went out, like in the sand, and just sat there for like, three hours, just looking at [the pyramids] .”

A highlight of his time in Egypt with students is visiting Abu Simbel. Ash mentioned how in the 1960s, the site had to be dismantled carefully and moved out of its original location to higher ground. In order to save the site and the magnificent Ramses statues from damage by the rising waters of Lake Nasser.

“Historians don’t know how the Egyptians made them, because each face is exactly the same. So it’s not like they were carved by human beings by hand. They’re more symmetrical than anything that we could create now, like you couldn’t get an expert to make them symmetric. Historians are not sure how they did it. Anyway, Egypt’s cool.”

Etosha National Park, Namibia
Etosha National Park, Namibia

Ash and Cadorette took some WHS students on a trip to Namibia, and throughout the two weeks they spent there, the best location, according to Ash, was Etosha National Park.

The park contains a multitude of African wildlife, including four of the “Big Five.” The “Big Five” include elephants, lions, leopards, rhinos, and buffalo. These five are the most sought after and most difficult to hunt of all animals in Africa.

“We spent a day just touring it in the back of Land Rovers or jeeps; the animals were just everywhere. All of the animals tended to crowd by the water and it was so cool to see the different types of animals together.”

Palmyra, Syria
Palmyra, Syria

On Ash’s backpacking journey through the Middle East, he found himself in Syria, visiting popular sites and travelling. His favorite location in Syria was Palmyra. 

Palmyra is the site of an ancient Roman city in the middle of a vast desert. Ash mentioned how the site was most likely at some point a trading outpost for the trade routes that run across the desert. He also noted how isolated the site felt. 

“You can just walk around, I had the whole place to myself. That day it was just me and one other person. There were no tourists or anything, it was out in the middle of nowhere.”

Samarkand, Uzbekistan
Samarkand, Uzbekistan

While on vacation visiting a friend in Uzbekistan, Ash travelled to Samarkand. Samarkand is a city in Uzbekistan, known for its rich history as a major city on the Silk Road and its architecture. 

Ash more specifically noted Registan Square and the late 1400’s leader of the Timurid Empire, Tamerlane. Tamerlane controlled most of the trade in Central Asia, along with the succeeding rulers of the area. 

“So Tamerland grabbed a couple of British guys and he threw them in a pit one time, and it was like a 10 foot pit with, like spiders and scorpions and stuff, and just left them there to die. Crazy stories.”

Xi'An, China
Xi’An, China

As a part of a Fulbright program – a U.S. government-sponsored international education program – Ash and a group of Connecticut teachers travelled to China for a month. The highlight of his trip was visiting the Terracotta Warriors in Xi’An. 

The Terracotta Warriors are terracotta replicas of the full army of the first emperor of China, Qin Shi Huang, to protect and serve him in the afterlife. These statues were constructed between 221 and 206 BCE, with life-sized replicas of every member of his army, including horses and armor buried within his tomb. 

“It would be like if Donald Trump had the entire US Army copied in terracotta and then buried with him – like everybody, even some random sailor.”

The statues were unearthed in the 1970’s when a farmer was trying to drill a well and he opened up the cavern and found thousands of terracotta soldiers in battle formation. Some ideas circulate in historical circles about the creation of the warriors. 

“Supposedly, everybody who knew about [the statues] was then murdered. So they would do it in secret. Once the statues were buried, the army would come in and kill everybody who knew about it.”

Machu Picchu, Peru
Machu Picchu, Peru

 

Of the numerous school trips Ash and Cadorette took with WHS students, one of the only ones in South America, was to Peru.

Machu Picchu is an ancient Inca citadel in the Andes Mountains of Peru. Built in the 15th century, it is a remote location and a very important historic site that is frequented by tourists in the area.

“I remember we did white water rafting on the river there, Mr. Cadorette got so sick.”

Devils Tower, Wyoming
Devils Tower, Wyoming

For Ash and his wife’s honeymoon, they took a road trip across the United States. One of the highlights for Ash was Devils Tower National Monument in Wyoming. 

Devils Tower is a large geological feature that stands as a towering presence that juts out of the Wyoming prairie. There is still some debate on how it was formed, but the general consensus is that it is made up of igneous rock formed by cooling lava pushed up from below the ground over hundreds of years.

The Native tribes of the area have multiple stories on how the monument’s unique shape and texture was formed. 

Native Americans have a story that somebody escaped to the top of the tower, and some giant bear tried to get at him and kept scratching it, giving its distinct jagged appearance.”

There is a path going around the tower, but some brave visitors can climb up the structure itself. The tower has a very unmistakable silhouette across Wyoming, and coupled with its rich local history and folklore, it was one of the “coolest places” Ash has visited in the United States.

Tikal National Park, Guatemala
Tikal National Park, Guatemala

Ash and his wife went to Belize over one Christmas break, a highlight of his trip was a day journey to Tikal National Park in Guatemala. 

Tikal National Park is a site with numerous ancient Mayan temples. The area used to be a capital of the Mayan civilization. The park contains many famous temples and well preserved archaeological marvels from 900 AD. So if you see them like this, they’re excavated. Some of them aren’t. Those temples are like poking through the treetops.”

Australia
Australia

Ash and Cadorette took another WHS student trip to Australia and New Zealand. One of the highlights was the group’s visits to the Sydney Opera House and New Zealand’s Hobbiton Movie Set, but with Ash, it was for the wrong reasons. 

The group went to New Zealand first and visited the Hobbiton Movie Set, where scenes for The Lord of the Rings and The Hobbit trilogies were filmed. Ash, however, did not get to see this location, “I think somebody got sick and I had to take them to the hospital, while the rest of the group got to see the hobbit houses.”

The group also visited Fraser Island, the largest sand island in the world and home to many Dingoes and other wildlife. 

Unfortunately, tragedy struck again for Ash when the group planned to visit the acclaimed Sydney Opera house, known for its unique architectural design and its role as a major performing arts venue.

“We travelled around but when we were going to the Sydney Opera House, I never got to see it because some other kid got sick.”

Saipan and Tinian
Saipan and Tinian

As a part of a National Endowment for the Humanities, Ash was able to take a trip to Saipan and Tinian, two islands a part of the Northern Mariana Islands. 

During World War II (WWII), Saipan was a vital strategic point in relation to Japan because of its proximity. The location allowed the U.S. to launch long range bombers against Japan, and be able to return to a secure location to refuel and recuperate. 

Before the U.S. had control of these islands, there were Japanese citizens residing there. During WWII, when the U.S. was invading the beach, Okinawans (people from the island of Okinawa, Japan) and the other Japanese citizens and soldiers on the island committed mass suicide off of the cliffs in the mountains of the island. Around 8,000 civilians were killed in the battle and the mass suicide.

“Japanese soldiers were forcing women, with their kids to the edge, and then making them jump. [The cliffs] don’t look that big, but this is like, hundreds of feet this drop, and the people jumped to escape the U.S. Army.”

Tinian was the location of the airstrip where the Enola Gay, the plane carrying the “Little Boy” atomic bomb that was dropped on Hiroshima, Japan in 1945 that killed over 140,000 people took off. This act ended WWII and the airstrip, along with the loading pits that held “Little Boy” and “Fat Man” have vast historical significance and importance.

Easter Island
Easter Island

Ash and Cadorette went on yet another trip together, this time they went one year for the New Year holiday to Easter Island.  

Easter Island is a territory far off the coast of Chile, The island was formed by three dormant volcanoes and is home to dozens of  infamous moai statues. Nearly 1,000 moai were created by the ancient people who used to live there and are dotted all across the island. These statues are a symbol of the history of the island and the early Rapa Nui people who made them.

Ash and Cadorette spent a couple days learning about the island and travelling on their own, “One day we rented ATV’s and just drove around the entire island, the statues are everywhere.”

“At one point we went up one of the volcanoes and our crew was going on horseback but we still had our ATV’s, anyway somebody left the gate open and we drove up the volcano and somebody found us and yelled at us.”

It is  rare to have somebody who has travelled all across the globe right here in Waterford, but, Ash uses his globetrotting experience to better understand  cultures and help teach students here at home in little old Connecticut, and all across the world.

Donate to The Lancelot
$130
$500
Contributed
Our Goal

Help support the student journalists of Waterford High School with your donations. Your contribution will allow us to publish print editions and cover our annual website hosting costs. Along with travel to workshops and additional add ons to The Lancelot.

Donate to The Lancelot
$130
$500
Contributed
Our Goal