Lizzie Chidiac ’17, for some time,  has been planning many adventurous trips. Inspired by her brother, Chidiac has decided to backpack across Europe over the summer. This is a huge step for Chidiac because this is one of the largest and longest trips she will ever experience, but she’s super excited. Along with an extensive travel play, she also is the proud owner of a therapy dog who has helped many people over the years. I had the pleasure to sit down and ask her some questions about these two topics.

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Q: What inspired you to go on this trip?
A: My inspiration for going on this trip has been building for several years. I started planning in earnest where I wanted to go last year. The real seed for this came from one of my brothers who at the age of 27 has traveled through all of Europe and the Middle East, and has been to parts of Asia, and South and Central America. He is encouraging me and certainly has demonstrated the many benefits of his adventures.

Q: Where specifically in Europe are you backpacking?
A: I am going to start in London and spend a couple days there visiting the tourist highlights including some related to Dr. Who. After that, I’ll take the train under the English Channel to France where I will visit with cousins in Paris and one of the Rotary Exchange students I befriended two years ago who lives about 150 miles outside of Paris. Following this, I hope to travel to Amsterdam and visit with a family friend whom I’m named for. Next, I’ll probably head south through Germany and hopefully will be able to spend some time in Budapest where we also have family friends. After that, I’ll go to into Italy and visit with the family that my brother lived with when he was an AFS student in Cesena, a city on the Baltic Sea, and spend some time touring the rest of Italy with the AFS student who lived with us last year. From there, I plan to go to Greece and meet up with a friend from grade school in Pittsburgh whose father lives in Athens. In between all of these stops, I hope to visit as many countries as I can along the way.

Q: What do you plan to do/what will you experience?
A: I am hoping to connect with my family that I have not met before and learn about them and that part of my heritage. I plan to go see the obvious tourist attractions in the large cities such as the London eye, Big Ben, Buckingham Palace and Stonehenge while in the UK. In Paris I am going to go to the Eiffel Tower. I also want to experience the “behind the scenes” aspects of different cultures. To do that, I am going to also go to some lesser known cities.

Q: Are you going with someone, if not are you scared to go by yourself?
A: This is kind of complicated and still in planning mode. So far I have a couple people that I am going to be traveling with for portions of the trip. Hopefully, early on, I will be able to find someone who is doing something similar like me and travel with them. I am also going to being staying with family and friends in some of the places I’ve already mentioned.

Q: What do you think you will get out of trip?
A: I think I will gain a lot of experience in doing this trip. In particular, experience in traveling by myself and finding my way around an unknown place. Something I am hopeful I will learn is a little bit of the native language in the places I travel to.

Therapy Dog
Q: What’s your dog’s name, breed, and age ​
A: Alice, she is an 8 year-old Cavalier King Charles Spaniel. We also have a therapy dog in training, a 12 week old Cavalier King Charles Spaniel, named Cosette. She will learn from Alice and therapy dog visits should become second nature to her. She will be tested and hopefully certified soon after her first birthday.

Q: What do you think it is like for your dog to be a therapy dog
A: She definitely enjoys being a therapy dog. Every time we pull up to Sacred Heart Convent in Wilmette, our usual stop, she gets very excited. For her, it is an hour plus of being petted and, in general, being the center of attention.

Q: What is it like for you as her owner?
A: She and I have been a team at the Sacred Heart Convent for over five years. She and I have built deep friendships with the various Sisters there. It is like stepping into another world, even another time, while we are there. Life is slower and little things matter a great deal. Of course, there is sadness too when one of Alice’s ‘customers’ passes. This has happened perhaps ten times. On the bright side, the Sisters regularly tell us that we make their day and they are genuinely thrilled to see us.

Q: What in general does a therapy dog do?
A: Therapy dogs provide no-judgement friendship. They show genuine affection and display no fear or aggression. A therapy dog must be able to tolerate unusual behavior without reacting such as blowing in their face or petting them in a counter direction to their fur growth, and loud noises such as shouts or clanging. They also have to be disciplined to respond to hand signals for sitting, lying down, and not eating something desirable….like food on the floor. Each therapy dog is tested by a national organization and then certified. Certification must be renewed each year. Our dog is certified through Therapy Dog International.

Q: What do you think are the benefits that therapy dogs provide?
A: Multiple studies and, of course, widespread observation have determined that time with a therapy dog provides direct health benefits such as lowering blood pressure. Regular visits also reduce depression and, in general, elevate mood and therefore health.