By: Mirjana Hutnik – Peters Township High School

When I was eight my entire family, all thirteen of us, rented a house in a very small town in the south of France. We stayed for two weeks and basically just took it day by day as to where and what we wanted to do. Each day had a little surprise in itself, figuring out where we would go, and what kind of people we’d see, and most often what kind of new food we’d get to try. Even though no day had the same routine as the last, there were small things that had to be done every day. One of which was walking from the house, three miles into town to buy the fresh groceries for the day. The concept of having to walk into town every morning was completely new to me, I was used to my mom going to the supermarket while I was at school and coming home to bundles of all different types of food. The thought that there was not every brand of food imaginable available to this town, or that whatever meat was at the butchers that day was what was for dinner was eye opening. After the first few days I always made sure I was the first one up so I could walk into town with my grandfather, my aunt, my mom, and my cousin to get the groceries. I loved walking into the bakery with the smell of freshly baked goods wafting throughout the shop, and my grandfather always bought me a bakery treat for waking up early and walking three miles to help get groceries. I was just always amazed at the concept of everyday having to actually walk into town to get everything needed for the day. This was completely new to me, and it showed me just how much things even as simple as that shouldn’t be taken for granted.

 Mirjana Hutnik is a freshman at Peters Township High School.  She likes to play softball, travel, watch Netflix & hang out with friends.