One Fantastic Voyage to St. Louis

• To Marcus Payne, our Education Coordinator for the weekend of June 19-22, 2004, and to the rest of the faculty members, thank you for creating an inviting environment for learning about our exciting industry.
• To Marc Rothschild, thank you for sending me and having faith by knowing that I would go to this school and represent CRC Jericho well.
• To all the students, even the ones who unfortunately I did not the chance to know very well, thank you simply for just being great people that I could both learn from and have fun with.
• And to anyone from St. Louis, let me just say that you have a pretty rockin' city.

WARNING: Before you go forward into any of the links below, please make sure that you have a fast computer AND internet connection. Otherwise you may freeze your computer.

1. NAPSLO E&S School: Ah, now this first one was the reason that all of us NAPSLO students were here. Every year the National Association of Professional Surplus Lines Offices (I think I got that right) hold a school for members of the excess and surplus lines area of the insurance industry. It's not an easy thing to explain what all that means to you non-insurance people, but suffice to say that it was a lot of sitting in class but also a lot of fun. So check it out.
2. St. Louis, the City: During my stay in St. Louis, I discovered that this city wasn't just all about the Arch and beer. There were numerous other things to do and see and they were quite enjoyable, from a beautiful and huge Basilica to a riverboat casino. "St. Louis is more than just the Arch" they say, and they would be quite right.
3. Forest Park: Perhaps the best non-Arch and non-beer part of St. Louis is Forest Park. Our hotel was conveniently located just a few blocks away and I soon found out that it was larger than Central Park. Not only that, but it was littered with museums and many other facilities. Click into here to see pretty much everything to do besides those aforementioned museums.
4. Gateway Arch: Though I found it true that there's more to St. Louis than just the Arch, the Arch itself is pretty darn impressive. It's no wonder that it's the main attraction of the city when you begin your walk towards it and have to crane your neck way back just to check it all out. It's a monster at over 600 feet and includes a great view from both in and out, a museum which I didn't have time to visit, and perhaps the wackiest elevator you'll ever ride. Truly a sight to see.
5. St. Louis Zoo: The St. Louis Zoo was a free exhibit located right in the heart of Forest Park. As soon as class ended on Monday at around 4pm, I knew I had until 3 1/2 hours until the Executive Panel. And so I ran, not even taking the time to change out of my dress shoes and found that the Science Center was closed. My brochure said the zoo was closed as well, but I decided to give it a try. Luckily for me, it was open for a few more hours by the time I got there, and this is the result of that day's labor. And on a side note, I got back to the Eric P. Newman Education Center just in time to throw down a couple of glasses of water and pieces of candy before the Executive Panel. The only injury sustained was a scrape on the back of my right ankle, from running in my dress shoes of course.
6. Science Center, History Museum, and Art Museum: Tuesday afternoon, after lunch and the receipt of our certificates, I had a few options. I could have gone back to my room and rested. I could have gotten a quick jump on getting to the airport early for my flight at 4:11pm. But no, that's just not the way I think. Rather than that, I made sure my running shoes were on and I booked. These three museums weren't the only things I saw that day, but they were the best. And hey, I made my flight, just barely, but I made it.

Marc Struck