NATCHEZ — The only culture shock Turner Lessley experienced in the 19 days he traveled to Europe this summer was the food.

“The portions are so tiny,” Lessley, who traveled with a group of 40 high school students from the South, said. “When you take a bunch of United States Southerners and feed them those little portions, you’re going to have some ornery people.”

The Trinity Episcopal Day School senior traveled to France, Switzerland, Austria, Italy and Vatican City as part of the People to People Ambassador Programs, which offers travel opportunities in hopes of bridging cultural and political borders through education and exchange.

Lessley, 17, was chosen out of 250 students throughout southwest Mississippi and central Louisiana to participate in the program.

“We had the initial interview in Alexandria where they asked me what my hobbies were, what you like to do and that kind of stuff,” Lessley said. “I found out the following week that I had been selected and then we met once every month after that to start planning the trip.”

The program offers more than 40 trips to all seven continents — including an Australian adventure trip for which Lessley would be chosen.

“I’ve always wanted to see the Outback and swim on the Great Barrier Reef,” Lessley said. “But I’ve always really liked Switzerland and Austria, so it all worked out.”

The trip also marked a variety of significant milestones for Lessley.

“That was my first time out of the country, first time to fly on a plane and my first time to be away from home for three weeks,” Lessley said. “The flying didn’t bother me, and I didn’t get jetlagged on the trip at all.”

Lessley and his group first arrived in France, where the Natchez native got his first encounter with European ways of life.

“Everyone drives like a maniac over there,” Lessley said, laughing. “You’ve got people on mopeds and scooters driving all over the place and other people on the street running everywhere.

“It was crazy.”

After a few days in Switzerland, Lessley and his group ventured to Austria where each student was split up and partnered with a family.

Lessley was partnered with the Stummer family, who live in Horn, Austria, a small town with a population of nearly 6,000 people.

There, Lessley realized that the cultural differences he had always heard about didn’t live up to all the hype.

“There’s really not a whole lot different — you still pick up your plate, do your chores, take your shoes off in the house and that kind of stuff,” Lessley said. “The biggest difference to me was that there are so many different languages people speak and the style of clothes is a little different.

“Everything else is pretty much the same.”

Lessley’s trip came winding down with a trip to Italy, where his group visited Pisa, Italy, to see the Leaning Tower of Pisa, and Rome to see the Colosseum.

And after a hectic 19-day tour around Europe seeing historic landmarks and meeting new people, Lessley said he was more than ready to be back home in Natchez.

“It was definitely worth going and a great experience, but I was glad to be home,” Lessley said. “I just missed it too much.”

Lessley is the son of Jay Lessley and Lori Lei Spencer.