While buying jeans and watching the Pirates weren't the only reasons for their visit, six Romanian visitors will long remember their Pitts-burgh trip earlier this month that brought them to Sewickley Academy.

The group, made up of five middle schoolers and an administrator, toured the Edgeworth school hoping to take ideas from Sewickley Academy to their school.

For Alexandru Popa, an eighth-grader at the Inter-national School of Cluj, the experience meant a trip to the United States to experience a progressive look into education plus a stop at Old Navy for jeans, a ball game and a peek inside grocery stores.

Alexandru's host family, the Weirs of Harmony Town-ship, traveled through a grocery store searching for two items -- salami and Nesquick cereal.

"He was missing what he had for lunch," said Sally Weir, mother of Sewickley Academy eighth-grader Rob Weir.

"He wanted to go to the grocery store. He told me he eats salami sandwiches for lunch."

As the deli was closing, he sampled various lunch meats.

"It was late at night and the deli had put everything away," Weir said. "The woman at the counter let him taste the items until he found what he wanted."

His search for Nesquick cereal turned up a liking to Cocoa Puffs, although he wondered why his favorite brand wasn't available in the U.S.

"You (the U.S.) created it," he said, smiling. "Why don't you have it?"

Alexandru engaged in family activities, she said, and asked a plethora of questions about their lifestyle.

"He has been the biggest joy to have in our home," she said.

For Julia Bratfalean-igna, head of the International School of Cluj, the trip meant seeing one internationally known landmark -- Niagara Falls.

"It was like a dream come true," she said. "I have only seen Niagara Falls on television or in photos."

She also was surprised to find that no matter where a school is, they each can have similar traits.

"It's interesting to see that classes are not so different from ours," she said.

"The teachers are doing the same things for teaching. The big difference is that [Sewickley Academy] has been doing this for a lot of years. Our school is very young."

Although Sewickley Academy's history dates to 1838, the school in Cluj was created at the turn of the millennium. Still, the Romanian school is one of the first private, independent schools in the country.

With a more than 17-hour flight from Pittsburgh back to Cluj, Bratfalean-igna said the group enjoyed the visit and hopes to return to the United States again.

"It was a great time," she said. "We have a lot of information to take with us.

"It has been a really great experience."