Extra class is the maximum privileges license class in the US, so analogous to the UK Class A (now called "Full License").
Long-distance propagation above 50 MHz is completely different from below; Above 50 MHz, signals are not refracted enough by the ionosphere to return to Earth. (As frequency increases, refraction angle decreases, and the waves miss the Earth on the far side.) As you approach around 100 MHz the angle decreases to effectively nil, and signals pass straight through. This is why all except the first few space communications attempts are VHF or above.
The 2-meter band is around 145 MHz, so the propagation phenomena observed by your friend was likely a tropospheric duct rather than ionospheric bounce.
I had to pass the 5 WPM CW test when I first got my license, but I haven't used it in ages; I really need to "knock off the rust" and get back into it at some point. The FCC has since eliminated the requirement to learn CW, but it remains popular due to its extremely good weak-signal performance.
OF-related sidenote: I once got yelled at by another ham for "abusing" the ISS. It has a standard type of digital repeater system you can send messages to and have them relayed back to Earth. On the east coast there is another system that can receive these standard messages and resend them via the internet as email. A friend of mine has a brother in grade school who is obsessed with all things NASA and space. I decided to send him an email via the ISS. As the message length is very limited, I sent "LOL, SPACE". (think lolcats). Anyway, this was apparently very offensive to someone, who insisted that some unwritten rule stated that all messages sent must be absolutely 100% serious, no fun is allowed, and threatened to report me to "authorities" if I did not apologize in writing to him personally and promise to never contact the ISS again.
I ignored him - Some people think they own the world. Never heard another word about it.