Last night

Hopefully everyone is snug in bed by now so they'll be bright eyed when we meet at the airport at 6:30 tomorrow morning. See you in the evening!

Photos?

For some reason I have been unable to upload photos to the blog. There is a link on the right side of this page called "PHOTOS." It will take you to some of our pictures. Enjoy. Jen

Better late than never!

March 5

Hello everyone in Vermont! Geneva has been grand! We have been attending school with the French student. Their school is the size of an international airport, but the classrooms are bare, which gives us nothing to look at during times of great boredom. Last night the group met at a bowling alley. Most ate Swiss pizza (umm, it was quite amazing, says Sam. Lindsey says, yeah, I ate 1 1/5 pizzas!). Megan and Kristen experienced cheese fondue. The bowling was very fun. There were many gutter balls along with a handful of strikes. At the end of the bowling alley in the last lane a team of PA and Stowe girls had a dance party.

Today we experienced the frigid weather of the Alps while visiting Gruyere. We went to a fromagerie and learned the sacred ancient process of cheese making. We smelled the essences of violet, clover, cumin, orge, and something that smelled like popcorn on the tour. The main room of cheese production had glass walls so we could see the pools of aging milk. We saw the cheese get pressed and then set in a basement for various amounts of months.

After the house of Gruyere we visited a castle that was built in the 11th century.
It was interesting and SO cold… we found haven in the rooms with heaters. It has had many changes and hands since then and now. Some rooms were decorated in the style of early centuries and other rooms depicted the past. The castle was full of random eclectic furnishings. As we were leaving the castle, the snowball fight which was started earlier resumed. Kristen and Sam


March 6

What’s up guys? We’re at the youth hostel in Nice, France right now. We had to get up at 4 in the morning to be at the airport at 5:45 this morning to catch our flight at 7. Even though we are staying only two nights the girls brought HUGE bags and walking to the museum was a little difficult. We had a tea ceremony at the Museum of Asian Art. Brooke Thomas and Sam Brody were the demonstrators of how it was supposed to be done. (It took us forever to finish the tea… it was…. different).We went in the wrong direction on a bus and ended up walking in a huge circle. Fun stuff. The shopping here is so much better here than in Geneva. It definitely is not as expensive. Most of us have pretty much blown all our money. Mom, or dad… expect us to be asking for a lot of money when we come home.

Bart and Beth Bradford: Just a warning--Heather walked backwards into a pole while she was walking 2 days ago. Her head will probably still hurt!


-Brooke Thomas, Lindsey Towns, Heidi Fisher

So today we arrived in Nice and it’s really cool here. The Euro is unfortunately 1.5 of the US dollar, though, but we found some shops that weren’t so expensive. I like it a lot better here because we are in the center of the city and can walk right into the shopping areas, and the restaurants are close by, too! Today, after the flight, we went to this really cute restaurant that had the best restaurant burgers I’ve ever tasted! I’m still thinking about them and I ate it about 5 hours ago! The trip was short this morning but was very early in the morning. We had to get up around 4:45 AM and didn’t leave until 7 AM at the airport. AND the people at the airport threw away my face wash because it was like 40 mL over the limit..it sucked. But today was really fun and we’re all having a blast being in Europe! Miss you guys a lot!

-Betsy

Hey, it’s Clint. I know all those out in web land have been craving a blog entry, but I still must keep this short. I have really enjoyed hanging out with the Swiss kids and going all over Geneva. Chris and I get along very well. I also bought a Swatch (Swiss watch) recently to Kelby’s (Kal-ee-boot-ay’s) dismay. Bye.

Geneva!

I think everyone was ready to leave Chateau d’Oex today after the lack of snow and the dreary weather. One more day and they would have gone stir crazy. We took the train back to Geneva this afternoon and were met by the Swiss students and their families. Everyone was excited and ready for something new. We had a potluck dinner in the basement of a church this evening that was very enjoyable—everyone seemed to be fighting over the chocolate mousse for dessert! The kids all seemed very comfortable with each other. They will spend the weekend with their host families and go to school with their host student on Monday. They will also be taking a field trip to the Red Cross Museum on Monday. There may not be much news here in the next few days since the kids will be busy with their host families, so don’t be surprised if there’s nothing new posted here for a bit. I am happy to say that this is a great group of nice, helpful, and respectful kids :) Jen

(please excuse the choppiness of this post as I am excessively tired and on my way to bed!)

We're all waiting for the train back to Geneva. It's been drizzly and overcast the whole time in the Alps. The kids are looking forward to seeing their hosts today. They have a potluck planned for us this evening. Everyone is in good spirits and enjoying themselves! Jen

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Eight of us decided to hit the Alps on Friday after taking the train to Gstaad. But it was not the skiing we expected to see. It was raining in town and on the mountain, which after few runs made us saturated. The trails were wet, slushy and dirty in some parts. But that’s okay because we were skiing in the Alps. Here you can get one lift ticket and ski from town to town almost. At first we thought there were almost no trails then we saw a lift over a hill and another one on the next. We explored all over till we found a quad that had a trail that had no dirt or mud patch. It was like spring skiing except in the most amazing mountains. Rocky snow capped peaks surrounded us. We wanted to hike them. Unfortunately we found out that if we did we would turn into snowballs (because it would make an avalanche). If that did not tire us out enough we could go dancing at the discothèque called LaBamba. Dancing the night away with the locals was awesome. All the music was American techno so we could sing all the lyrics to every song. For hours we rocked the dance floor to the flashing lights. It was a busy day but nothing could match a day of skiing and dancing. I don’t know about anyone else but I slept well that night. Sam

First impressions

Hello everybody, we made it! We’re here in the Swiss Alps after an extremely long day of traveling. Only a few had the energy to go up to the mountain for some skiing, others slept most, or at least some, of the afternoon. Today a group of us are going up to ski, others are renting sleds to shred the mountain. It’ll be awesome! –Connor

A combination of a full day of traveling, a six-hour time change, and the majestic beauty of the Alps left Stowe and PA students a little bit dazed yesterday morning – but this was not enough to stop a determined few from making it up to the mountain. Others explored the town, tried the local food, and caught up on sleep. Now we are enjoying breakfast at the hostel and looking forward to more skiing, snowboarding, and sledding. – Raffie

On the way up the tram in Chateau D’oex, which seemed like a training hill from Mansfield, I got stuck with one of the workers who spoke no English. Ou a tout le niege I asked him he replied with simply ….Je sais pa. He told me that this was one of the worst snow years they had had in a long time. It was quiet for a few moments then I pointed to a higher spot on the mountain which looked liked more fun. He looked at me and said non non non BIG snowball he said. He pointed at me and we both started to laugh. We are heading up on the train to a higher point of the mountain, hopefully it’s what we’re looking for - Zach

The stress and nervousness of leaving Vermont and the U.S. entirely is now over. While waiting for the late comers (I won’t mention any names) to come through those airport doors we could see the excitement within everyone’s eyes to get to Switzerland and ski the Alps, experience the lifestyle of Geneva, and whatever else we can take in on this journey. The trip to Chateau d’Oex is almost over but there is still a lot more fun to experience. A group of us are going a higher point in the Alps today to experience the change in altitude from Mansfield in Stowe, Vermont to The Alps, Switzerland. We can’t wait to go back to Geneva to discover how their school system and the lifestyles of the students differ from ours. We will keep in touch. - Kelby

We made it!

We all made it to Switzerland, safe and sound! We are in the town of Chateau d'Oex in the Alps. A few of us have gone off to ski and snowboard, some are exploring the town, and others are napping. We don't have a wireless connection at the hostel this time, but we will try to get some posts up from the kids tomorrow. Until then!

Jen