Rachael's teachers Mrs. Sakr and Dr. Eric Brown were amazing chaperones. The kids thought that they were a lot of fun and Dr. Brown kept the parents very informed. Every night we would get an email with a lengthy description of the day's activities and some awesome pictures to go along. In his email he said, "your little darlings are encouraged to do text, email, or phone at least every other day." I did not hear from Rachael for her entire trip, I was a little worried that 9 days was too long for her to be away and not hear a word from her but I was relieved to get the daily updates from Dr. Brown. Also, When Rachael arrived back home and I picked her up she was so excited and said I am going on a school trip next year!!! The majority of what is written in this blog came from his emails. Thank you, Dr. Brown!
Departed from ISG Dhahran parking lot, the evening of Friday, February 20th. and return on the evening of Saturday, February 28th.
On the plane…The first leg was a 5 hour flight to Frankfurt, Germany.
Layover in the airport, most kids bought Starbucks
and were able to spend some of that precious money
that was burning a hole straight through their pockets.
The next flight from Frankfurt to Geneva
was quite nice because you get to fly over the Alps.
was quite nice because you get to fly over the Alps.
It was a very clear day with great views.
Mrs. Sakr and Dr. Brown the best chaperones!
Day 1- Traveling to Geneva
We walked along the main walk in downtown Geneva along the waterfront and saw the famous jet d'eau "water fountain".
Walked more downtown and saw the main shopping district, but not much time for shopping. We then went to the Red Cross Museum.
Day 2- Settling in at Les Elfes
After a nice breakfast we loaded the bus for the 2 hour journey to Le Chable. This is a town at the bottom of the valley. It was quite nice because we are staying directly next to the ski lift that will take us up to the slopes on the days we will be skiing. We had some down time, watched a Hunger Game movie and relaxed.
Next we rode the gondola up the mountain to Verbier and walked around the downtown area. The snow really came down heavily. Everyone paused a couple of times for a snowball fight before we stopped for some nice hot chocolate at a local place called Harold's. Back down the gondola, a quick trip to the store for snacks.
We received some camp rules, played a quick team building game,
and settled down for another movie...Chalet Girl.
We awoke this morning to the mountain covered with snow. 20+ cm was dumped on the region last night, so the view from our windows were simply outstanding. According to the instructors, it was very much needed, and they were very excited about the new "powder" on the slopes. We, however, will not be skiing today.
The Cailler Chocolate factory is one of the oldest in Europe, and our tour was outstanding. They lead you from room to room explaining the history of chocolate from the Aztecs, to the conqueror Cortez, to the introduction of it to the European monarchies. You are then able to see the production phase, taste some natural cocoa beans, and finally....the finished product. A tasting room ends the tour where you can sample as much chocolate as you want. Interestingly, there is only so much you can taste at one time. Mrs. Sakr, however, was able to outlast everyone and probably won for the amount of chocolate sampled. Next up was the gift shop where students literally bought over 10 kg of chocolate. Mostly for gifts for friends and family.
We drove to the Gruyeres village where we had our lunch in the gardens of the Chateau de Gruyere, which overlooked the freshly covered snowy valley. On our way down, the students had a chance to purchase some souvenirs. No less than 10 pocketknives were purchased.
Our next stop was a treat for the students as we made our way to the Les Bains De Savay hot springs spa. The temperature of the pools inside and out is always above 60 degrees. The view from the pools of the surrounding snowy mountains is simply stunning, and the students enjoyed relaxing in the waters and spinning around the surprisingly rapid lazy river.
Day 4 - Chillon Castle, CERN, and Boys vs. Girls
A 2 hour drive back to Le Chable gave the kids some downtime. After dinner was Boys vs Girls in a variety of different games.
Snowball fights occurred every 5 minutes. Luckily, no pedestrians or bystanders were innocently pummeled.
After dinner we rode the gondola up to Verbier
for a fun night of ice-skating.
Day 4 - Chillon Castle, CERN, and Boys vs. Girls
Our first stop of the day was the Chillon Castle, a 12th. century castle built on an island near the city of Montreux. It was a cold and rainy day, and the castle walls barely kept out the wind, but we self guided ourselves through all of its rooms as students took turns reading from the brochure about the various parts.
The scenery is absolutely gorgeous.
So beautiful!
Views from the Castle.
The plan was to have a picnic lunch there, but the weather was just too wet and cold. Instead, we drove all the way to Geneva for our second and final tip of the day, CERN. Our picnic lunch was actually had on the inside of the reception area as we waited for our guide. A 3 hour tour!
Our guide was an actual physicist from Greece that worked at CERN named Rachel. She provided us all with a thorough presentation of what exactly CERN was and what they did there. The presentation itself was very informative, but it students sill didn't seem to grasp the concept until we moved on to the other areas.
We were then guided to the original PS Collider, which was retired in 1990 after 30 years of operation. There, we enjoyed a video of the history of CERN projected on the walls as well on the collider itself. Once the students learned that it was the original collider, their interest seemed to peak.
Rachel then led us to the Atlas control room. The 3D video and seeing the control/monitoring room was amazing in and of itself. We then went to the Globe for a few minutes to play with the interactive screens and watch their surround video presentation (although it was in French).
The numbers the students heard at CERN were simply staggering, and it probably won't sink in for many of them where they visited or what they heard for several years. Nonetheless, the experience of having a guided tour of CERN should leave an everlasting impression on them.
Day 5 - 1st. Day Skiing
The activity for the night after dinner was the famous Les Elfes music video. Students were divided into groups and given a section of a song "Uptown Funk." Each group then planned out a dance or crazy activity or action sequence that was filmed. The Les Elfes staff will put the video together, show it at the prize giving on Friday night, and give us all a copy of it later on.
The afternoon activities was just relaxing around the camp as we had an early dinner. Our school group went up to Verbier at the W Hotel for disco night. We went into a closed "night club" complete with disco ball, lights, Dj stand, and lounge chairs. We had a blast dancing and singing.
It was an early night for some as they were simply exhausted from the day's activities. The amazing thing about this camp is that they keep the kids moving all day long. By the time they hit the bed, they are usually dead tired and ready to sleep.
After our BBQ lunch on the mountain, all students made their way up to Mont Fort, the highest peak in Verbier rising up to 3330 meters. The views from the top especially on a clear day as today were stunning. You could see the famous Matterhorn peak and he tallest mountain in Europe, Mont Blanc.
Most groups just rode back down the gondola all the way back to camp, but some were able to ski all the way down to the main station, Medran before taking the gondola back down to camp.
The students had been previously divided into groups based on their reported skiing ability level. These were flexible and many students throughout the day had to move up or down groups after the instructors saw their actual ability. There was a beginning group who had never been on skis, a group who had skied before but were not advanced, and an advanced group. The beginners and middle level group stayed on the "bunny" slopes all day, while the advanced group headed up on the mountain for more difficult runs. Lunch was served on the mountain to all of the groups. The conditions were perfect as far as the snow was concerned, but it was very cold (-10 C) on the mountain and near zero visibility. The beginning groups had a warmer, easier time but it was still cold nonetheless.
Of course Rachael would find a dog to play with.
The teachers weren't around the students much today because we were all divided into different groups all over the mountain. The teachers said that they had not seen a group of students so excited. Our optional activity in the afternoon was either swimming, shopping, or staying behind playing games.
The activity for the night after dinner was the famous Les Elfes music video. Students were divided into groups and given a section of a song "Uptown Funk." Each group then planned out a dance or crazy activity or action sequence that was filmed. The Les Elfes staff will put the video together, show it at the prize giving on Friday night, and give us all a copy of it later on.
Day 6 - 2nd Day Skiing
Had breakfast and hit the slopes immediately. Some students moved up to another group because of their ability. We had lunch on the mountain in various places and came in extremely excited about our progress we had made on this 2nd. day. We feel very fortunate to have the ski instructors that we do, as the students are proclaiming their excellence.
We've assembled some student quotes
that we've heard the last few days.
Rachael's quote was "I'm going to make a snow angel".
Day 7 - Half Ski, BBQ, Top of the World and Torch Walk
After breakfast, we hit the slopes for some morning runs. Again, there was some slight changing in the groups to fit some ability levels. Most students are now skiing on the mountain down some blue slopes, but some have advanced to the reds and blacks.
Leader of the pack!!!
All students met at the "snow park" for a BBQ dinner on the mountain. It was simply amazing! Maybe it was atmosphere, but the meal was delicious. It was a perfect day, cloudless, and visibility perfect.
Top of the World!
The students had optional activities tonight but most went shopping. A few stayed back to play some games.
It was Ava Hillman's birthday, so there was a cake and a Les Elfes t-shirt and a birthday song in English and Arabic.
The evening activity was one of the most clever ideas I've seen a camp of any kind do. They gave the students about 20 torches to carry through the town of Le Chable, past a beautiful church and cemetery, and up a hill where they set them down and sledded down a small slope. The walk over was particularly nice as the weather was perfect. While it may have seemed like an old fashioned witch hunt with all of those torches, it was quite a nice little ending to a great day of skiing, BBQ, views from the top, and a birthday party.
The church in particular was very pretty at night.
Day 8 - Last Day Skiing and prize giving ceremony
The last day was spent skiing pretty much all day. The students were able to make one last attempt to refine their skills. A few of our groups were able to complete the downhill skiing race and were timed by their instructors. We had some great results.
After Skiing for the day, the students returned their
skiing equipment and were told to begin packing.
skiing equipment and were told to begin packing.
Prize giving ceremony!
Rachael said that they really liked the ski instructors.
Rachael was awarded a certificate for successfully
completing skiing courses Level 1 and Level 2.
completing skiing courses Level 1 and Level 2.
What a wonderful experience and great memories. It is so awesome for a school to provide the opportunity for such amazing trips for their students. I'm sure that Rachael will never forget this adventure.
