Camp Journal
Blue and Red Swiss Day excitement!!
31st July 2017
. After an energetic breakfast, they enjoyed some sports activities in the morning inside our big sports hall because it was sadly raining outside. A hot lunch was waiting for them at 12.30 followed by the language classes in Spanish, English, German & French. Today was the first day of languages for most of the kids in our group and there was a lot of excited talk about Swiss day and the various cultures of Switzerland. They then had their afternoon tea and biscuits at 15h and continued classes until shower hour. After dinner, the evening activity consisted of enjoying some downtime in the Square in Torgon to celebrate Swiss Day! There, they got to play lots of games and try some typical food! They were able to experience a real slice of Swiss culture and were even lucky enough to hear about the story of Swiss day and Switzerland from our resident Swiss German group leader Karl. What an exciting day for our young campers!
Yellows and Greens zip through the Forrest
30th July 2017
The first official day of camp luckily got started with a beautiful sunny morning today! After some breakfast and some games, the campers began their languages journey with a quick quiz in order to place them in appropriate level classes so that they can make the most of their lessons. The campers will be taking their choice of German, French, Italian, Spanish and English! Afterwards, it was time to return to the active! Our lucky Yellows and Greens headed to the exciting Parc Aventure; a high ropes course with zip lines cutting through a forest in the valley. Their inner monkey skills were tested as they climbed, jumped and zoomed their way in between the trees. After dinner, we then walked again to our magnificent football pitch so that the campers could wind down with some relaxed sports and use up the rest of their energy and excitement. We’re very excited for our second day of camp tomorrow, including our first set of language classes! Stay tuned.
Robin Hood and Climbing time for Blues and Reds
Today was our first official day at Camp Suisse! The Reds and Blues started the day of with some very important breakfast needed to give them sufficient energy for their jam packed day ahead. First things first, it was time to take a quick and fun languages test so that our lucky campers could be placed in appropriate classes for French, German, Spanish, Italian and English based based on their abilities in their chosen language. It included a written section with colours and numbers and also an oral section where our teachers, most of whom are native speakers, asked some questions.
Next up we used up some energy playing sports games and getting to know each other! We followed this with some delicious lunch and then in the afternoon, our lovely activities leader Frankie took the Blue group to the Camp Suisse climbing wall! It was so much fun testing every ones’ courage and determination whilst keep it fun with some hilarious challenges. Meanwhile, the younger Red Group were able to try their hand at being Robin Hood as they were taken to the football pitch for some archery practise! Despite being caught in a shower, everybody still had a blast! Once everybody was fully satisfied with the climbing session it was time for a bit of relaxation with shower hour where the campers are able to chill out and call parents. After some sweet and sour chicken for dinner, everybody headed off to our local play area where they were able to bounce on the bouncy castle, fly on the zip line and play a massive game of chess on the big board. It was so much fun and nobody wanted to head to bed!
Here they come!!
29th July 2017
Here it was; finally. After a fantastic fortnight for session 2, arrivals day had approached after many weeks of anticipation for our campers. Our staff had some well earned rest after the departures on Friday and were up and raring to go in the early hours of the morning, as people arrived from all over the world at the lovely Geneva airport, Aigle train station and some being dropped directly to our door! Plenty of luggage tags and labels later, it was time to get the campers settled in and so they were introduced to their group leader and soon headed off to our beautiful football pitch for some icebreaker and team building games. What had begun as a small shower thankfully ended in a beautifully sunny afternoon and everyone had a tonne of fun in the sun getting to know their knew co-campers and their soon to be friends!
Headed back to camp, it was time for their first group meeting and to enjoy a delicious dinner together. They were even treated to our Language teachers’ famous (or infamous) dancing rendition of the popular tune ‘Despacito’.After some more games and fun, our favourite Oger put our younger campers to bed with a showing of the hilarious film ‘Shrek’. We’re all incredibly excited to see what tomorrow will hold!
Departure days’ bittersweet arrival!
28th July 2017
Sadly it is finally here. Departure time has sadly arrived once again on Camp Suisse today as our exciting and fun packed fortnight draws to a close and we begin welcoming our next excitable group of campers through our doors for Session 3! The sun has come out to see the campers off as they leave us with a lot of bittersweet feelings; excited and happy to be reunited with their family but very sad to be leaving!. Our campers have done everything from Banana Boating and Mountain Biking to visiting the ‘Bains de Saillon’ Spa and our more educational activities such as Team Building activities and our great language classes. They have also had wonderful evening entertainments such as talent shows, murder mysteries and their amazing Pirate themed Prom, which have helped them to bond as a group. We hope they’ve learnt a lot during their stay here and that they’ve made valuable memories and close friends!
This morning was very relaxed, with various campers doing some climbing sessions and others watching some nice films like Mulan as a group whilst they wait for the departure time! The lucky few campers who don’t yet have to leave, and are staying through to our next session, are off to experience the International Olympic Museum in Lausanne today and are very grateful to be carrying on the fun! We’d like to thank all of the campers for making this such a fun and lively session, we hope to see you back very soon and we are very excited for the arrival of Session 3!
Elective day for Yellows and Greens
26th July 2017
Today was a relaxed elective day for the Yellows and Greens which meant that they were able to choose an activuty to suit their mood! Half of our group took on the challenge of a mountain biking advanced course, which was really good fun and impressed the activity leaders a lot with everybody’s capabilities! The other group who were feeling more relaxed were able to do something the we like to call ‘art jamming’ in which the campers do some arts and crafts with some good music in the background: letting their creative spirits loose!!
We then had such a lovely evening once everybody was finished and settled after their activities. The Reds and Blues had tried so hard and put so much effort into their language talent show pieces and we got to watch! Everything from songs, to plays and dramatic scenes were included in the competition and we loved cheering the talented youngsters on and clapping as loud as we could once they had finished!
Green and Yellow descend on the Bains de Saillon
25th July 2017
Today was a wonderful day for the Green and Yellow groups despite the rainy weather. After breakfast, they headed off for some luxury at the ‘Bains de Saillon’ for a Spa Day! When they were there, they were able to relax in all the different pools both indoor and outdoor, including an amazingly fun lazy river, that are packed with minerals and good stuff! The resort is surrounded by the gorgeous green Swiss mountains and feels like a whole other world. At around 3pm they got on the bus back to camp ready for some free time before shower hour. For dinner, they then enjoyed some chicken korma that helped them to recharge and refuel their batteries for the evening activity of the day: Scottish Ceilidh Dancing !
Relaxation and Recuperation for Reds and Blues
After an eventful previous day, it was time for the reds and blues to head back to base! The hike back from camping was thankfully a little lest damp than yesterday and everybody make great time considering the long journey they had already tackled. Once back, it was a quick turn around before the fun continued and the campers were lucky enough to be headed to the famous ‘Bains de Saillon’; a beautiful spa resort surrounded by the gorgeous landscape of the Swiss Alps. After so much exercise and business of the hike and camping, the lovely warm waters at the baths were just what our campers needed to relax and recuperate a little. They were able to unwind in the thermal water pools, giggle in the Jacuzzis and whirl their way around the wonderful lazy river! There were even a couple of slide and a trampoline for those who still managed to have some reserves of energy left.
Once all the groups had returned back to camp, there was a later than usual shower hour and a very chilled evening before a much needed trip of to bed! Our campers our very excited to start back off again tomorrow after they have somewhat recharged their batteries.
Blues and Reds Hike to France
24th July 2017
Today’s Languages Classes for the Blue and Red Groups were dedicated to the exciting up and coming talent show!!! After doing a little vocab focused on the theme of weather, all the campers got to work preparing their showpiece. The English language group are rumoured to me preparing for a Harry Potter tribute!
Once the pieces were perfected, there was plenty more excitement to be had as it was time for some camping! The hike up was unfortunately a little wet, however it did not dampen the campers’ spirits and it just made everybody even more happy to be at our lovely Alpine Outpost when they finally did arrive! Once they had rested and dried up a little, it was time for the next challenge! A hike to France was completed by all of the determined campers and it made up for all of the bad weather and tiredness when we were able to stand at the meeting point between Switzerland and France!
On our return we were greeted by a delicious BBQ dinner and chocolate banana pudding followed with some free time for games including ping pong and table football! Such a great day, we can’t wait for tomorrow!
Yellow Groups special Pizza Trip
Today the yellows spent their morning occupied in the climbing wall, learning some new skills and playing some games in order to make it a little more engaging and challenging. the campers had to race each other using the various coloured routes at varied levels of difficulty up the wall! There was plenty of healthy competition in the air! The campers then had a spot of lunch before putting on their thinking caps and heading to their language classes for lots of learning and practising!
The French beginners group, for example, learnt vocabulary specific to the topic of the House and Town before a rest break, and then moved on to the theme of Ffod afterwards. They finished by choosing a couple of songs for their coming karaoke night and playing games based on the vocabulary that they had gone over at the beginning of the class. Finally, the yellows were lucky enough to have a yummy Pizza trip to our restaurant as a thank you for their maturity and good behaviour during the session so far. Everybody sufficiently stuffed themselves and had a jolly old time chatting away sat in the evening sun. What a great way to end the day!
