Camp Journal
Snowy fun for Reds and Blues
18th July 2017
Yet another great day at Camp Suisse for the Red and Blue groups as they truly let themselves loose on the glacier! As we arrived, they all went bounding across the fluffy white layers of snow, throwing snowballs at each other, jumping in sludgy puddles and generally just having a jolly good time! They then enjoyed an exciting, action packed ride in the Glacier 3000’s very own Alpine Roller coaster, riding into the horizon and enjoying the luscious mountain views, then having a boost of adrenaline as the rocketed down the slippery sledge slopes. Next up was lunch and the roller coaster, before the Red and Blue Group campers has the bus journey back to camp, just in time for shower hour. After a relaxing shower hour with all the campers feeling spent after their exhilarating day up in the mountain tops, the Red and Blues settled down for a soothing blend of Swiss hot chocolate in front of Camp Suisse’s finest cinema. And so the day comes to a close, and we turn to the next page in the Camp Suisse session 2 Alpine Adventure.
Return from camping and Banana Boating for Yellows and Greens
The Yellow and Green groups apologise for yesterday’s radio silence, we all were very busy enjoying ourselves at camping! This morning, we hiked back down the lovely mountain and back to camp. We had a quick shower to refresh ourselves and then it was back off again to head off to Banana Boating on Lake Geneva! It was such a hot day that falling into the water was a real relief and I’m very sure there was a few intentional falls!
The campers then all swam, played, and chilled in the sun, accompanied by a delicious ice cream for many. The groups have been absolutely fantastic over the last two days, making their group leaders very proud and we can’t wait for the rest of our adventures!
Yellows and Greens tackle the hike to France
17th July 2017
After some breakfast to start the day off well, it was time for the Green and Yellow Groups to head to their language lessons and put on their thinking caps. These lessons were dedicated to a bit of new vocabulary and some cultural lessons about their chosen languages and countries. It was an interesting and fun way to keep the campers engaged in their learning.
Then, after some delicious buffet for lunch, it was time switch it up and for the campers to become a little more active again! This afternoon was dedicated to hiking up through the sunny Swiss Alps towards our lovely retreat nestled in the mountains! Arriving at camp in good time, everybody had a small rest to rejuvenate before the important business of dinner! Then it was time to tackle the challenge of hiking to the french boarder! The campers were very excited at the prospect of being right on the boarder and it felt like such an impressive achievement for everybody! There was some camp songs to match the bright mood and enjoy the lovely summer evening before heading back off to bed for a well deserved rest!
Red and Green Group settle in
After fuelling up in the morning with a yummy breakfast, it was set to be a relaxed day off fun and so the red and green groups headed off to our splendid football pitch in the mountains to play some fun games and sports in the glorious sunshine. The weather has been treating us well! They played a bit of football and fun games like splat which helped everybody to wind down and go to know each other and bond a little!
After a spot of lunch, our campers started their language lessons. In these first of their classes, they played some ice-breaker games and learnt some basic new vocabulary and grammar to get into the swing of things. For dinner we had Mexican burritos and the campers finished their day with some playing and games in our activities area. Our activity area has everything from a zip line to a massive board of chess, and even a bouncy castle! What a great first few days its been for the Reds and Greens!
New Arrivals!!
16th July 2017
After a fantastic fortnight, its time to start again and welcome even more excited campers to Camp Suisse. 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, both to set up for drop off campers and also those who were headed to Geneva Airport to be our vibrant and friendly welcoming party there. 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. Later it was time for some delicious dinner and a relaxed evening after a busy and tiring day!
After a big rest, language assessments got underway on Sunday in order to group the campers appropriately into their language abilities before the Green and Yellow groups head to Parc Aventure high ropes course for the day. They swung, climbed and zoomed their way across the park in the lovely sun and everybody pushed themselves and became more confident with the heights as the session progressed! The Red group were on the climbing wall testing their courage and skills with the height during the afternoon and the blue group tried their hands at a spot of archery! Stay tuned for more updates; the excitement for camp to get into full swing tomorrow and classes to start on Monday is palpable!
That was session one!
14th July 2017
So that’s it! Departure time has sadly dawned on Camp Suisse today as our exciting and fun packed fortnight draws to a close and we are preparing in full force for Session 2! The sun has come out to see the campers off and we’re surrounded by questions of ‘Do I have to go?’ and ‘Can I come back next year?’. Our campers have done everything from Banana Boating and Mountain Biking to visiting the Glacier and our more educational activities such as Bush craft lessons and our great language classes. They have also had wonderful evening entertainments such as talent shows, group singalongs around the piano and treasure hunts, 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 has been a relaxed one, with various campers doing some climbing sessions and others watching some nice films 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 2!
Blues and Reds vs the Cailler Chocolate factory!
13th July 2017
If you can imagine the campers’ biggest ever dreams, they all came true today! it was time for the Blue and Red groups to pay the long awaited visit to … THE CAILLER CHOCOLATE FACTORY! The lucky campers were given an Interactive tour and free chocolate tasting around the factory. There was a multitude of sweet and tiny little samples available so that the campers were fully able to appreciate all the various flavours and types of chocolate (although some appreciated too many!).
Once everybody was all chocolated out, it was time to head into the Swiss village Gruyere for some lovely lunch! The campers played in the park and then browsed the shops for some relaxation. It was a quick turn around after this as it was time to head back to camp for the long awaited ‘Under the Sea’ themed prom!! Prom was an opportunity for all of our lovely campers to change out of their usual camp t-shirts and trainers and into lovely formal clothes and have some fun with the friends that they had made during the fortnight. It began with a delicious dinner of pasta bake, salad bar and dessert which then transferred into disco time! The campers were able to have their last fill of the souvenirs and food from the Tuck Shop and then they headed to the dance floor to have a boogie with their friends and all of the staff to whom they’d all grown very close! It was a bittersweet night of fun but sadness to see everybody go tomorrow.
Elective day for the Greens and Yellows
Unfortunately, the last day of Session 1 activities was upon us today! Now that language classes had ended for Session 1, the Yellow and Green groups were able to have an elective day in which they chose which activities they would rather do for the day to really make the most of their last time here as Camp Suissers! The campers split into groups as some chose to go all out and hike to the beautiful Lake Taney for a swim and others chose mountain biking. Another fantastic activity that was available was our infamous fresh (and very cold) water Ghyll scrambling in which the campers must face obstacles along a fun river course. All of these were very energetic activities and so some of the campers opted with the fourth and final relaxed option: arts and crafts with stomp style music. It was perfect for those who were more than ready for a rest after the busy last two weeks!
Finally, after everybody had had their fill of fun activities for the day it was time for the PROM! It was a chance for all of our lovely campers to change out of their camp t-shirts into lovely formal clothes and have some fun with the friends that they had made during the fortnight. It began with a delicious dinner of pasta bake, salad bar and dessert which then transferred into disco time! The campers were able to have their last fill of the souvenirs and food from the Tuck Shop and then they headed to the dance floor to have a boogie with their friends and all of the staff to whom they’d all grown very close! It was a bittersweet night of fun but sadness to see everybody go tomorrow.
Yellow and Greens’ last language lessons!
12th July 2017
This morning the Yellow and Green groups were able to really take their time and enjoy the day! We started off by playing some fun sportive games like wacky races and capture the flag so that the campers could wind down and relax after a busy week! The competitive air from the previous Olympics competition remained in the air however and everybody was putting their all into the games!
Once they had sufficiently enjoyed their outside activities and refuelled it was time to start some learning during our afternoon full of language classes! Sadly, it was the last class of the session and so we made it fun by giving the campers a competition! There was to be a languages talent show organised for the evening for and also some Karaoke afterwards! The song list included french songs from Stromae, some Latino music from the likes of Marc Anthony and Enrique Iglesias along with popular English tunes! The campers were really brought out of their shells when they heard their favourite songs and by the time the evening drew to a close nobody wanted to head to bed! Such a lovely day.
Blue and Red Groups tackles the Labrynth
Today the Blues and Reds started the day with an educative morning of languages. In their different classes they prepared themselves for the Camp Suisse talent show, set to take place that same evening! After the creative lessons, the Blue Group took the bus to the Labrynth Adventure Park! Once there, we ate our packed lunches to give us some fuel and then it was go time. The campers were divided into groups to explore this fantastic park and its many attractions, fun games and activities. The groups battled their way craftily through the maze and bounced and fell their way across the fun bouncy obstacles!
We then headed back to camp for shower hour followed by a delicious treat of Mexican dinner : chicken fajitas! Afterwards, the campers performed entertaining and creative shows in the different foreign languages they are learning at Camp and everybody showed off their newly learnt language skills! The particular favourite was a rendition of ‘Heads. Shoulders, Knees and Toes’ by one of the younger groups which was joined in passionately by everybody in the audience! Nobody wanted the fun to end and so there was a session of Karaoke that followed. Spanish, French, English and German songs were blasted out as all of the campers came out of their shells and sang, and even danced, along! By the time we were finished everybody was more than ready for bed!
