Camp Journal
Yellow and Green group vs the Glacier 3000!
6th July 2017
Today it was an early start for the Green group. Partnered up with our compatriots, the Yellows, we ventured eastwards for a cracking day at the Glacier 3000. We set off early to make the best of the day and everybody enjoyed the clear and bright morning sun high up in the mountains whilst we tobogganed, roller coasted and learnt about all of the various glaciers and peaks in Switzerland and the Alps. Lunch was enjoyed within view of the famous peaks such as the JungFrau, Weisshorn, Eiger, and the Matterhorn. We were very lucky!
After some well deserved downtime upon arrival to the camp, we hiked into the forest for a BBQ. The entire camp devoured the delicious food before some evening activities and a successful end to what had been a long but brilliant day
Blue Group skims across Lake Geneva!
Today, our blue group went on one of the most exciting trips of the week: Banana Boating at Lake Geneva! We started off the with an energetic breakfast that lead us to some morning activities before our long anticipated departure to the lake. Once in the banana boating area, they all gathered in the shadow to do one of the most important things: put on SUN CREAM! And they finally got into the boats. There was many a excited scream as the campers skimmed across the water on the boats and there was no lack of funny moments with groups falling into the water and lots of splashing!
They stayed there until around 4.30 pm, when they reluctantly took the bus up to Torgon. After a rest at shower hour, they headed off to a BBQ in the forest! They ate some delicious hot dogs and burgers with salad and even some cookies! Bed time was well deserved today for our blues after a fantastic day out.
Red group scrambles on the river!
5th July 2017
This morning the Red Group were woken by glorious sunshine! We enjoyed exciting language lessons with many games in the sun. Afterwards, we headed to the football pitch to give archery a go. We had a fantastic time and got some amazing scores!
We then headed to the river for our first time ghyll scrambling. The obstacle course was challenging but fun as everybody got sufficiently splashed and muddy. It was fun to just connect with the nature!Sc
We tucked into yummy lasagna for dinner and ended a great day with various outdoor sports in the evening sun. Such a great day!
Ghyll Scrambling, Camp Suisse
Biking time for Blue group
Today was a fantastic day for the Blue Group! From 9 am, when they started language classes, they were really active and participated by practising their foreign language skills. Their improvement in their target language can already be felt!
After a yummy hot lunch, they started the afternoon activity: mountain biking! Everyone enjoyed it with the help of the wonderful activity leaders who really gave the campers some courage to test out the challenging track.
A delicious lasagna was waiting for them at dinnertime followed by waffles with ice cream.
For evening entertainment, they were playing some fun games in the sports hall. Such a great day for our blue campers!!
A day of courage for Blues and Reds!
4th July 2017
Our blue group had a wonderful day with our trip to the Glacier 3000 finally upon us! After a very early breakfast our campers jumped on the bus ready to have a fantastic day.
Once at the glacier, the campers were brave and took two cable cars on a chairlift up the mountain. After lathering on sun cream, our campers played in the snow and had the chance to ride the highest alpine roller-coaster in the world! There were a few nerves, but after everybody had braved it- the excitement was palpable!
After a packed lunch the next challenge was a walk across the Sky Bridge, a suspension bridge 3000 m up. The blue groups day had been full to the brim of challenges, excitement and adrenaline so it was time to head back to camp for shower hour and dinner, followed by hot chocolate and a movie to finish this exciting day! No doubt all of our campers slept well after such a busy day!
Lot’s of Lake fun for Yellow group!
A quick camp breakfast was had, with surreal views down to Lake Geneva, before the yellow group set off back to base. Down hill turned out to be a lot faster than up and luckily everyone was ready for the next adventure of banana boating by 11am. Once at the lake, there was no wasting time and it was straight on to the boats for the boys who managed to only fall in once: unlike the girls who went for a swim 3 times! With an afternoon of swimming, football, catch, paddle boarding and relaxing in the sun, the yellow group returned to camp for a special 4th July dinner of chicken burgers, salad and chips with special Camp Suisse sauce! There were american themed decorations and there was even a special American music playlist on in the background made by our very own resident New Yorker! A brilliant day!
Time to hike to France!
3rd July 2017
The Yellow and Green groups started the day with their first language lessons of camp. Plenty of fun games were incorporated into the classes to kick start the day and keep the campers engaged and excited to learn! After filling up on the delicious hot food and buffet at lunch, yellows and greens were ready to complete their challenge of hiking to France! The sun was out in all of its glory and it was a perfect day to weave our way up through the mountain encountering all sorts of various animals and plenty of new nature to learn about. A few short stops on the way to re-energise and we arrived at camp 4 hours later. A welcome BBQ set up by the lovely catering staff awaited the grateful campers and there was even some time for table tennis and table football before our last push up to the boarder of France. Everyone stayed determined and focused and we all made it. The view was definitely worth while!
Back at our Alpine Outpost camp, we finished the evening with stories around the camp fire, including Toria’s notoriously captivating spooky stories, before 44 tired campers headed to bed ready to regain their strength for the fun day ahead.
Green group learns about Camp fires and cattle!
Green group began their language classes along with the Yellow team today and everybody quickly fell into the rhythm and structure of the 90 minute slots! This was followed by lunch at camp before the Campers then headed off to the Chalet du Croix for some sophisticated camping! They enjoyed a three hour hike in the Swiss Alps, passed by plenty of nature and plenty of cows! These cows turned out to be a valuable lesson as the children discovered that the bigger the bell- the bigger the worth of the cattle!
At camping they were welcomed by a BBQ, before heading up to the French border where they had one foot in Switzerland and the other in France! Everyone felt a great sense of achievement! Later, the campers sat around and were taught about fire in the wild and in camping from their very knowledgeable activity leader Victoria. She then enjoyed sharing some of her notorious and spooky stories around the camp fire with roasted marshmallows. A great day !
Languages, bingo, chess and games for the Red and Blue Group today
Today the Red and Blue Groups had another fun filled day here at Camp Suisse. We started the morning off with a walk to the football pitch where the fun and games began! Wacky races and stuck in the mud were particular favourites amongst the campers and we returned tired, yet content to camp for a lovely and needed hot lunch. Everybody felt revitalised just in time for their first language lessons! Vocab learning and educative games were done in French, German, Spanish and English and everybody worked hard!
After some burrito fun for dinner, the Reds were able to get their competitive side on whilst playing bingo and the Blues headed of to the activities area to play a life sized game of chess and to hit the swings and bouncy castle! By bed time everybody was sufficiently worn out and more than ready for some rest and recuperation.
Blue Group go hunting for treasure!!!
2nd July 2017
Today was a fantastic day for our blue group. Fresh and excited to start their camp experience, they started the day with a yummy breakfast to give them lots of energy. This was quickly and enthusiastically followed by morning activities: sports games in the sports hall. The games were competitive and a very good way for everybody to get to know each other and bond a little! Once they were ready, it was time for their language tests in their chosen languages in order to place them in groups according to their levels and make the most of classes. After lunch, the campers spent the afternoon tackling the challenge of the climbing wall. We played various games and were taught climbing skills through fun and educative games with their incredible activities leaders. Confidence and bravery was tested and once the campers began to get comfortable with wall confidence definitely grew; they can now conquer anything! Before shower hour, there was enough time to continue the fun with some relaxed arts and crafts. Which was followed in the evening by sweet and sour chicken for dinner.
Once everybody had refuelled and recharged at dinner, it was time for the legendary Treasure Hunt! Group leaders had worked hard to construct a fun, crazy and educative quiz and the blue group even explored the village of Torgon to help find their answers to the various questions, What a great day!
