Day One - in Leysin

Bonjour, as they say out here,

We are in Switzerland, despite a number of the students thinking we had landed in either France or Germany! Neither are we near Amsterdam, which incidently isn't in Berlin, and no we didn't go into outer space in the plane!! Remarkably, one of our Year 10 brethren also remarked "It's just like Wales, but without the sheep". We really have our work cut out!

Today has focused on the formation of the fold mountains we are surrounded by, formation of the sedimentary rock which the Alps are made of and an introduction to the impacts of ice on the landscape. Many of the students and staff notched up a number of firsts today - a cable car ride, walking on snow and ice in July, going above 3,000m with their feet still on the ground (and sunbathing while there), riding on a chairlift and seeing the Matterhorn first hand!

While the temperature this morning hovered around freezing, the four mile walk this afternoon was completed with the temperature in the mid-80s. The words "are we nearly there yet?" even managed to drown out the incessant clanging of the cow bells!

But we're not done yet! A swim, jacuzzi and sauna, followed by dinner and ten-pin bowling will see an end to our first full day here. Tune in again tomorrow for more news.

Mr Allmand & Mr Austen

Thought for the day - "Why do cows have bells...................because their horns don't work"!!!!!