Fantastisch Zermatt!
Our journey from Munich to Zermatt was an incredible bus trip along winding roads up and down the Swiss Alps. The views were incredible and most students loved snapping pictures and pointing out amazing vistas to their friends. Along that journey we stopped in Liechtenstein, the sixth smallest country (by area) in the world. The country has 40,000 inhabitants and is the richest company (per capita) in the world. Students enjoyed a quick lunch before having a tour of the small downtown of the country. During this tour, students were asking some excellent questions to our tour guides, staff are loving the curiosity of our students as they seek new knowledge about the amazing places we are visiting on our program.
When we arrived in Tasch, a small town below Zermatt, we quickly boarded a train up the mountain (1,500m). Students were tired from the long travel day but once they saw the incredible vistas outside the train station the fog of the travel day lifted. Students were excited about this new opportunity to explore. We found our hotel and we greeted with a well deserved pizza dinner delivered to our hotel lobby. Students ate as many pieces of pizza that they wanted and there was still lots left over. Some students went to their room to rest or do homework but many groups of students decided to explore the little ski village before signing in for curfew that night.
The next morning students woke early for breakfast as we had a hike to do. Guided by three hiking/climbing experts we went up and down the mountain to see different aspects of the Matterhorn as well as the many different peaks, glaciers and yes herds of goats. The goats were a big hit, the half white and half black goats caused a flurry of students taking pictures to capture the moment. It is safe to say that every student, no matter how tired they were that morning, were smiling from ear to ear. The pictures on the blog and instagram account don’t really portray just how beautiful the vistas of the mountain were. We ended the morning with a hike down the mountain through a beautiful gorge that had a thundering river of glacier melt water as a backdrop. The hike was 5 km and capped the end of such an amazing experience.
The rest of the day was spent catching up on school work and checking in with their teachers about next steps as we are heading into our last week of classes and the program. Students had the rest of the next 2 days to explore the ski town, rest and complete some school work. It truly was a relaxing but at the same time exciting place for our program to experience.
Yesterday we made our way to Florence via Milan. We had a short lunch and tour of Milan before boarding the bus to Florence. We had a long stop so students could recharge on some water and snacks before settling into our hotel in Florence. Students were thankful for cold air conditioned rooms last night. We are just starting to explore Florence, our home for the next few days. More on our experiences on Florence to come. 7 more sleeps until home ?
Jason – Program Manager
