Catégorie : Weekend

From Lausanne, it’s a three-hour train ride; enough time to knock out some of Monday’s homework. Upon arrival, we left the train station, crossed the street and checked into our hotel. Our lovely teachers Signora Ciacci and Signora Vonlanthen gave us an hour or so to ready ourselves for dinner. Dinner was great, especially after the hour and a half wait. Then, we went out… to get some gelato. On the way there we passed multitudes of nightclubs… but finally arrived at the ice cream store, a gelateria.

The next morning was rough… because we had to wake up at 8:00am, on a Saturday! We got an early start and made our way to the Milan expo. It was packed. It seemed that all of Italy decided to go on the same day. It was great however. There were at least a hundred countries offering food from their country and little expositions about saving the planet. The group split in two. Some of us went to Brazil and Malaysia while others went to Japan and Poland to eat and look. Finally the group rejoined and together we went to Monaco via VIP passes. We passed the lines and after, we went to the VIP Room for drinks.

Afterwards, we made out way to Switzerland where an orange, a saltshaker and a coffee bean attacked us. The Swiss tour was a bit odd. We were granted unlimited access to salt, coffee and for the entire group, just one cup. The expo was fun anyway.

The last day before leaving we visited a museum. We saw many famous works, but we missed our reservation to the last supper, and they continued to dine without us. In other words we didn’t get to see it. Sadly it was closed off. But what we did get to see was the La Mariage de la Vierge, by Le Pérugin.

On our way back, there was worry about whether we’d make it to McDonald’s before making the train, but it all worked out. Late Sunday afternoon, we made it back to school, having spent a great weekend in Milan.

By Carter 

The trip to London that 18 of us participated in was one we will definitely remember. After arriving in London and after checking into our hotel, the Royal Horseguards, we were taken straight away for dinner to a Mexican restaurant, Lupita, on the Embankment. The food did take longer than expected but was more than half decent for a Mexican restaurant in Central London. For the sightseers and tourists of the group, Mr Berube took a group of us after the meal to see Big Ben, the London Eye and the Houses of Parliament by night.

Getting up was a tough one due to the early morning rise. We strolled across the Thames; bad weather of course. We had a backstage tour at the Royal National and were shown how each performance is created. We saw many different areas by our guide, who was extremely energetic even though it was early on a Saturday morning. All of us then were given free time in between the backstage tour and the first play Pomona. Majority of us made a trip to Harrods to do a bit of shopping and to grab a bite to eat.

Pomona, the first play, was something that I don’t think we were expecting in the slightest. It was very twisted and vulgar, but very interesting at the same time. From the end of Pomona, we were then given more free time to either shop, do some sightseeing or eat. Dinner was a choice by everybody and the girls managed to include a bit more shopping, as always.

The second play we went to see was called “The Importance of Being Earnest”, a performance set in a traditional English setting. It was definitely the funnier out of the two plays, with a much less disturbing theme. The rest of the night was different for each class, the class 3’s going for dessert with Mr and Mrs Berube, and the class 1’s having a curfew of 12…

There is no doubt that all of us absolutely loved the trip and enjoyed going somewhere a bit more exciting than Rolle.

Having to wake up at 8:00 on a Saturday morning to go canoeing in 10 degree water, where the chance of you not getting wet is close to none, is definitely the most desirable choice of how to spend one’s Saturday. So here is my the story:

It was a cold September morning, the new students lined up like pigs to the slaughter to get on the bus, where they were supposed to bond with us oldies. In truth the only thing that managed to keep us awake on the bus trip was the blinding light of the sunrise and the intoxicating farts let off by some of the girls of course.

After what seemed like years, we got off the bus to meet a group of Swiss Germans ready to take us to our death…. canoeing. And after about 16 hours of briefing, where we learned to hold the oar, we set off. The canoes mainly varied from 2-5 people, though there were 3 canoes that held 10 people each. We navigated through the zigzagged river, bumping into bushes and people, and waging war on the more vulnerable canoes. The war consisted of smacking ones oar on the surface of the water to send a wave to the other canoe, wetting the passengers with dark green leech infested water.

The war raged and each person became wetter with sewage water by the moment. The Swiss German instructors occasionally shouted at us, and even if they were speaking English, it sounded more like Swahili to the ear. Eventually their anger vanished and we paddled on.

I was now very wet half way into the trip, so my canoe buddy and I decided a swim was necessary, and it gave us an opportunity to rid the canoe of water. Little did we know, that the more we tried to empty the water, the more water filled the canoe. This continued until the top of the canoe, was now at the surface level of the water. The fifteen minutes of wading through the water went by faster than I thought possible, mainly because we were laughing so much. Eventually two canoes came to our aid, and lifted the canoe out of the water, and we could finally paddle to safety to enjoy a pasta meal (as if we don’t have enough of those).

Written by Théo