Switzerland Study Tour

2019-2020 Outstanding Student Switzerland Study Tour

On 24th September, 32 P.5 students headed to Switzerland for a study tour. The 9-day study tour featured the best of Switzerland. It included Zurich, one of the world’s most livable cities and Interlaken, which is situated on a picturesque river. The tour also included the pretty village of Zermatt and the Jungfraujoch, with its magnificent views of Alps and glaciers.

The local education centre, Awesome Summer Camp, arranged innovative and challenging tasks for our students. Activities included visiting a museum, hiking, exploring the Matterhorn, chocolate making, escape room, map reading … etc. All these activities allowed students to have a memorable learning experience. Our amazing trip concluded with a visit to the Emmental AOP Cheese Village where students could explore the secret of the best cheese.

Awesome Summer Camp
I was most impressed by visiting KiwiFruit Orchard. We learned how Kiwifruit was grown with the help of scientific methods.

	Today was the first day of the Switzerland trip. After we arrived at Zurich airport, we ate a plentiful breakfast of croissants, toast, orange juice and chocolate milk. Then, we took a beautiful train from Zurich to Zermatt. The train ride was exciting as we needed to carry 40 luggages to run and catch another train within 7 mins!
	5D Luk Tse Ching Phyllis

Zermatt
Zermatt is a car free village. With the extensive Alpine environment, it is a great location for different adventurous activities, including hiking and skiing.
		When we finished our breakfast, we had a guided tour in Zermatt. We saw a memorial stone on the water fountain. I had a sip of the water that was so fresh! The tour guide brought us to the bakery where we could taste different types of Swiss bread. Yummy!

Forest Fun Park
This adventure park provides 31 amazing zip lines and 95 various obstacles in between the trees. The Fun Park helps improve balance and gives students a sense of adventure! Our students had an amazing time there. This park absolutely helps students build up their courage.

It was so much fun to play in the Forest Fun Park as I could play on the zip-line. Although I cried when I struggled and I even shouted for help in the middle of somewhere, I had an unforgettable time in the park. 5C Lam Pui Yuet Joyce

Gornergrat
No one will deny that from Gornergrat to Riffelalp is the most scenic hiking route in Zermatt. We were lucky that on the day we did the hiking the weather was perfect, -1 ℃ but a sunny day. The mighty Matterhorn and the magnificent Gornergrat Glacier were easily in our sights for most of the journey.

Today, we had another hiking trip, but before that, we had a lesson about map reading. We needed to use the map and compass to look for our cog rail station. The starting point of the hiking trail was so high and we felt cold. It took us two hours to hike. That was a great walk. During the hiking trail from Gornergrat to Riffelberg, we stopped at Riffelsee where you could see a beautiful alpine lake that reflects stunning views of the Matterhorn. 5E Chan Moses Chung Chak

Gorner Gorge
The Gorner Gorge is a place of exceptional natural beauty. Gorner Gorge is an accessible, short walk into a pretty canyon filled with waterfalls, plant life and interesting rock formations. The wooden walkways leading between the towering cliffs provide a dramatic insight into the power of nature.


It’s the most tiring day ever because we had a long walk today. We took the cable car up to the mountain, it drove past our favorite Forest Fun Park. Then we started our hiking trip that required us walking through a hanging bridge. When we were on the bridge, we were scared, as it was shaky! Finally, we arrived our destination, Gorner Gorge. We learned something about the rocks, the clear water and the glaciers. I was super tired, but I could experience a lot. 5C Valerie Wu Tsz Yau

Escape Room Experience
	This is the last day in Zermatt. We were excited for playing the escape room and we played the hardest one! It is so scary. The wall is filled with black and white numbers and it’s very dark inside. We were terrified. We had to find cues to solve mystery questions. At last, we can escape the room! 5B Tsoi Cara

Chocolate Making Factory
After the Astro Turf Games, we went to the “Fuchs”, which is the name of the bakery. We did the chocolate making there. We could make the chocolate. Their shaped were not like the normal one. They look like the matterhorn. We used our fingers to dip the white chocolate to the tip of the mount. Then we fill in chocolate with hazelnuts. After 15 minutes, those chocolate look exactly like Matterhorn. It was delicious. 5A Royan Tam Pok Chung

Fondue Dinner
For Dinner, we had cheese fondue. It was delicious! The funniest things was we ate all the bread when we grew impatient about waiting for the cheese! it was a great night.

Awards Ceremony
The Award Ceremony was held after the Cheese Fondue Dinner. Teachers and Coaches selected the best performance student and the most responsible student from each group in this trip. The awarded student could get certificates and gifts. they were excited.

Chillon Castle
This thousand year old historical monument sits on a rock along the banks of Lake Geneva. Inside the castle, there was so much to see. We explored a lot in the function rooms, religious rooms, bedrooms, basement and prisons which were built in the middle ages.

We went to Interlaken. It lies along the Aare River, in the Bernese Highlands. We visited the Chillon Castle. It’s wonderful. Our guide told us some interesting facts, for example, the canopy beds were short because people were short in the old days! 5C Tsui Wen Shan Candace

Jungfraujoch
Today we woke up at a quarter past six because we had to catch up the Jungfraujoch railway to go up to Jungfraujoch. When we went up the mountain, it was hard to breath because the air pressure was very low. We had delicious chicken leg for lunch on the mountain. It’s cold but we enjoyed playing with the snow. Everyone had a lot of fun. 5B Ng Yin Lam Lucas

Emmental Cheese Village AOP
We went to the Cheese Factory. We tried different kinds of cheese, they were very delicious. We were excited to join the Detective Trail Adventure. Besides, we have learnt the process of creating Emmental Cheese. We had yummy ‘Cheese’ lunch. It’s amazing! 5E Li Ching Ying

Fruit Orchard
We went to a Fruit Orchard, there were a lot of apples and beautiful flowers, I took a lot of photos. I also saw some little grasshoppers, they were lovely. I had a great time in the Fruit Orchard. 5D Mok Wang Hei Karl

Parents’ Comments It is so honorable that Anson has the chance to join the Outstanding Student Switzerland Study Tour. We, being Anson’s parents, sincerely want to express our gratitude to the Tour Committee for their kind support and arrangement. Anson had a wonderful time during the tour. He enjoyed all the activities and treasured the friendship so much. Independence and confidence has been built up through participating those well planned tour activities. Anson also had the chances to try out the language that he has learned with native speakers. Most important of all, Anson gained a deeper understanding of the real life and culture in Switzerland. The tour has enriched his knowledge and experience. We deeply appreciate the Tour Committees’ hard work in providing the informative tour journal,	pre-trip training courses to the students and the introductory session to parents. Moreover, through all their diligent work, parents’ concern and worries were released when the kids were in the tour. For instances, nice photos of the tour activities were updated in the website from times to times; kids’ health and emotional conditions were closely monitored every day. Last but not least, we thank so much that the Tour Committee has put efforts jointly with our parenting efforts in guiding Anson on the path to independence. Those happy memories built in the tour will certainly provide him with the energy towards the way ahead and the assurance to know that his parents, teachers and friends will be there for him when he is in difficult times. Parents of 5A Lai Hong Kiu

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