With part one of the exchange finished, 17 eager students, along with English teacher Ms. Heather Prevosti, Spanish teacher Ms. Violetta Suroweic, and Math teacher, Ms. Ho-Ling Lo, embarked on their journey to Winterthur, Switzerland.
Similar to the school’s past two exchanges, students on this exchange lived with a host Swiss student and his/her family while touring the country, shadowing them while in school, and getting to know their host families.
“I wanted to see life from another perspective,” said junior Vanessa Kreytak.
The flight took off at 6:50 PM from Newark International Airport. After seven tiring hours on the plane, students couldn’t wait to land in Switzerland. The Americans arrived at 6:00 in the morning, where they were greeted by three Swiss students and one teacher from our host school, Kantonsshule Im Lee.
Students and teachers were taken to school where they were greeted by the Swiss principal and offered lunch.
“Their school food is so much better than our food; they actually have chefs working,” said junior Glenn Kugelman.
After the “official” welcome, the school day was over and the American students were free to go home and spend the weekend with their host students.
Some students had the pleasure to travel during the weekend, going as far as Bern, the capital of Switzerland and Rome, Italy.
On Monday, students arrived at school bright and early to start sightseeing. At first, the students went on a walking tour of the town where the Swiss hosts lived, followed by free time to shop and eat.
During the afternoon, the students were given the opportunity to tour the historic Kyburg Castle.
Tuesday was the day the students were able to see the Rhein falls. Students walked along the sight seeing paths taking many pictures with the falls as the background.
“One of my favorite students was traveling with the students, we had a lot of fun touring the cities and meeting the other [Swiss] students in their school and how they interact. I feel our students truly experienced the culture,” said Ms. Suroweic.
The Americans were set to attend school all day Wednesday. The Swiss hosts were all in the same classes, so the Americans weren’t separated. Our students attended classes such as Biology, Literature, and Calculus. This was also the day where the Principal of Kantonsshule Im Lee gave the students a fond farewell as well as a small gift. Each student received a Swiss army knife that was in the form of a credit card.
On Thursday, the American students, accompanied by their Swiss friends, traveled to Zurich where they went sightseeing around the town and finished up their last minute souvenir shopping.
That Friday marked the day of departure back to the United States. Our travelers had a connecting flight in Frankfurt, Germany before reaching there much wanted homes here in the United States. With each student’s family waiting and the crowd giving our students a round of applause as they exited the customs area. Each student couldn’t help but agree that this trip was anything but unforgettable.
