CLEARFIELD – On June 14, sixty-one students and adults from the Clearfield, DuBois, and St. Mary’s areas departed for a nine-day tour of Switzerland, Austria and German. The tour was designed by Clearfield High School German teacher Barbara Simpson in cooperation with EF Educational tours of Cambridge, MA.
Featured destinations in Switzerland included Geneva, Interlaken, Bern, and the Chateau de Chillon. In Austria, the group visited Innsbruck and Salzburg, with a stop at the Saltmines in nearby Berchtesgaden. In Germany, they visited King Ludwig II’s palace Herrenchiemsee, Dachau Concentration Camp, and Munich, with stops at the Frauenkirche, the BMW Welt, the Olympic Park and the Glockenspiel at Marienplatz.
Most of the students particpating in the tour had studied at least two years of German, and had ample opportunities to try out their language skills throughout the trip. “Experiencing the German culture and finally being able to use all the German we learned over the past years was spectacular,” said Kylie Knepp, a recent CHS graduate. “It was an experience I will definitely never forget.”
“Something I came to realize well in Germany was no one over there is in a hurry…ever,” said Courtney Smith, the youngest student in the group.
Several parents and other relatives of the students also went on the trip. Sandy Brown, one of the student’s grandmothers, had this to say about the statue in Salzburg: “My Dad was stationed in Salzburg during World War II. He guarded at the fountain below the Hohensalzburg Fortress. To be able to stand there at the same place my Dad was, I just can’t explain how I felt. I’m just sorry he is not here so I can show him the pictures and hear more about the time he spent there.”
One thing that was very apparent this year was the amount of excitement due to the World Cup soccer games. The group happened to be in Switzlerland during the game between the Swiss and Spain. Up until game time, the streets of Bern were filled with locals, making it difficult for a group of 61 people to manoeuver around. Then suddenly, the city was completely quiet – everyone had gone home to watch the “football” match.
In Germany, evidence of the World Cup was also to be found. “Normally one does not see the German flag displayed any where other than government buildings,” said Simpson. “That has been a phenomenon since Germany’s defeat in WWII. But every where we went, we saw the flag hanging in front of people’s homes, and attached to car antennas. The flags were everywhere. It was an exciting time to be in Europe. My students played in a couple very hard-fought, intense soccer games whenever they could find an empty soccer field or gymnasium. They had a lot of fun.”
Simpson plans to travel again in 2013 to the German-speaking countries with EF Tours.
