Post-trip potluck

I hope everyone is readjusting to life back in the States! I for one am still out on the slopes of Vogel, so it’s been a little tough getting back into school.

There will be a post trip potluck dinner next Friday (3/18) from 6 – 8pm at the Fayen’s. Please bring an entrée to share. If you’d like to bring a dessert or drinks, let me know. Parents are encouraged to attend.

I will be showing a slideshow at the potluck. In addition, each trip participant will get a CD containing all of the pictures I took on the trip on. If you have pictures that you’d like me to include on the CD, either email them to me at josh@seamon.com (as long as they aren’t too large) or bring them to me on CD.

If everyone contributes $5 we can send STJ fleeces to Jurgen and Sandor. I would like to send out the fleeces on Monday after the potluck so please bring $5 to me by next Friday. If you’d like me to include anything else in the packages (cards, other gifts), make sure to bring the items to me before or at the meeting.

You can pick up directions to the Fayen's in my room (Severance 21) any time after school.

Back in the States

Unfortunately it really is true that all good things do come to an end. On 3/4 we woke up at 3am Slovenian time, checked out and picked up our bagged breakfasts, and were on the road by 4. We made it to the Ljubljana airport before any of the counters were even open, so we had about 45 minutes to wait before we could check in.

Everyone managed to get checked in okay and we had one last group photo before heading through Slovenian customs. Everyone said a sad good bye to Jurgen and Sandor. Hopefully we'll travel with them both again next year! Customs went okay, then we had another 45 minutes to wait before boarding.

Our flight into Frankfurt was short and smooth, but when we landed at 9:20 we realized our next flight was supposed to be boarding at 9:30. So, we raced across the airport, on a bus, then on foot through a very log terminal, to a tram, and them down another terminal... only to run into another seurity checkpoint with lots of people already in line. At this point we're kinda worried that we're not going to make the flight, so I ask one of the Lufthansa attendants if we should be worried. Her reply, "Oh no, it's okay to be late, the plane will wait for you." So, we waited.

After a very thorough search, we made it to the boarding line, only to have one more drama of two students temporarily 'losing' their boarding passes. But we made it on the plane and 7 hours later we were in Boston. All our bags appeard, we cleared customs and out coach bus was waiting for us when we got outside. We ended up making it back to St. Johnsbury right on time at 5pm. Let's hear it for amazing transportion!

Now that the trip is over, I'll be sortig through all the pictures I took and arranging a pot-luck dinner for sometime next week. Once I decide on a time and location, I'll post the information here and send it out in school.

I hope everyone is adjusting well to being back in the States!

Slovenia Day 4

We had another spectacular day on the slopes. 20 kids went up early with Jurgen and myself got to go up the lifts as the sun was cresting the Slovenian Alps. Wow. Mrs. Davis and Ms. Cote took a couple students to a nearby water park for the day and had a blast. Almost all the kids who Xcountry skied yesterday tried downhill today and loved it. We even got some back country runs in through many feet of powder. Truly amazing. We all met back up at 5 and just got done with our last dinner together. We presented Sandor, our driver, with a T-shirt with "Sandor is our Hero" on the front and the kids signatures on the back, and a Frisbee with "We love you Jurgen" on the back along with messages from the kids. It was a great dinner. We are now all heading out to our last meeting and to pack. We get up at 3 tomorrow, take off at 4 for Ljubljana for our 7:55 flight to Frankfurt. Then it is a 10:30 flight outta Frankfurt, which puts us into Boston at 12:30pm. Depending on how things move at Custom and how fast I find the bus, we should be back in STJ around 5 to 6pm.

Cya soon!

Slovenia Day 3

We had another amazing day on the slopes today. Very little wind and LOTS of sun meant the trails were smooth and the upper lifts were open. The view from 1,800 meters is STUNNING. Everyone skied today, either downhill or cross country. The Xcounty skiers were up on the lower Alpine trails having a blast. The Alpine skiers were enjoying the upper lifts and the discovery of a very nice jump that led into multiple feet of powder, which made for some excellent landings. We were on the sloped until 4 and then we caught the Gondola down with Jurgen and Sondor who skied with us all during the day! Everyone is now resting for dinner which is coming up soon. One more day on the slopes then off to Ljubljana, Frankfurt, the Boston.

Hope everyone is weathering the snow storm well! Cya soon!

Slovenia Day 2

Wake up was at 8 this morning so we got to sleep in a bit. Everyone was totally blown away by the amazing scenery! We are surrounded on 3 sides by huge mountains and lake Bohinj on the last side. After a very nice organic breakfast we had a brief meeting and decided to all head up the Gondola to the base of the Vogel Ski Resort. Sondor took us the .5km to the Gondola pick up and we all went up. What a ride! We got a GREAT view of the lake and the surrounding towns. The ride only took around 2 minutes and we were at 4,800 ft overlooking the whole Bohinj Valley... stunning! After about 45 minutes of getting everyones rentals, we were on the slopes.

Totally smooth trails, no trees, totally open and totally gorgeous. The upper lifts were closed due to high winds, but the ones that were open were quite enough. 18 kids and I skied for 5 hours and then met up and went back down the Gondola to the waiting bus. The other 4 kids went with Jurgen, Ms. Cote, and Mrs. Davis to the other side of the lake where they rented cross country skis and walked around in the beatiful surroundings.

We all met back up at the hotel at 5 and hit the indoor pool. Now were off to dinner. Tomorrow we start very early and get the first Gondola up the mountain. Should be a blast.

Slovenia

After 12 hours of transport, we made it to Slovenia. Sondor really is our hero. We took off at 8 am and headed south west along lake Balaton, through Nagkinzha, and over into Croatia. We had a nice lunch before we crossed out of Hungary. Kids got entry passport stamps for Croatia, which they were all prettz excited about. We passed south of Zagreb and then had an hour plus at the Croatian border, which was packed. We eventually got through and traveled past Ljubljana and up into Triglav National park, through Bled, and into Bohinj. After some AMAZING driving by Sondor, we found Hotel Zlatorog. Even in the dark everything here looks stellar, just how I remember it, but covered in snow. We cant wait for the light of tomorrow. Our plan tomorrow is to head up to the mountain as early as possible, and for the nonskiers to hike to a local water fall and to head over to Bled to see the Castle.

Even though the bus ride was very long, the kids were great and stayed really calm. We are very excited for tomorrow. Oh, Im pretty sure this trip has set an Academy record for most countries traveled to on one abroad trip ... 6. Germany, The Czech Republic, Austria, Hungary, Croatia, and now Slovenia.

Budapest

The trip into Budapest went smoothly. We took off at 8 and crossed the border a couple hours later, getting some more passports stamps along the way. We got into Budapest at around 2 and checked into our hotel, which is more of an apartment complex. After getting settled we headed out to Market Hall, which is a massive indoor market in what looks like an old trainstation. The kids had Hungarian fast food and picked up some very nice local trinkets. We then walked up Vaci Ut, a very nice walking street and up to St. Stephen's cathedral where we saw St. Stephen's hand, always a chilling experience. We then headed back to the Hotel by subway and then up to dinner a couple blocks from the hotel. Everyone was pretty tired from all the traveling so we got to bed relatively early.

Yesterday morning we started with a 3 hour city tour from Hosok Ter (Heroes Square) all the way up to Castle Hill and the Citadella. We all took in some great views and a bunch of Hungarian history. Our tour guide was again very effective and friendly. The tour ended at our lunch restaurant, Gundel, the fanciest restaurant in the country. All the kids were very nicely dressed up and we had a fabulous meal. The high point of the meal was when they brought out the suprise piece of cake for Jordan's birthday which was capped off with a HUGE sparking fountain candle thing. It was rather impressive. After the meal most of the kids headed over to the Szchenyi thermal baths, and a couple went to the fine arts museum. We all met back up at the hotel at 5 and Sondor took us to the city center for a quick dinner. After dinner we went directly, by bus, to the Erkel Theatre where we saw the Opera L'elixir d'amor. Even though it was in Hungarian, it was not hard to follow and everyone had a great time. We took the subway back to the Hotel and crashed immediately.

This morning we headed off in 3 groups -- a couple kids went to Jewish services at the very large Synagogue, a bunch went back to Market Hall, and I took a bunch of kids to Margaret Island to walk, see some ruins and play some Ultimate. Everyone had a blast -- the kids who played Ultimate had a 5 on 5 game in the middle of the island and managed to get pretty muddy. We saw some 500 year old ruins then walked to the meeting point, a fountain at the large mall in central Pest. All three groups met up about an hour ago and now the kids are enjoying some time in the mall eating, shopping, and exploring. We're going to meet up in an hour and then head off to the Fine Arts Museum, and hopefully to Ice Skate at the huge rink next to Hosok Ter. We also might have an hour long cruise on the Danube tonight, but that hasn't been confirmed yet. Should be a fun evening.

We take off at 8am tomorrow morning for Slovenia -- should take the whole day. Turns out everyone in the group is able to enter Croatia, so we'll be taking the road that dips into the country -- so 5 countries total on this trip! The kids are very excited to see some of Croatia and to get to Vogel.

Hope all is well back in the states!