We spent the morning and early afternoon at Anhugar School, a school for gifted children. They hold classes from 9-5:30pm on weekdays and break every 45 minutes for a time to relax before heading back to class. They are built on mutual respect between teacher and student, they embrace sympathy, empathy, and competency, but even more importantly, they make sure that if you are there, you are welcomed by each and every person. After a 2 day trial period, prospective students are admitted to the school and are expected to work hard and play hard, yet move at their own pace.
We spent the entire morning with students of all ages, all with amazing stories about how they have progressed since starting at the school. Some overcame suicidal thoughts and disruptive behavior and others tackled extreme cases of school fobia. The small staff and student body call eachother respected friends. With this type of relationship, changing bonds are formed both in and out of the classroom.
We spent a lot of time with John, who took 6 weeks at Anhugar to simply be able to step into a classroom due to such extreme school anxiety. He was 13 years old and later in the afternoon, gave us a lecture on Light, Gravity, Matter, and Energy. No biggie, just a 13 year old boy explaining, quite well too, astrophysics and different relationship theories between gravitational particles. When asked what he thought about the possibility of interstellar travel, he said that we need to solve our world's problems and answer all our questions before we move on to space. He also asked us if we would rather have less work so less money, but more vacation time (like the Swiss), or work more, make more, and vacation less. What an insightful young man.
The first person we met at the school, she actually ran out to the bus, was Kate- an American girl that had lived in Geneva for 10 years now. She was 15, spoke incredibly good English and French, and intends to get her PhD and pursue a career in Art Therapy. Her first public art exhibition was last week and we got to see pictures. She's got amazing talent.
Students at the school eat healthy snacks, no sweets, and I do not believe I have ever eaten a more tasty, healthy school lunch. The students will bake cakes together, all from scratch, for every person's birthday and everyone cheers each other on for making good grades. Bullies are immediately removed from the school and it was made clear to us that though many of the students face various learning and physical challenges (ie. Dyslexia or Tourette's), every one knows, accepts, and loves eachother through the challenges they face. I was blown away by their incredible insight and work ethic- everyone chips in to prepare their building's main space for lunch hour.
After a tasty lunch and lots of goodbyes and au revoirs, we left La Rippe and went to take a tour of Brillantmont International School in Lausanne.
We took our tour and talked to a number of current students from multiple countries. It was a great experience and the facilities were incredible. They allow a maximum student population of 10% per nationality in their student body to ensure diversity. With that, they pair roommates from different home-countries to encourage a global understanding and mutual respect. The view from the dormitories was incredible and the architecture was breathtaking. The school is very involved with Habitat for Humanity and international travel during school holidays is very popular. The students spend their free time in town or just hanging out together. They take studies extremely seriously too!
After the schools, we set out to our hotel in Engelberg and made a quick stop in Bern, Switzerland's capital. We made time to see the Bears of Bern, take pictures at the breathtaking overlooks rising above River Aare, and grab a quick bite for dinner before hitting the road again.
We've now checked in safely at Hotel Central and our headed to bed early! We head out at 6am for tomorrow's adventures!
Au Revoir!
Alyssa
ICW Blogger
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