Saturday, May 15 1999 : Arrival On Saturday morning, May 15th, five of the students of the 1999 Faverges group flew into Geneva at 9:30 in the morning. After clearing passport and customs controls, they exited the terminal and headed for the chartered bus which was waiting outside.
The photo at left shows Jessica Selden, Jonathan Ackerman and Lisa Walchalk clearing customs. The second photo shows them with Tonie Spirtos and Egle Laurinaviciute, heading outside the terminal, to store their luggage on the bus.
From left, Tonie, Egle, Lisa, Jessica and Jonathan start loading their bags onto the bus before settling down to wait for the arrival of the other student flight, due some two hours later. Jet lag was beginning to make itself felt, and we can see in the second picture above Lisa and Tonie making constructive use of our time waiting for the second group of students.
Delayed by reasons unknown, the second flight arrived an hour late, carrying three more students. In the meantime, another student (who had arrived in Geneva a couple of days earlier) joined the group in the bus.
The second group came in on a connecting KLM flight from Amsterdam. After collecting their luggage (and declaring one piece lost... it was still in Amsterdam, as it turned out) , we headed for Faverges. As we approached our destination, we could see the Dent de Cons mountain looming up into the clouds on this gray but not particularly rainy day. We arrived in Faverges at 2:30pm local time; the host families were waiting on the Place du Marché (Market Square) for the group to arrive.
At left above, we see Sharon Marquart greeted by host mother and AFA President Yvette Millot. At right above, Lisa greeted with the traditional kiss on both cheeks by her host mom Simone Mimault as host dad Claude Mimault and Tonie look on.
Jessica presented her host mom with a rose purchased at the airport; Renée Chlysta (in red) and Jennifer Biber (at right) look on. In the photo at right, Jennifer is introduced to her French "sister" as Sharon looks on, clearly pleased with being able to understand the banter and chitchat !
Click on any photo framed in orange (as below) to see a larger version. Arrival of the 1999 group in Faverges One more student will be joining the group shortly. In the meantime, you can rest assured that the students already here were whisked home for lunch and a nap. The group is to meet on Sunday morning for a walking tour of Faverges.
Classes are to begin on Monday morning.The next report will be posted on Wednesday.
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Page and images © 1999 by Robert F. Jeantet
End of the 1999 trip01 page
