nothing going to stop me now

Exams…… Finished!! And as of from this evening, I don’t have to know anything about college for the next three months!! I’m Freeee!

Now that I got that out of my system I can concentrate on the next two weeks! The real preparation time!

Here is a quick update of what I’ve being up to besides my exams during the last few weeks:


I sorted out my Travel insurance, which I found hard to get. There are 92 days from the 14th of June to the 13th of September, and most companies will only cover you for a maximum of 90 days. So with the help of some contacts, I’ve managed to get myself covered!
A few months ago I was in touch with Tourism Ireland wondering about material that I could use to promote Ireland and help us with our presentation on Ireland while over there. I received a load of posters, brochures, pens and pins [not enough for every staff member…sorry]. The girl who I was speaking to was very helpful and I’d recommend anyone doing this to get some of this stuff.
Gillian has being in touch with me as well, and booked our rail tickets (after much emailing and phone calls… thank you Gillian!) She should have them by Tuesday!!
Bernie, the International Commissioner for Scouting Ireland (CSI) also sent me a nice document on “Advice, when travelling abroad to represent the Association”, and that’s what I’m kinda doing… It made good reading, with some nice pointers!
I’ve got my website on the Scouting Ireland dot com Website! And also there will be some kind of write up on me that will be circulated to all Unit Leaders in the country on a newsletter some time in the future!!

Anyhow, now that my exams are over, I can find some time to get down to the finer things for getting myself ready for that early flight out of here.

Keep you posted!

YiS,

D.

questions and answers

Hello again! I’m delighted that so many of you like the website and I realise that its not the most exciting piece of work on the net, but hopefully it will keep some people up to date of my summer adventure and it will make good reading in years to come!

Last weekend I headed up to my Associations National Council, where besides voting on the formation of a new Association for Scouting in Ireland, I met Gillian and Ryan. We had a nice long chat about Ryan’s experience last year on staff, but he was careful not to give away too much! At one point it was like a game of 20 questions! I found it really helpful as he answered a lot of things we were wondering about. He also gave us tips from where to eat and where to climb, to a low-down of the long-term staff and basically made us even more excited about the summer ahead. He is also planning in coming over to the Centre for the August 1st festivities!

We also received an email from Mark with the themes for the International BBQ’s and some other information!

Themes for International BBQ’s and August 1st:
03/07 - Pyjama Party
10/07 - Black Plastic Bag Fashion
17/07 - Over the Moon
24/07 - Colour Blind
01/08 - Under the Sea - National Swiss Day!
07/08 - Beach Party
14/08 - Pyjama Party
21/08 - Cave Man
28/08 - Colour Blind
04/09 - Cross Dressing

There are also computers for the staff to use while I’m over there so I will be able to update and post entries to my Kandersteg Log!

At the moment, I’m in the middle of my exams, but there is only 30 more days to go till I depart! I hope to try to start to get all my stuff together and figure out how much stuff I’ll need to bring and so on.

I forgot to tell you the times of my flights, just in case you want to wave me off or organize a party for my return! On the 14th of June I leave Cork airport at 05:40 in the morning, where we head to Dublin airport. Gillian hops on for the 07:00 flight to Frankfurt airport where were due to arrive at 10:00.
On the way back, on the 13th of September our flight leaves Frankfurt airport at 19:50 where we arrive back into Dublin Airport at 21:00. Unfortunately there is no flight back to Cork available that evening.

YiS,

D.

train research

With flights checked off the list, a train is needed to get us from Frankfurt in Germany to Kandersteg in Switzerland! (We did look at the train timetables before we booked the flight to make sure it was possible to get to Kandersteg in time!)

The two websites that give us timetables one was the German rail website and the other was the Swiss one. There isn’t much difference between them, except you can only get the German platforms on the German site and the platforms you should be going to in Switzerland on the Swiss site!

Die Bahn
Swiss Federal Railways

For the German side of the trip a return fare costs £111, or about € 158.
The Swiss return fare costs 284CHF, or about € 187 including booked seats.

Our timetable is below:
Dep. - Frankfurt (M) Flughafen Fernbf - 10:54
Arr. - Mannheim Hbf - 11:24
Dep. - Mannheim Hbf - 11:35
Arr. - Basel SBB - 13:46
Dep. - Basel SBB - 14:04
Arr. - Kandersteg - 16:24
Duration of journey: 5:30

YiS,

D.

the info arrived

On Friday I received a nice big pack in the post from Kandersteg! It made very interesting reading over the weekend.
Below is a short list of what was included:

• A letter from Miriam, the Director
  
• A list of all Staff Members for the summer
  
• A brief introduction to the Long Term Staff for the summer
  
• List of Equipment needed
  
• Cost of living in Switzerland
  
• A 'what to expect when you arrive' information sheet
  
• A rough Guide to Kandersteg
  
• A Kandersteg Dictionary!
  
• An example of what a typical day will be like
  
• A Map of Kandersteg Town and the Scout Centre
  
• A booklet on the town
  
• Information of the Swiss customs
  
• Timetable of the trains from Kandersteg
  
• A copy of Kanderactive
  
• A letter with regards the European Scout Volunteer Programme
  
• And a Postcard!

Everything is really coming together now. I’m in contact with Gillian and she seems on top of everything and has looked into the trains and everything.
I have exams coming up soon and so does Gillian so I’ll be lying low for a while.
I hope to travel up for National Council on the 11th of May, where I will meet Ryan, Who was on Staff last year, Gillian and Bernie the International Commissioner!

YiS,

Darran.

travel time

Since I know what date I'll need to arrive at the centre, the hunt is on for the cheapest flights. I'm flying from Cork, but nearly all the flights out of Ireland go through either Dublin or London. A few good websites to visit are:
GoHop.ie
AerLingus.com
RyanAir.com
EasyJet.com
Go4Less.ie

I managed to get a flight from Cork to Geneva return for € 255. This left the 13th, the day before I was due to arrive at the centre. They don't really like you doing this, but I thought it was the only way I could do it.

Then I heard Gillian was on going from Dublin to Frankfurt on the 14th and then a train to Kandersteg. I looked into that flight, and it originates in Cork. I booked it with AerLingus, Cork to Frankfurt and return Frankfurt to Dublin (because it didn’t return to Cork) and it cost me € 190. It saves me a bit, and I have someone to travel with, so it's a win-win situation!

I was also in contact with the Swiss Embassy to make sure I don't need a visa (which I knew I didn't, I was just double checking!!!) and it was confirmed, as long as I have a full Irish passport, there would be no problem.

YiS,

D.

the story so far

Ok, lets fill you all in on the story so far:

After being on a regional Camp to Kandersteg in July 2000, I've had the idea of coming back!

So August last I sent and e-mail off to KISC (Kandersteg International Scout Centre) looking for application forms, which I received thru my e-mail and in the post. The booklets that they sent told me all that would be expected if I took up a position on staff, and I found it very helpful. I kept pondering the idea of Switzerland for 3 months, and finally, mid-January I decided to get everything together and give it my best shot! 2 weeks later I got an e-mail confirming that they received my application and about a month after that I got a job offer. I accepted the offer and then things started to get exciting!

My associations International Commissioner had being informed and being in contact with me and we decided to meet up for a chat! She told me what was needed and that I'm the second person from Scouting Ireland CSI to of being picked. And as far as she knew, the only Scout this year from Ireland!

About a week ago I got a welcome e-mail from Mark (Guest Services Director) in Switzerland, sent to all of the short term staff this summer, just confirming that we needed to arrive at the centre on the 14th of June and before 17:00. And I also found out I’m not the only Irish person on staff either! Gillian, a Guide is also representing Ireland this year! So with Sue, from SAI who is on long-term staff and the two of us, there are three flying the Irish flag this summer!

I’ll keep you informed of what I did with my flights etc soon.

YiS,

D.

where it all began

This is it! The start of it!

I've decided to make a web log of the next half a year and my experiences! There is only about 10 weeks until I'm due in Switzerland and there is a lot to do. Today I've worked on the site and Next week I'll get ya up to date of my progress so far.
Hope you like the site, and find it useful!

YiS

D.