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Austria Exchange (Spring 2009)

Day One

Welbeck Defence Sixth Form College (DSFC)

The first day started early and we all enjoyed our last cooked breakfast of the week at College before departing promptly to Luton airport. Checking in early we had plenty of time to get to know each other better in the departure lounge where the boys managed to digest their whole daily calorie intake in half an hour at the Krispy Kreme doughnut shop. After a couple of hours in duty free, testing many perfumes and reading most of WHSmith’s our flight was called.

We soon took to the skies and those who weren’t doughnut stuffed had a light lunch on the plane. There was only time then for a short sleep before we descended from the clouds. The mountains then came into vision covered in snow, waiting to test our new skiing skills and below them our destination. . Vienna!

Following a smooth landing the Major of the Schulbataillon (Major A Kleinrath) met us at arrivals with some of the Austrian students which we were soon in conversation with as they spoke almost fluent English! We eventually spotted the camouflage coloured coach which would be taking us to the college which was near impossible to spot in the dark concrete car park. We soon arrived at the college where the students gave us a tour of the accommodation and college. The college was older than ours and more traditional with classrooms and bedrooms on the same corridor, large staircases and blackboards.

We then gained our first experience of the communal showers which lacked the basic privacy we were used to back at Welbeck!

The evening was occupied with a taste of Austrian cuisine consisting of a pork pasta dish which was . . . interesting, a word used a lot during the week to describe the food. The Austrian students then took us out into the local town to show us around and get to know some of them before going skiing with them the following week.

Day Two

After a rather cold night sleep we were woken up at around 6 o clock by our Austrian roommates as they hurried to get dressed and ready. At around half past we ventured down to breakfast, which was a mixture of bread, cheese and ham, along with a few other things. It was definitely different from the Welbeck cooked breakfast that we were used to.

The Austrian students’ first lesson starts at quarter to 8, and we joined an English lesson where we chatted to the students about their life at college and ours. We then did 4 more English lessons with students in all years, as well as one lesson with the NCOs.

After an “interesting” lunch, we decided to go shopping in the town. After browsing the shops and not buying anything, we sat by the statue in the middle of the square to wait for the rest of the group to arrive.

We waited for about 10 minutes before the Principal arrived, who we were supposed to be meeting at 6 o clock later that evening. Mr Rola and Ma’am Clarke found us as well and they recommended a cafe across the square.

Hot chocolates were the most popular choice at the cafe, and they were served with a small glass of sparkling water, which Dan decided was for cleaning your spoon and proceeded to turn most people’s water into a chocolaty mess.

6 o’clock we officially met the Principal who greeted us and told us the plan for tomorrow. We were then shown some of the local bars by the Austrian students and we managed to stick to our 9:30 curfew by turning the Welbeck “5 minute rule” into a “15 minute rule”, arriving back at the college at quarter past 9.

Shortly after returning we headed off to bed, knowing that we would have to be up for breakfast early the next morning.

Day Three

After another interesting breakfast we went to the military academy: Theresianischen Militarakademie (their equivalent of Sandhurst) for a tour and were greeted by an officer wielding a large weapon. We entered the courtyard where we were given a brief history of the buildings and were shown one of the walls which held 107 crests and some statues of saints.

The academy was built in the 13th century by Fredrick II as a castle to protect from the Hungarians, it was destroyed in the 14th and 18th Centuries by earthquakes. In 1751 Maria Theresia converted the castle into an academy for officer training.

After the courtyard we moved into the cathedral and onto the museum rooms. We were told about the effect of the 2nd world war on the academy as it was badly destroyed. Only on pillar in the cathedral remained and only parts of walls. The beautiful stain glass windows were saved as they were removed before the bombing. Wiener Neustadt (the town that the academy was in) was bombed 52 00 times and was therefore the 7th most destroyed town in World War 2.

In the afternoon we went into the town centre and had hot chocolate in the square. Later on we trekked over to the bowling alley where we showed up the Austrians beating them by a huge margin. Beechey, the game playing to his strengths of a destructive personality, achieved the high score of 111. We picked up some food and headed back to the college, some of the group decided to go out with the Austrians while others were exhausted from the excitement and made their way to bed.

Day Four

The morning wake up call came in the form of an Austrian officer. However, today we could ignore him as we were allowed a lie in, which after going out the previous night was very welcome. We got up at half seven and went to breakfast of the usual bread and cheese (the novelty was running thin by now).

Then it was back to the room to pack, but most of us having done it the day before it turned into a social hour at the sofas’. Then at ten the teachers arrived from their hotel and we loaded up our bags and set off. For the first hour the coach was ours (was a nice one as well, had tables in the middle and everything!), but then after the first hour we picked up the Austrians that had gone home the previous night and carried on. Along with the Austrians came mountains of food, we still do not quite know how any group of 12 people could eat that much! Now with the Welbexian group centralised around the tables the other four hours flew by with the aid of the card game ‘cheat’ and the winter Austrian countryside. When we arrived at the Ferbetal military accommodation, we were straightaway introduced to the foretold killer stairs: 90 steps of hell; not only were they high but so icy that it would give HSE a heart attack.

The rest of the afternoon was spent socialising with the Austrians. Then at dinner we arrived and were surprised that we were treated to a pizza, which we all wolfed down. The night was ended by socialising with the Austrians and being anxious for the day of skiing ahead.

Day Five

‘MORGEN’, was the unmelodious voice that boomed across the room at 06:45, and the start of our skiing experience. After mountaineering up the 90 steps to breakfast we discovered that all breakfasts in Austria, although flavoursome, were exactly the same, wherever you went.

At 08.30 we headed off to the slopes of Mittersill full of anticipation and some mild over confidence (e.g. words such as ‘expert’ bounced around the bus). On arrival we discovered that we were skiing in six groups throughout the week, and that the bottom two were composed solely of English students while Mark and Tom decided to mix it up with the Austrians in group four, for what sounded like a strenuous day skiing. The less expert of us cautiously walked up to what our Olympian Instructor (Lieutenant Colonel Stalker) affectionately named ‘idiots hill’ (a flat area of snow with a small lift leading to the top of a shallow hill). Here we did various drills, such as one legged skiing and cross-country races, which involved very smooth gradients and loads of falling over due to crossed skis and collisions. However, the instructor soon felt confident enough to take us up the dreaded T- Bar lift which had been spitting six year olds off all day. Once all of us had made it to the top we were reintroduced to our great friend the snow plough and proceeded to do one way turns in which ‘pink panther’ (our very own Sam Hurst- who had gained this name due to his ridiculous helmet) excelled. For me it was a perfectly enjoyable and stress free experience until the teachers arrived where I proceeded to show off my completely off balance one legged skiing, almost landing bumpily at Mr Rola’s feet.

It was however the afternoon that held the real challenge, as we took over the blue runs of Mittersill in the fog. These caused few problems and some of us progressed onto parallel turning slowly but surely down the slopes. I think that everybody greatly progressed especially with the excellent coaching that we had available. After three of these runs the Lt Colonel did something very strange, whether he decided that we were getting over-confident, or that he just over estimated our ability I do not know, but on our first day we went onto a red run.

On arriving at the top we saw the red sign and apprehensively headed down the slope. After a short distance we stopped to regroup, at which point I caught a glance down the piste. It was, to say the least, horrifically steep. The instructor ran over what we had been taught and we headed off, me leading the way. Glancing back I could see the terror on people’s faces. I came to my first tentative turn and ”Ahhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh” our first fall from Laura Mason who came flying past spread eagled, her skis useless. She disappeared into the whiteness but her screams still followed her. The instructor left to go and get her. At that moment carnage broke out; Pink panther, the cannonball, dived down the slope with one ski on and one ski off, and with him others fell too. We had decimated the red run in a matter of minutes. Despite the odds however we all made it to the bottom in one piece where there was a bit of nervous giggling and a fear of reds we thought would never leave us. Needless to say the rest of the day consisted of blues.

On our return we had dinner, followed by game of UNO, which if you ever have the opportunity to plat is an absolutely fabulous game especially when you add new and exciting rules (thank you Peter Briggs). We spent most of the evening in fits of giggles and finally, at 22:00, our day ended.

Day Six

Tuesday saw the second day of skiing and slightly better weather-with the fog beginning to clear. After the usual rounds of bread and cheese for breakfast we boarded the buses and headed out to the ski area around Mittersill. A few changes were made between the skiing groups, with Nick Mahoney and Sam Hurst moving up to join Group 4-even with some feeling of apprehension following the tales they had been told of the previous days exploits. Sam very quickly became known to the group as “Pinkie” due to his bright pink helmet, getting many comments and some interesting questions being asked about him!

For Group 4 the day contained doing exercises for balance and control, featuring having your poles wrapped around your body and pretending to be planes! The group also tried out some new runs including several blacks on the far foggy side of the mountain, made slightly easier by the fact you couldn’t see what was coming so just went for it! The beginners group continued to build up confidence although Ma’am Clarke was later said to have been “considering suicide” during the ‘fun’ on the slopes!

In the afternoon the Austrian students attended a lecture to aid them in their knowledge of the mountains whilst the Welbexians went to the local National Park centre (Nationalparkzentrum Hohe Taueren) to discover the history of the Alps and the wildlife that inhabits the vast area. Whilst at the centre we were able to enjoy a 3D film showing just some of the sites that are in the Austrian Alps, giving us a sense of prospective to the differences between the UK and our host nation. The long trek back up the steps to the mess shortly followed with all students attending a lecture on Alpine Safety after dinner, shortly followed by yet another game Uno, which rounded off another great day at Felbertal. Everybody was getting the ski bug by this point, and friendships between Welbexian and Austrian students were becoming strong.

Quote of the day: “No, no, Pinkie”

Day Seven

Another early wake up and we were ready for our third day skiing. In the beginners group we were now feeling fairly confident about the day ahead and all were in high spirits on our journey to Kirchberg, especially as the clouds had cleared and the sun had made its first (and last) appearance.

The objective of the day was to ski from Kirchberg, across the mountains through Kitzbühel and Jochberg before finishing at Paßthurn where we had been skiing the previous days, this involved crossing from the top of one mountain to another by the means of a very large cable car system, the views from which were very impressive.

Similarly impressive was the site of the World Cup alpine ski races, the ‘Hahnenkammrennen’ on the mountain Hahnenkamm where we stood at the start of the downhill race, although this run was far too challenging for our group, some of the more experienced groups, including some Welbexians did test their skills down some of the route.

Our group did ski well on this day however, we had our first experience on some red runs with only a few falls, including me being wiped out by an out of control snowboarder!

By the end of a very tiring but beautiful day in the mountains we had successfully reached our destination, Paßthurn which we felt was a great achievement having only tried on skis for the first time two days previously!

That evening everybody was given the choices of going swimming, playing games or... learning maths. The vast majority of the Austrian students decided that they didn’t fancy learning maths that night and so went swimming along with a few Welbeck students. The rest of us decided we would try and catch up on some work however we spent most of our time just chatting without much work at all being completed.

When the swimmers returned we all went to our rooms to get a fairly early night as it had been a very demanding day but one that we all enjoyed.

Day Eight

After travelling across the whole of the Kitzbühel area yesterday, we headed off to the area around Hinterglemm and Saalbach, with an earlier start of 8:15 to make up for the longer journey.

Yesterday’s sun was long gone and the clouds crept across the sky, although at this point, visibility was still good enough for us to be able to ski confidently.

The beginners group did a mixture of blue and red runs, with an extremely long t-bar lift in the middle. We practiced technique as well as having some fun and almost everyone fell a few times during the course of the day.

For lunch we joined the Principal and Mr Rola at a cafe, where we ate our squashed sandwiches and mars bars. After lunch, Mr Rola joined our group as the new “back person” who was charged with picking up anyone who falls. The snow also joined us after lunch, along with fog, which reduced the visibility to only about 10 m in places.

The most spectacular fall of the day was probably Adam’s, as he managed to get off-piste and wedge the back of his skis into the snow. We all watched as he finally managed to dislodge his skis and travel along the off-piste area back onto the run.

It was a good day overall and everyone was very tired by the end of it. After dinner, most people did a little school-work and then went to bed.

Day Nine

Today was our last day of skiing and everybody was beginning to ache. We returned to our original ski resort and hit the slopes with much more ease than the first days. At 11 o’clock we joined to form one group of Welbexians and headed off to conquer the black 69 run. For a number of us it was our first and only black run leading to different paces, the boys mainly ‘bombed’ it down whilst the girls took a more leisurely safer approach. After we were joined by Marc (who had been nursing his injured ankle with some of the Austrian girls in a cafe) for our last two reds to the bottom. This gave everyone the opportunity to race down which sadly left Laura (after being intercepted by some small Austrians) a little behind leading to herself, Gemma and Pete getting lost, though thankfully saved by Mr Rola.

Due to bad weather we left the slopes and headed for the swimming pool passing ‘idiots hill’ which many of us spent our first day skiing on giving us the chance to reflect on how far we had advanced thanks to the amazing Austrian army ski instructors.

At the pool the girls found the cafe and then went on to join the boys on the slides, where more injuries than when skiing seemed to be sustained.

We then returned our beloved skis and on returning to the accommodation were spared the 90 steps up to dinner by the driver.

After dinner the Austrian demonstrated their acting prowess in a hilarious sketch which was sadly lost on us English due to it being in German but at least we could laugh at the outfits. We sat chatting to the Austrians before getting an early night and packing for the long journey the next day.

Day Ten

The day commenced with another early start, (0700)! It was quite a rush to get everything packed up and the rooms looking inspection standard before we left at 0815 for a second long coach journey. We could however look forward to returning to the Austrian military academy with its various shops and bars.

The coach journey was, similar to the first one, long, however I think we got through it playing various card games, listening to music and also some well earned sleep! I think most people chose the latter option as we were all pretty tired from the 5 days skiing and early starts.

As on the journey to the ski resort we had a stop halfway, where we all got rather excited about the prospect of going to the loo, (myself included), as well as the surprisingly upmarket service stop. Although with the upmarket service station came its high prices so most people didn’t buy anything. We then returned to the coach and continued with the sleeping.

Once we arrived back at the Academy most of us went out in the afternoon to the shops, followed by an evening out in the local area. Before it got too late we decided to meet with the Principal, Mr Rola and Ma’am Clarke at a bar that can only be described as, interesting. I think it was an experience for all of us adults included as the barmen had tight fitting clothes and blonde highlights.

Day Eleven

Our penultimate day started with a nice lie in until 8 o’clock when we went to the castle (their equivalent of Sandhurst) for breakfast which we hoped would be different from all our previous breakfasts. To our disappointment it turned out to be the same as any other Austrian breakfast; bread, cheese and sausage with the small bowls of cereal!

We then left for Vienna – which took about an hour. When we arrived we were dropped off at the military history museum and were surprised to find there was a huge modelling festival all over the museum. Whilst we weaved our way around some impressively detailed models and we were able to admire a lot of incredible paintings. One of the most interesting exhibits was to do with the assassination of the Austrian archduke, Franz Ferdinand, including the uniform (complete with bloodstains) he was wearing at the time of his death.

For lunch most of the group had some form of schnitzel at a restaurant which was famous for its large chicken schnitzels. After lunch we went to the summer palace – a huge yellow palace with some very beautiful gardens! After a quick wander we went into the city proper were we browsed some extremely expensive shops (one of the favourites being Demel – a chocolate shop with the royal seal making it extremely expensive but some of the group did indulge in a small bar of chocolate) and admired the beautiful architecture that Vienna is famous for.

Our day in Vienna ended with a chance to pick up some food so half the group set off to find Mc Donald’s which a sign claimed to be 300m away but was actually somewhere on the subway system! So we all met in Starbucks instead where Nick M was severely tempted by the chocolate delights (which he had given up for lent) and ended up giving away his two “toffee” cookies as they contained chocolate chips.

We had a free evening so decided to go out for one last time and after ordering pizzas we set out with an Austrian guide – Thomas who has a bit of a reputation for drinking, even more than most Austrians! ‘Fortunately’ there was only one small bar open which wasn’t much good so we came back to the school for 9.30 pm and proceeded to try to swap as much of our Welbeck kit as possible for Austrian military uniform including spare belts, berets and jackets.

Day Twelve

After waking up to the Welbeck uniform with a mysterious number of missing buttons due to various swapping incidents, we had yet another “interesting” traditional breakfast (we were missing the Welbeck food a lot!). The morning was spent in lessons with the students, but only three lessons this time, the weekend before of structured questions had disappeared, and after spending a week with the Austrians, the conversation was radically transformed into the usual teenage banter, or should I say the Austrian way of life. One of the lessons involved the students participating in a listening comprehension exercise about parachuting which proved to be above most of the English students; however we must admit that a lending hand was given.

When the lessons came to a close, there was a mad rush of Welbexians and Austrians attempting to strike deals with anything that had a logo or crest. There was also a weird feeling of sadness that those friendships, built over the week were coming to their natural end. I personally felt that the relationships that I had forged with members of this elite Austrian Academy, especially with Tom and Lukas, were going to stay with me for months, nay, years to come.

Once emails and addresses were exchanged, the time had come to collect our belongings and leave, however, not without a final farewell surprise. It turned out that Major Kleinrath and Prof Schwanzer the Director of the Schulbataillon had organized a going away present: a certificate for each student and accompanying members of staff! This said, the last real surprise was the veritable ‘tank’ that pulled up to haul us to the airport. Loading up onto the reinforced khaki green coach, I couldn’t resist one last tempting look at the school that had shown me another way of life, one that I had grown to sincerely respect and understand.

Commence the 10 hour trip back home.....

As we finally arrived back in college, we all knew that it was crunch time again, as we head to the exam period. Many thanks must be given to the Principal, Mr. Rola and Ma’am Clarke, for organizing and making the trip such an enjoyable and successful experience. The Exchange, seems to be as successful as ever, and I am sure it will continue for years to come so that others can experience military life at another angle.

Quote of the day: “How many bullets can I send to your college?”

Written by:
Adam Adeniran, Trenchard 08E
Daisy Brooks, Stirling 08E
Daniel Beechey, Nelson 08E
Gemma Roberts, Trenchard 08E
George Hilton, Portland 08E
Laura Mason, Portland 08E
Marc de Vos, Trenchard 08E
Nicholas El-Batal, Alanbrooke 08E
Nicholas Mahoney, Portland 08E
Peter Briggs, Portland 08E
Samuel Hurst, Alanbrooke 08E
Thomas Chatterton, Nelson 08E

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