"Neuchatel... m ..." a Canton de Neuchâtel Travel Page by CdnJane

Neuchatel Switzerland holds very fond memories for me. I spent from September 1975 to June 1976 living there, and attending the Canadian school, Neuchatel Junior College. It was a way to live in Europe, get my Ontario Grade 13, and experience a world of new things.
We were billeted in Swiss family homes, although in truth, many students were actually in pensions of the true meaning - more or less boarding homes, run by widows who needed the extra money that having a student brought in. I was quite fortunate to find myself living with a family who really made me one of their own. For 10 months I had 2 younger brothers, and it was a great experience.

We had to get our set number of days of schooling in, which meant that we had a couple of Saturdays when we went to classes to make up for days missed.
We started our year getting to Neuchatel by flying first to London, and spending a couple of days at Oriel College of Oxford University. (I can say honestly that I read at Oxford - it was an Agatha Christie novel!) This was a chance for us to get to know one another, and learn about what we were in for... more or less. We then spent a couple of days in Anzerre, in the Valais region of Switzerland, where we were introduced to some of the wonders of Swiss cuisine - Raclette and the wonderful Fendant wine of the Valais region.
Our trips over the school year took us to the Beaujolais region of France, a Christmas trip to France & Morocco, Easter trip to Italy (included an audience with the Pope - Pope Paul - along with about 20,000 others), and ski weekend trips to Zermatt and Grindelwald, day trips to Berne & Zurich. A classmate & I went to Luxembourg City for a weekend, and I spent a weekend in Geneva with family friends. What a time... Christmas in Fez, New Year's Eve in Paris, and Easter in Venice! Life is good.