Questions from Parents:

Departure
What time are the students to meet Monday morning? Meet at 6:45 am Monday 5/4, leave at 7.
Where are the students to meet Monday morning? At Shuttle U, corner of Montezuma and Merrit
Should they pack any food for Monday before boarding? Definitely. Students are responsible for feeding themselves during the airline portions of the trip. Should also have a refillable water bottle.

On arrival in Frankfurt
Who is meeting the students at the airport/ or are you taking Frankfurt Transportation? German host families will pick up the students and take them home.
How will the transports be paid for if needed? Student money/ group fund? Any time we travel as a group, I’ll pay the fees from the group fund. The German families take care of this one.
Will you take them to exchange money immediately or will they need to be prepared to not have Euros for a day or so? The kids won’t need much in the way of money in the first few days, but I intend to hand out Euros to keep them in school lunches and such for the first week, while they figure out how to access money. If we need to have a group session in accessing cash, we’ll do that.
The hand out said debit card, travel cash and phone card. Do you definitely want all 3 of the listed items ? Kids need cash to travel with on the first leg of the trip—plane travel. They could either have cash or debit for the remainder of the trip, your choice. As far as a phone card goes, it will enable your child to call home. It’s not completely necessary since they can use my phone to call home from about every 4-5 days.
Will they be going directly to a 6 hour school day? No, they’ll go home with their German families.
Will they get fed before going to school that day? they’ll get breakfast before they go to school the next day.
Can they change clothes after a long ride on the plane before getting to school? :) yes.
How much additional money should students bring if any? $100-$150 per week, though they really don’t need to spend any during the homestay portion.
What are your total costs per student as of today? This may help families decide how much additional money to send. Everyone I’ve talked to who’s done this kind of trip says that the kids will want access to at least $100/week.
Who is handling medication for the plane ride? Geneva and/or I will. Hopefully everyone brings in their Medical Release card on Monday, so I have all the info I need. Anyone on meds needs to bring them in the original bottles.

Can you write a brief overview of what is planned so far, i.e.
students with host families May 5 through May 21,
meeting check in with Melissa on May 6, 8, 11 and May 15,
Depart Host families on May 21 in the morning,

You said you would email emergency cell phone numbers for both you and Geneva the first day.
Got those numbers yesterday: I'd rather not post them publicaly, so get them from me before we leave, or email me for them.

--Melissa Wagoner

Notice:  There was a typo in the last entry, we leave at 7am, not 8.

Are you all packed and ready?  According to my countdown calendar, we have 8 days, 8 hours and 50 minutes to go...

Mandatory Travelers' Meeting, Wednesday 4/29 at 1:10 in Wagoner's room.

We leave from Shuttle U on Montezuma promptly at 8am on the 4th.  Be there by 6:45.

Frankfurt am Main, here we come.

Only two weeks to go...

14 days and counting!