Photos!

We have reached 2,167 views of the blog from this year's trip alone! Thank you all so much for checking in on our adventures.

The complete set of photos from Luxembourg is available here:
http://www.flickr.com/photos/marylanddairy2008/sets/72157626972917469/

As well, here are the photos from Germany: http://www.flickr.com/photos/marylanddairy2008/sets/72157627147307008/

Jeff has created a group for the trip photos and either he or I would be happy to upload pictures from the team, just send them our way. The group photos are available here: http://www.flickr.com/groups/1682921@N25/

We hope you enjoy the photos from all of our various activities!

~Kiera

Home again, home again!

I am happy to report that the seven of us have all safely landed in Charlotte, NC and have retrieved all of our luggage. Our flight back to Dulles International Airport leaves at 5:55pm. Thank you all so much for following along with us on our adventures. We have had about 2,000 hits to this site for this year's journey and truly appreciate your interest and support. The remaining photos from Kiera's camera will be uploaded in the next day or so.

Thanks again!

Deutschland

Today we had a nice hotel breakfast with American flags on our tables. The German hotel was nice and patriotic. We boarded the coach and had a stop at a small village where we did some shopping and a lot of people got chocolate at the supermarket. It was still early so not many people were out and it was a nice picture opportunity with some traditional German buildings and a church. We re-boarded the coach to head to Boppard.
To get to the town, we had to go down some windy roads and hills. Once we finally made it down, we spent a lot of time in two shops where we saw beer steins, coo-coo clocks, music boxes and much more. We all picked out a beer stein as our team souvenir. Jess bought a coo-coo clock to ship home. We also had lunch in the village. Jess tried the schnitzel and Hannah ordered that for lunch. It was actually really good. For those of you who don’t know, schnitzel is pork. Also, for those of you who are followers of Jeff and his photos, Hannah got some amazing shots of him in several strange get-ups (tee-hee). After our shopping ventures, we boarded a boat to have a cruise down the Rhine River. The cruise was an hour and a half and we saw some beautiful scenery with mountains and castles. We learned about the different castles and ended our cruise in the only part of the river where you can see three castles at once. We all enjoyed the cruise; it was very relaxing and the weather was beautiful, although Jess left her sunglasses on the bus and Hannah had sun burnt legs. You should have seen the dude try to dock the boat. It was like watching a professional NASCAR driver parallel park. We boarded the coach again after our boat ride to go to Hein Hauck’s vineyard.
The vineyard was really nice. Hein Hauck talked about how to make the wine and about his vineyard. He also taught us the proper way to taste and drink wine. First, you lift your glass and look at the wine to see how clear it is. A good wine is bright. Then you swirl your wine gently in a counterclockwise motion (unless you’re in South America) while smelling at the same time. Then you take a sip and swish it around your mouth to get the general taste and if you like it, you drink it. We all tried three different types of wine and had a barbeque dinner after. After we ate, we were able to explore the vineyard some. There were walkways along the grape vines where we could see the growing process of the grapes. We boarded the coach and before we could even get the coach started, we were engulfed in a Star Spangled Banner sing off. Four participants came up to sing for us and we voted for our winner. This started our community singing on our way to the hotel. We’re in the hotel now and need to pack and get some sleep for our early departure tomorrow morning. See you all soon! Happy reading and happy 4th of July!!! Thank you so much f or following along on our adventures and we really appreciate the support!
P.S. Hannah’s creeper photos of Jeff will be posted soon. :-)

Last day in Luxembourg

Moiyan….haha that means hello. So these past few days we have been with our host families. We had an amazing time and we were contemplating whether or not if we would be returning home. Right now I am on the bus, but, I will try to explain what all went on with our host families. My (Hannah’s) host’s name was Natalie Drauden. She was actually the only host that didn’t live in Luxembourg and she was about a half an hour outside of the fairgrounds. She lived on a small beef farm where she raised about 15 Limousin beef cattle, a (Holstein print) cat and a dog . She was quite the live wire! She spoke English very well, although, she was better at listening to us speak and understanding us than she was at forming sentences. My host family room mate was Lauren Bush, or as we like to call her; Bob . She was a lot of fun and we got along great. We are convinced that we were separated from birth, but hey, that’s just us.

The first night with Lauren and Natalie, we went to her house for about a half an hour and she literally said “Ok, we must hurry if we will be attending fun”. She took us to a pub that was a couple minutes away from her house because Germany was playing Nigeria in soccer or football and the pub was broadcasting the game. Before we went, we had to get our faces painted black, yellow and red so we could at least look like we liked the Germany team. Lucky for us, Germany won and everyone was happy. The next day, we toured the countryside where we got the chance to take lots of pictures. Then we headed to the shops to, well, shop  The first day we were at the fairgrounds we started out the day with a one class judging contest, where all we had to do was place the class 1 through 6 and write the number of the cow that had the best udder. Later, we all got matching shirts to wear for the Luxembourg International Holstein Sale. The shirts were interesting because all of the girls shirts were extremely small. Many of the girls on the trip ended up trading shirts with some of the guys. This exchange made for some funny photos :P Our job at the sale was to prep the animals for their parade around the stage. This was the most awesome sale I have ever attended. The auctioneering was done in about three different languages and everything was very up-beat. In between each animal being sold, there was a DJ in the back of the barn that would crank the tunes. Everyone would sing along and sometimes start dancing. We were all exhausted. Some of us didn’t leave the fairgrounds from the sale until 2:30 the next morning. Luckily my host let us sleep in until around 10 am.

Yesterday at 8:00 pm everyone met up at the fairgrounds where we had a barbeque. The fairgrounds food consisted of only several things. There were about three different types of sausages and an interesting sandwich that consisted of a pork chop with the bone still in it and jammed between two pieces of bread. That was really the only source of food, even though there were around 5 different stands. Also, this would have to be the first time that I have ever tried Sheep Ice Cream. It was……different! At the end of the barbeque, everyone stayed and had a good time getting to know people from Germany and Luxembourg. Our last day of host family time was very sad because I had gotten to know everyone and we all became really good friends. We were taken to the fairgrounds by Natalie so we could watch the showmanship contest. One person from each team got the chance to partake in the contest along with people from Luxembourg, Germany and other countries. Our team nominated Jason to partake in the showmanship contest. He did AWESOME! He ended up winning Reserve Champion against a large variety of leadsmen and he won a nifty trophy. After the contest, we said our goodbyes to our host’s and headed out of Luxembourg and into Germany. Soooo, that’s about it. We will see everyone soon. I hope everything is good and well back home. Goodbye.

~Hannah

Lucky Ehh

I would like to start off by saying I had a great experience with my host family in Luxembourg. I stayed with Raoul, Dominque, and Yahnik Putz. Yahnik was 18 years old and they had a daughter that was working on a farm in Canada. There house was over 250 years old and was one of three houses that was not destroyed during the Battle of the Bulge in the village of Nothum. Raoul had many different cartidges, bullets, military jeeps etc. from the war. He had alot of knowledge about the war and was very interesting to talk to. Raoul was a veterinarian for food inspection and his wife, Dominque was a dance instructor at a college.
Thursday night I got dropped off with my host family and we had a dinner with another family that hosted girls. We had a fantastic dinner and enjoyed the evening getting to know each other. The meal consisted of potatoes with cheese that we melted on a George Foreman grill. We added ham and a cream cheese on the potato and it was delicious.
Friday morning we had crepes for breakfast and then went to the show. We judged a class of cows and watched the show. I met some well known people in the cattle business and talked to them about different subjects. The sale was later that evening and we all helped prepare the cattle. The highest lot went for about 26,000 euros. Genomics played a big part in the sale as they do in the states which was interesting to see.
Saturday we started the morning off with crepes as well. We toured a dairy goat farm that milked about 600 goats on a 48 goat carousel. After that we toured a 100 cow Holstein dairy that was spotless. You would think that they had not used the parlor a day over the four years they used it. After that we went to a Blue Belgian farm. The farmer there was very interested in American farming and had many different videos of large dairies in America. He also milked Norwegian Reds. After that we went back to Raoul's friends house and enjoyed lasagna for lunch. Then we saw a lake where they like to go Kayaking and camping. We continued by going to a village surrounded by a river and mountains. At the top of the village is a castle that we got to walk around in. We then had a Bar B Que back at the fair grounds and had an awards get together for the judging we did. While we were at the fair Raoul gave Yahnik the keys to the car so he could get his jacket. While Yahnik was gettign his jacket he moved the car to another paring spot to pull a prank on his dad. When we left that evening Raoul could not figure out what happened to his car and it was very funny.
Sunday morning we packed all of our things and then had a short breakfast. We went to the fairgrounds where the showmanship contest was. I was give a heifer who did not behave very well in the beginning. She dropped her head and ran into anything she could to try and get away from me before the show started. When I got into the ring she began to change her attitude and I got very lucky. I made the top three of the first round. The top three made it in both rounds to give a total of six. I was pulled out in the top three of those six and named Reserve Grand Champion of the International Showmanship competition in Luxembourg. I was very fortunate to have a heifer that decided to lead well at the right times and got lucky in Luxembourg. I had a great experience and hope you all enjoyed this blog.

Jessica's stay with the host family

Hi everyone! Well, overall I had a good experience with the host family. Thursday night, the families picked us up at the show is Eddlebruck. I stayed with the Versteegh family with a girl named Emily from Michigan. I have to admit, I was slightly disappointed that the family did not live on a farm but the experience was still good. A guy named Aart picked us up. The ride to the house was fun. Aart spoke very broken English and it was hard to understand what he was trying to tell us. We had to help him with some words, which wasn't too bad because we had hand gestures to help us out. He told Emily and I that later we were going to his neighbors to visit a "ghost farm." I was VERY scared. I then realized that he meant goat farm instead of ghost. That's what I was hoping at least. I learned that people here drive REALLY fast. I don't exactly know how to convert kilometers to miles but at one point I looked down at the speedometer and saw 110. That was the last time I looked down. On the ride, Aart pointed to his house, which was all the way on top of a mountain. The view from our bedroom window was absolutely gorgeous. We arrived at the house and met the family. Aart's wife's name is Anja and they have two daughters; Dominique, who is 16, and Anouk, who is 9. Anouk did not speak any English but Dominique spoke some. We had a nice meal with the family, consisting of a pasta dish and cucumber salad. I did not know what was in the dish and didn't ask, I was just hungry and happy to have a home cooked meal. After dinner, we went to a goat farm, not a ghost farm, which had somewhere over 1,300 goats I believe. I have never seen that many goats in my life. They had a 45 carousel milking parlor and the farm was pretty nice. After the farm, we went to pick up dessert at a friends house, which was some kind of pineapple pie that was actually really good.

The next morning we had breakfast before we went to the show. Aart had a tent at the show so we had to leave fairly early. I had milk with my cereal in the morning. I was so incredibly happy to have milk. Aart is a dealer for robotic milkers and some feed. He told us how popular robotic milkers are in Luxembourg. There are 100 here, which is a lot, especially considering the size of this country. Anja works with kids in a nearby village. The girls are still in school; their summer vacation starts in about 2 weeks. School is different here; primary school goes every other Saturday and from 8-1 everyday. They also start school when they're 6 and go until they're 20, if I understand correctly. At the show, there wasn't a whole lot to do but the sale was really fun. Kaitlyn and I really enjoyed helping and leading heifers to and from the ring. We did a lot of work since not a lot of people were there helping. We left the show at midnight and went home to sleep.

The next morning we had breakfast with the family and then went to town with Dominique. We rode the car to the train and the train to the bus and reached the center of the city. We saw the cathedral and the government buildings. The city was really pretty and the walls were amazing to see. The city used to be walled in and the architecture here (and everywhere in Europe) is stunning. We went to some shops and Dominique took us to some stores that she usually shops at. I ended up buying a skirt I liked and a few postcards to send home. We ate at a restaurant called bananas. We walked through the center of the city, where they have a market every Saturday with all kinds of food and trinkets. We went back to the house and I took a nap because I have yet to catch up on sleep. That night we went back to town to the barbecue, which was nice because we got to see our friends again. After we got home, Emily and I gave the family our gifts, which they really seemed to enjoy. Aart also gave us some things from his company which we were not expecting.

This morning, we ate breakfast with the family for the last time. We went to the show and said our goodbye's when we got our suitcases out of the cars. I had a really great time with the family. They were very nice people and fun to be around. We exchanged e-mails to send pictures so hopefully we will stay in touch!

~Jess

Kaitlyn's stay with her host family

Hey everybody!! I have had a great time over the past three days getting to spend time with my host family and learning about life in Luxembourg. On Thursday evening Michelle (my host family's daughter) picked me up at the drop off point along with two other girls, Kelly and Rene. Now first of all, no one in Europe owns a big vehicle so getting all our suitcases into that car took a little bit of work. We also almost died on the way home because they drive about 80-90 mph down the back roads haha. As soon as we got back to the house we had dinner with the family. Neither of the parents spoke any English so Michelle had to act as a translator. It was really difficult especially since she doesn't speak English very well either. The food was great though! We had the first decent meal since we have been in Europe. After we visited for a little while Michelle took us on a tour of the farm. Her family milks a herd of 55 Holsteins along with taking care of a flock of sheep and a few beef cows. We went to sleep early that night because we were all tired from the trip. The next morning we judged a class of Holsteins and then spent the rest of the day walking around the fairgrounds. I found a french fry stand :) That evening we helped with the sale that started at around 7:30 pm and ended at 1 am. We worked hard getting heifers back and forth between the sale barn and the show ring, keeping hay in front of them, and setting tops before they were sold. It was a long night but Jess and I had a lot of fun. After a good nights sleep we were ready to spend another day with Michelle. We toured Luxembourg City seeing all the castles and cathedrals and then caught up with another team and had lunch at an Italian restaurant. I got lasagna and yea it was good! Kelli and I decided to go shopping so we hit a few shops but didn't find anything we liked. We went to a barbeque later that night and got to hang out with our friends from the other teams. It was a lot of fun to see everybody. Today we went to the show to watch showmanship and then said good bye to our families. It was a great experience and I will definately stay in touch with them.

Postcards, good food and host families

Hello again,

The team will be back updating the blog this evening and then we can hear all about their host family stays. For now, we have mailed 220 postcards back home, so check those mailboxes.

All team members are having a good time and seeing the sights of Luxembourg with their host families and a few might even be thinking of finding a way to stay here :-)

The team picked their representative for Maryland in the showmanship contest and rumor has it that rock, paper, scissors was involved. Jason will be competing this morning on behalf of our state. All eight competitors had to write down their heights so that they could match a heifer`s size to the showman. The weather has been beautiful on the continent this year. Consistently in the 60s and sunny. Yay for that. OK, off to pack and see the team at the show grounds.

-Kiera

Photos from Luxembourg

Uploaded the first set of Luxembourg photos here: http://www.flickr.com/photos/marylanddairy2008/sets/72157626972917469/

We will meet back up with the team members this evening for dinner and to touch base again on their host family stays. I can't wait to hear how its going!

~Kiera

Luxembourg at its finest!

Hi all,

As the team members are all on their host families stays, it is my turn to take the keyboard. Thursday was spent mostly on the coach traveling from Paris to Luxembourg. We stopped at the Reims Cathedral in France where most past French kings were coronated then again in Bastogne, Belgium. Two lovely stops before our meeting with the host families.

Jason was in the first group to meet their families at the stop in Schumann. Everyone was on time and picked up and away they went. We then headed to the town of Ettlebruck to make our second host family meet-ups. Hannah, Kaitlyn and Jess were all scheduled to meet their families here. Again all the meet-ups went smoothly and everyone left to enjoy dinner and learn about life here in Luxembourg.

The team coaches and chaperons traveled from Luxembourg City this morning to meet up at the Luxembourg National Show and see how the first night with the host families went. Jason is staying with another guy on the trip and their family lives in a little village. Hannah is staying with one girl from the trip with a woman who is a nutritionist and lives in Germany. Kaitlyn is staying with two other girls from the team at a 55 cow dairy farm. The girls have an apartment across the road from the family to allow them a little recoup time Jess is staying with one other girl from the trip and their family is involved in the feed and equipment sales side of the dairy industry. I'll save the details of their stays for their own words, but needless to say they are learning a lot and seem to be having a good time.

We spent today at the Holstein Show where the judge was from Switzerland. The team participated in a judging contest consisting of a class of 7 Holstein cows. One person from Wisconsin gave reasons over the loudspeaker. We spent the rest of the day caring for animals in the sale tent and then helping lead animals to and from the sale ring. A tremendous catalog was put together for this show, some great cow families, terrific pedigrees and high genomics. The team members are with their families tomorrow, but we will touch base with them again at the barbecue hosted by the young farmers back at the show grounds.

England photos from my camera are posted: http://www.flickr.com/photos/marylanddairy2008/sets/72157627080174732/

Photos from France are uploading tonight, but will be available here: http://www.flickr.com/photos/marylanddairy2008/sets/72157626964675955/

~Kiera

Bonjour from Paris!

Yesterday we arrived in Paris. We got off the chunnel and boarded our coach to get a bus tour of the city of Paris. Things are definitely different in this city. First off, we were all scared that the coach was about to run over a few bikes and small cars and pedestrians. It was a rather scary experience. Our bus tour was interesting. Our driver spoke German, Spanish and French, while our tour guide spoke English, French and Spanish. Bruce, our AgroTours leader, speaks German and English. Needless to say, the conversations were slightly hard to follow. Although, it was slightly ironic how Bruce said the coach driver didn’t speak English. Yet, he told this to Bruce in English. None of us speak German or French, so it could get complicated at times. We stepped off the bus to see Notre Dame, which was incredibly beautiful. The architecture here is breathtaking. We also stopped for exactly five minutes to see the Eiffel Tower.

At the end of the tour, the coach took us back to the hotel, where we also met Jeff’s friends (Dave and Sue) that led us around town yesterday afternoon. It was very helpful to have translators and people that know the city so well. We walked through the city and up to Bascilla of the Sacred Heart. Kaitlyn, Jason, Jeff and Sue braved the hike up the stairs while the rest of us took the easy ride up. The church was absolutely stunning. Set up outside of the church was a skateboard ramp for a possible record-breaking jump on rollerblades; unfortunately we did not get to witness the jump. We did however see various street performers, one of which climbed a light pole with a soccer ball on his head. There were all kinds of little souvenir shops where we could find anything we could possibly think of. We also walked through Montarte, where we saw all kinds of beautiful paintings of the city, people, scenery and many other things. I bought a beautiful painting of ballet shoes painted on a sheet of music. As a dancer, I absolutely loved this painting and the lady we bought it from was incredibly nice as well. Luckily, she spoke English.

We also all braved the metro together. Which is similar to the metro in D.C but the train goes faster and sometimes people are a little pushier. We did manage to stay as a group though. At one point on the metro, we enjoyed some lovely accordion music. Hannah especially enjoyed this, and even started dancing along. Kaitlyn, Hannah and I also had quite a chorus of “Shout” going on as we traveled through the tunnels of the metro. Kiera appreciated this.

At 9:40, we got on a boat on the Seine River to get a good view of the city. We all almost got plowed over by a group of people while getting on the boat. Don’t worry; it wasn’t the French that plowed us down. We were able to see all the major buildings in the town, but the best part was seeing the Eiffel Tower completely lit up. Before going back to the hotel, we grabbed a quick bite to eat at a café near our hotel. We all tried crepes, well except for Hannah. She ended up with a bowl of fruit salad. We can’t take her anywhere! J We got back to the hotel late, which is why we are blogging today instead of last night. We were all very tired from our long day. This morning we are braving the bus again. Sitting in the front is slightly more intimidating because it truly feels as if we are about to run over people… Crazy! Anyway, today’s the day we are off to our host families so I’m sure we’ll have plenty of stories when we return! Happy reading!

~Jess

A start on the photos from England

Here are the first bit of our travels in England, including a farm stop and Warwick Castle.  So many more to come.

http://www.flickr.com/photos/marylanddairy2008/sets/72157627080174732/

~Kiera

Scotland Photos from Paris

Hi all,

Just a quick note to say that our photos from Scotland have mostly made it online. We are safely in Paris and had an amazing day out. The team will tell you all about it in the morning, but after a very long day preceded by a very short night I thought that sleep seemed the better choice than blogging.

View the photos here: http://www.flickr.com/photos/marylanddairy2008/sets/72157626942009907/

~Kiera

Ello Mates

Today we were in the beautiful rustic city of London. We started the day with a continental breakfast in the hotel while Jess and Kaitlyn tried to blow dry their hair. What else is new right? Anyways, after that we got on an open tour bus and got a short tour of London with threatening torrential down pours on their way. We looked quite nifty in our ponchos. We got off the bus at Big Ben and Thames River. We convinced Hannah to go on the London Eye, which is something similar to a Ferris wheel except it's a lot higher and is enclosed by glass windows. Still not convincing enough for Hannah. From the London Eye, we captured great pictures of London, Big Ben, Birmingham Palace, and Westminster Abbey to name a few. By this point we were off the open tour bus and loose in the streets. SCARY. :) Jason was determined to get a picture of every Maserati and Bentley on the road. Then we went on to get a closer view at some of these sites. We saw Westminster Abbey and then went to Birmingham Palace.
On the way to the palace we saw the changing of the horse guards and walked through a gorgeous park. We then went to Trafalgar square and back to the Thames River to sit down for a while. While in the park, Kaitlyn started to feed some pigeons some peanuts and then we soon had a flock. It was kind of like the Alfred Hitchcock movie "The Birds." After the attack birds, we moved onto several different gift shops where we took pictures with the London mascots. Then we went to the Lion King, where Jason was so excited he couldn't stay in his seat....BAHAHAHA....Not really. :P The play was really good! We all were able to get a team souvenir at the theater. We tried to make away with the head dresses that the actors wore....It didn't work. :/ and back on the Tube to the hotel. -Kaitlyn, Jessica, Hannah, and Jason

Wishing for some colder air conditioning…or a breeze.

We left our hotel at 9 a.m. and went to Warwick castle. This castle is known as one of the best castles in England and it held to its reputation. It dated back to as far as 1365 and was still getting it done. We saw the chamber where prisoners were held for many years at a time. It was hard to get down into and Jason knocked his head on the concrete wall of course. He’s fine so no worries there. As we toured through the royal castle the wax figures seemed so real. Hannah couldn’t help herself and she just had to touch one to see if it would move. When we first entered the castle, a drunk woman greeted us at the door, pretending to be like someone from back in that day and age. We climbed to the top of the towers and took gorgeous pictures. One of the kids from another team stood at the top of the castle and screamed “It’s my money and I need it now!”

After that we headed for London and let’s just say it got heated once again. People were fighting to get to the front of the coach where it was cooler because sweat was a rolling. Eventually we ended up getting off the coach and walking along side it because the heat was unbearable. Our entire dairy group had to walk to the Underground stop and buy tickets and get on the tube in order to get to our hotel. The funny thing was that even though we had a delay in the tube to get tickets, we still managed to get to the hotel before either one of the coaches. It was quite the experience!

After unloading our luggage from the coaches, we made our way to our rooms and took a half hour break to regroup and cool down before meeting to decide where we wanted to eat dinner. We decided on a small Italian restaurant called Sopranos. It was AWESOME!!! Everybody liked their meals and enjoyed cooling off after the sweaty bus ride. We managed to grab the attention of every single waiter in the restaurant. First, Hannah attempted to order her meal in an Italian accent…..HA..yeah..not so good. Then, Jess and Hannah couldn’t finish their dinner without getting a box, which we had no way of storing. Then the waiter conned us into getting dessert….they really didn’t have to do much convincing ;) On our way out of the restaurant, all the waiters lined up to shake our hands and try to bribe us to come back tomorrow morning. After our grand dining experience, a long relaxing walk proved to be a lot of fun, filled with great photo opportunities and a good remedy for everyone’s nerves.

Jess, Kaitlyn and I had a few slight problems with our room keys but after 100 trips up and down the steps, we finally got a Very handsome part of the hotel staff to come to the rescue. He is actually standing right in front of us while we are writing this…HA Greatness!! They were all very kind (but hard to understand) and willing to help and we finally fixed the problem and were able to get in to unpack and turn the a/c on. We are all having a great time and we hope everything is going well in the states, since we aren’t there to keep everyone in line. ;) Oh, and Minnesota, I’m expecting to hear great things tomorrow about our amazing blog-tastic post’s. Alright everyone, we will talk to you in the morning.

~Jason, Kaitlyn, and Hannah

Its getting hot in here

We started the day with an English breakfast and then departed from the Ramada Jarvis hotel in Livingston. Our first stop was Moffet where we shopped at the Woolen Mills. Jeff tried on a kilt and we have pictures. While riding on the bus, we took the scenic route through the hills of southern Scotland and saw the Devils Beef tub which was used to store stolen cattle during the Scottish/English wars. The tub dropped off about 500 feet or more so it was very hard for officials and farmers to retrieve their cattle. We then entered into England where we stopped at a dirty Burger King and got lunch. After that the bus got very very hot. The air conditioning quit working and of course today was one of the hottest days so far reaching the 90's. We ended up pulling off the road and then back on with no air conditioning still and decided to sing karaoke on the way to Ricky Jone's dairy farm.
Ricky Jones milks about 125 Holsteins with a herd average of 9,500 litres. His highest producing cow milked over 120 pounds. They used potatoes as a source of energy in their silage because they cannot grow corn due the the wet weather. He farmed about 300 acres consisting of wheat, barley, and potatoes.
We then went to Mr. Leedham's who hosted us for a BBQ. We had pulled pork and strawberries and creme. After that we got back on the bus and sang 80's music on the way back to the Hotel in Coventry.

- Jason

Judging day!!!

Hi everyone. Today we woke up early and headed over to the fairgrounds to participate in the judging contest. We went into a show ring that was not very big at all. The show ring was divided into four sections. We judged two classes of Holsteins, one class of Ayrshires, and one class of Jerseys. We gave reasons on one Holstein class and the Ayrshire class. It was quite hectic but interesting to see the differences between the ways we judge. Instead of circling the cows in the middle of the ring while we judge from the outside, we stand in the middle and try to keep up with the fast pace that leadsmen are going at. Not to mention that we only have 4 minutes in the ring with each class. This time frame is not extended for reasons classes. I (Hannah) thought it was hilarious how the announcer would tell us that we need to turn our placing cards in and at that very same moment the time on the next class would begin before we even turned in our cards. I think it was so ironic that we only had a couple minutes to take notes (which involved writing a few words describing each cow) but they allowed anywhere from 30 minutes to an hour to study reasons plus we were allowed to read our notes. It was crazy! We also thought is was funny that the Scottish lads felt the need to pat down the cows as if they were going through airport security.

The weather was fairly nice considering the weatherman predicted a 90% chance of rain. It only rained a little during the contest which was good considering it was a steady rain during breakfast. After the contest we had some free time that allowed us to explore the fairgrounds and watch the parade of champions. We saw the beef and dairy cows parade around the ring and it was a different but wonderful experience. Later in the evening we headed over to the Lowland Building for dinner and the announcement of the winners. Congrats to Jess and Kait for being the second place international high school team. For those of you who don't know, our teas were separated into pairs. Two members from the Minnesota FFA team won the contest.

Day 2 in Scotland

Hey whats going on back in the states ehh? Today was a good day. Jeff slept a lot on the bus while we toured the city of Edinburgh. We got to see the palace where Prince Charles was staying for the weekend. Security was tight but we got pictures of the palace. We also go to see an extinct volcano that oversees the city. We drove up on these mountains and saw a beautiful view of Edinburgh. Then we traveled through more of the city and saw the castle of Edinburgh which has never been taken over by the English since it was built. While riding around the city we were given a tour by Margot who did an excellent job explaining the history of Edinburgh, since it was where she was born and raised. In the city, we passed a circular building that Margot explained was a watch tower to catch body snatchers, or people that dig people out of the graveyard to sell to the medical center to make a few pounds. Margot also explained the new and old parts of Edinburgh. All the buildings are made of sandstone, and some are cleaned while others aren't. Next we went to the Royal Highland Show. We signed in at the International Visitor's Center where we had tea and shortbread. Then we went and got lunch which consisted of Highland cattle beef burgers and chips. The girls were picky and did not enjoy the food. I however did and had curry on my chips(french fries). We got an overview of what the Scottish are looking for in a dairy cow from two talented judges, Anne and Gina. Anne won the judging contest last year was the first woman to do so. Everyone here thinks that American cows are bigger than theirs. This is a problem for cows laying in cubicle sheds (our free stalls). However, while walking through the barns we found that the show cows are just as tall. The sires used here are household names such as Shottle, Mr Sam, Goldwyn, Durham, and Dundee. We also saw a Jersey sired by Resurrection that went back to Veronica and an Iatola. After that we saw a bunch of horses jump around and waste money ;). Finally, we headed back to the hotel and got dinner at the Lime Kiln. Jeff tried Haggis and he is still breathing at the moment. Talk to you all tomorrow.

Scotland Day One

Hello everyone,
This morning once we landed in Scotland, we boarded the coach to head over to the National Museum of Rural Life. In the Museum, we were served a quick lunch and then had the opportunity to explore. After touring the museum, we were allowed to walk to a historical farm where we saw several Ayrshire cows, an 18 year old Clydesdale horse named Maddie, and a 23 year old Scottish Highlander named Laura. Along the way, we took several team and scenic pictures of the land and the farm.
After the museum, we traveled to the Scotland Agricultural College and received a farm tour from a charming and quite hilarious Scottish man. We learned about how dairy farming is important and how it works in Scotland and we also learned John's sentiments about "those damn American cows." This was his favorite phrase throughout our tour; he seemed to fit it in at least once every sentence. The reasoning behind this phrase is that although John appreciates what American cows bring to the herd, he does not appreciate the excessive size of American cattle. The barns and facilities here in Scotland are much smaller and cannot accommodate such large Holstein cows.
After this tour, we drove back through the city of Glasgow and headed to our hotel for the next few days. We were served dinner, and are headed to the Scottish equivalent of WalMart as soon as we hang up the mouse.

Arrival!!!

After two flights, we have made it to Scotland! We are all very excited and quite tired. We flew from Dulles to Philadelphia where we patiently waited to catch our next flight. We all grabbed something quick to eat after roaming the airport for a little while. We then got on a bigger plane than our first to go to Glasgow. We were served a small dinner on the flight and had the chance to watch two movies. The flight was not the most comfortable but we have finally made it and are ready to start our journey in Europe!

Just over a week to go!

We have all had our orientation meeting and have completed our fundraising goals of just over $30,000. First and foremost, a huge thank you to all who have helped us get to this point. I know that the team is extremely honored to have been able to bring ANOTHER National Title back to Maryland and continue an amazing tradition. For those of you who do not know, this year's team members are:

Hannah Hood of Frederick County
Kaitlyn Corbett of Washington County
Jessica Sentelle of Frederick County
Jason Zimmerman of Montgomery County
Jeff Semler of Washington County coached this great group

The travel plans include visiting Scotland, England, France, Luxembourg and Germany. We will have the opportunity to judge cattle at the Royal Highland Show in Scotland and the Luxembourg National Show, see a play in London, take a cruise down the Rhine River and so much more. The tour group has even been invited to lead cattle in an International Sale hosted by the Luxembourg Herd Book Association! So much more to be shared with you in the days and weeks to come. Thank you once again for your support as this trip would not have been possible otherwise.

~Kiera