Maryland Dairy Judging

Photos!

2011-07-08T10:39:00.000-07:00

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!

2011-07-05T13:17:00.000-07:00

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

2011-07-05T13:15:00.001-07:00

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

2011-07-05T13:14:00.001-07:00

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

2011-07-03T16:42:00.000-07:00

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

2011-07-03T13:58:00.000-07:00

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

2011-07-03T13:25:00.000-07:00

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

2011-07-02T23:33:00.000-07:00

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

2011-07-02T04:53:00.000-07:00

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!

2011-07-01T15:04:00.000-07:00

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!

2011-06-30T15:29:00.001-07:00

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

2011-06-29T17:12:00.000-07:00

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

2011-06-29T16:19:00.000-07:00

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

2011-06-28T16:00:00.000-07:00

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.

2011-06-27T23:51:00.000-07:00

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

2011-06-26T14:19:00.000-07:00

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!!!

2011-06-25T13:12:00.000-07:00

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

2011-06-24T13:42:00.000-07:00

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

2011-06-23T12:34:00.000-07:00

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!!!

2011-06-23T02:04:00.000-07:00

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!

2011-06-14T11:30:00.000-07:00

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

Photos and MORE Photos

2010-07-08T06:29:00.000-07:00

The final upload from Kiera's camera has been completed! We hope you enjoy the photos from all of our various activities.

France (Paris and Reims): http://www.flickr.com/photos/marylanddairy2008/sets/72157624449827526/
Luxembourg (host families, judging, sale, and Luxembourg City): http://www.flickr.com/photos/marylanddairy2008/sets/72157624325189883/
Germany (river cruise, vineyard): http://www.flickr.com/photos/marylanddairy2008/sets/72157624325287637/

Just want to browse? http://www.flickr.com/photos/marylanddairy2008/

Maryland Soil!

2010-07-06T19:13:00.000-07:00

Well all, I hope you have enjoyed following along on our European Adventures! We made it home to yet another heat wave. All team members have been successfully reunited with their very excited family members and are hopefully catching some much needed sleep at this hour. Our final alarm went off this morning at 5am in Germany (11pm here on the East Coast) and after checking our bags we found only two to be over the weight limit. VERY impressive considering all the awesome souvenirs that were purchased along the route. A long but uneventful plane ride and next thing you know we were having our shoes scrubbed down by US Customs. The long and short of it is that we had an amazing time and are still sorting out all the memories that were created over the past 14 days.

Thank you again for your support and participation in our efforts! More photos will be posted tomorrow!

Kiera

Morgan stay's with the Frisch's

2010-07-05T14:30:00.000-07:00

I apologize in advance, my story is not to the caliber of Connie HA's.

So I stayed with Jean-Paul and Nicole Frisch - aka AMAZINGLY INCREDIBLE people. They live on a small farm-ette in the country where they have a Bernese Mountain Dog (Yahnna- I apologize for any spelling errors), cat (Fritzie), six hobby sheep (of a local endangered Luxembourgish breed), and a few rabbits that they will eat.

Fortunately I can say that my stay with the Frisch family was truly incredible and everything I had hoped it would be. I never expected to meet such wonderful people prior to Ms. Nicole picking myself and Ariel (from SUNY Cobelskill) up at the bus stop. Immediately I noticed the typical Luxembourgish way of FAST driving- particularly around corners. In a speedily fashion we arrived to their house. It's a beautiful older home that Mr. Jean-Paul has spent 10 years renovating (I have pictures!). Our first evening with them we hung out and immediately noticed some potential challenges in regards to communication. They were not completely fluent when it came to English, but we were always able to hold on conversations and eventually understand what each other was saying. Ms. Nicole is an absolutely adorable woman and loves her pictures, so immediately she began showing us photos of their sons, puppies, house renovations, friends etc. We had spaghetti for dinner, then went on a walk with their dog. This was very refreshing as we had been cooped up on a bus all day.

The next morning we woke up and had cereal and coffee with Mr. Jean-Paul, then headed to the show, where he dropped us off. It was a hot day, but we still had a blast helping with the sale heifers, judging a class of 8 animals, and getting to know some people in the dairy show circuit in Europe (I especially enjoyed talking to a few fitters and breeders). Also, each kid got to lead a heifer or two in the sale, and I think we all enjoyed this as we miss our animals at home. The girls would also like me to include one particular event that struck a cord with us; the CRAZY Limousin heifer. CRAZY. So a few of us are in the sale tent, getting a few heifers ready before they head to the sale ring when we see this loose beef heifer run into a wood fence right outside of our tent. This catches our attention, but not quite enough because before we know it she is SPRINTING into the tent like a mad woman (have a mentioned she is HORNED?) running into the sale heifers, and headed straight for us! So of course we scatter- Rocco leaps over a fence & falls on his tush, Mandi screams and hides behind Sam, Wolfgang and I get out of the way, then we try to help corner her (not super smart because she is absolutely psychotic). Then these Luxembourgish men show up with sticks and attempt to calm her down (NOT SUCCESSFUL). Eventually they corner her and get a rope around her horns and stroke her shoulder. We moved the baby heifers that so happened to be trapped behind her. These men tried to lead her away... only for her to become loose again and have the men fall on their behinds and a few signs, and barn sidings fall down. EPIC.

The next day was just as wonderful as the day before. We woke up and had breakfast with Mr. Jean Paul and Ms. Nicole (yogurt, toast & coffee). Mr. Jean-Paul then took us to Mr. JP's farm (a big time Luxembourgish dairy farm). This was quite enjoyable but I will most likely remember watching Mr. Jean-Paul and the baby calves- PRECIOUS. He absolutely loves animals, and was getting down with the babies talking to them and looked to happy. On our way home we stopped by a old castle (and took pictures!). At home we met up again with Ms. Nicole and ate a huge tasty lunch- zucchini soup, waffles & sugar, and strawberries :). Next we made a stop at Ms. Nicole's student's exhibition. If I haven't already mentioned she is a teacher of 3 & 4 year olds and she lives for this job (and actually makes enough money to support the whole family as Mr. Jean-Paul does not work). The exhibition was all about 'dinos' or dinosaurs. I LOVED it, and took so many pictures. Ms. Nicole immediately was filled with joy and pride when we entered the building and it was QUITE the exhibit. We then headed for Luxembourg city, and along the way we passed Emily's host families Highlanders (where Mr. Jean-Paul abruptly and quickly pulled over to the side of the road so we could take pictures. Once we arrived to the city we bought tickets to do a touristy train ride through the old city. It was incredible- it has the charm of Edinborough, the people kind of like London, and the architecture of Paris- I LOVED it and would so want to live near there if it was an English speaking town. We then walked around the city and stopped at a local bar to rest and talk for a little bit. One fun part of this adventure was the German soccer enthusiasts after winning the game. Blow horns, flags, dancing, chanting, and OLAY OLAY OLAY OLAy were included. Then came the barbeque with all the host families and kids. On our way in I saw a man wearing a purple Cinch shirt which made me miss Kansas! And of course the barbeque was filled with laughs and good times.
The list includes:
-Granny's piggy back adventures with Bruce
-Bruce's subject choice of photography
-the breakthrough of Happiness and Sunshine
-Andre's idea of promoting your "milk yield"

Sunday was my last day with the Frisch family and luckily enough for Ariel G and I, their son Michel came home from fishing of some islands. At 8:30 he and his girlfriend arrived and we began a croissant eating extravaganza. Then he and Ketchen took us to Belgium to see the Memorial at Bastogne. This was quite appropriate as it was the 4th of July. In Bastogne we made a pit stop at a local restaurant and got to know Michel and Ketchen a little bit better (he speaks phenomenal English). But we had one place that they required we attend; The local Bistro. On our way back over the border we made a stop to be in two places at once- Belgium and Luxembourg. So the Bistro is where all the local youth hang out from 11am-1pm on Sundays. It was AWESOME.

Sadly, we returned to the house to eat a wonderful traditional Luxembourgish lunch, then said our goodbyes. I will forever remember these truly special people and hope that I will be able to maintain a relationship with them for the rest of my life.

<3 Morgan. aka the Queen Duchess of Fluff.

p.s. it is late, so I am not proof reading this- I apologize. and Margot- I MISS YOU! :)

july 4th and 5th in a nutshell

2010-07-05T13:35:00.000-07:00

Ah well the last few days have been hectic and we cannot believe that tonight is our very last night of what has become a long and memorable journey to say the least.

JULY 4th
Happy Independence Day to us Yanks!
After a sad departure from our various host families, the gang reunited at 1pm on the bus. All of us were eager to share stories of our families and the experiences we shared with them; Connie HA's were our favorite by far, and after hearty laughs down the road everything was fine and ducky once again. Our first stop was at Luxembourg WWII American Memorial Cemetery. We learned that 5600 Americans are buried in this cemetery, and even General Patton currently rests there. We were overwhelmed with the staggering number of white cross headstones that were plotted across the lawns. There was also a stone turtle pool/fountain that is supposed to represent the everlasting life. Quieted with reverence, we felt a grave appreciation for all the lives given to our freedom. After that we headed for the hotel and caught a couple z's on the way. The hotel even provided an american style dinner for our 4th of july holiday. The hotel we got to was EPIC, equipped with terraces and spas! We spent most of our time in the pool and sauna with the dairy and livestock kids, and even enjoyed a detoxifying therapeutic foot station and singing showers as well. After getting all pruny we hung out for the rest of the evening and shared a few laughs before our last day.

JULY 5th
After breakfast this morning in the hotel, we headed off to little villages and Boppard where we visited small shops for German crafted souvenirs. The christmas shops and cuckoo clocks were among our favorites and we enjoyed a lunch of brautwurst and fries among other things. The town's architecture was cute and picturesque, in addition to its tiny shops and bakeries. Then we took a boat cruise on the Rhine River where we saw rugged landscapes and architecture. Luckily the air was cool and we enjoyed a relaxed little cruise with our feet pointed out to the water. When we got back on land, we got back in the bus to head to Alzey, for the Hauck wine tasting and barbecue visit. We all enjoyed tasting sips of the home fermented beverages, and then jumped into hearty helpings of pork chops, chicken, potato salad, pasta salad, cucumber salad and more! We came back to the hotel at the best western and our last night with the whole group is coming to a close as we now try to squish all of our clothing back into our crammed bags. Morgan apparently is an expert at this; all of you that are planning on going on a trip should see her to cram your belongings. Additionally, she will provide excellent words of fluff in your postcards. And of course the night ended with a pep talk from Connie Kuhlman, who seemed mildly impressed with our blogging abilities, because while she is a technology retard, she still knows how to put food on the table and take a piss in the morning; that's all that she needs to do.

And now for you and our own personal enjoyment here is some interesting quotes along the way:
-If you can't run with the big dogs you better sit on the porch.
-How nude were you? ...What part of nude beach do you not understand?!?!?!?
-SELF-INFLICTED
-The toilet was so low I had to basically suck my face in it just to use the damn thing.
-I got sailor legs this morning!
(Most of the quotes were semi-inappropriate to post, but we will feel free to share them).

Our early morning tomorrow may be bitter due to its start at 5am, but the memories of this trip will age just as sweetly as the wine.
Thanks to all of our donors, family members, and friends, for your support and for your comments over the last two weeks. We can't wait to see you all again and share even more of our stories and experiences. Our own personal thanks to the people that made this trip beyond memorable: Bruce our organized and comical coordinator, Margot our beloved tour guide and friend, Gordon our source of laughs and smiles, our host families and their hospitality and of course our own Connie the chaperone, for always being a HA.

Emily's stay

2010-07-05T12:55:00.000-07:00

Hello from Emily, it has only been a day and a half away from my family, and I already miss their home and their company. My stay with them began with a walk around their home and looking at their beautiful animals. The Scheer Family consisted of Marc the father, Karen the Mother,and their 2 daughters. Nadean was the only daughter home so I spent most of my time with her, and she spoke very good English, because she went to New Zealand for 6 months to work on a dairy farm. Her excellent English really helped me understand what was going on and what her parents wanted to say to me about Luxembourg. Also the Scheer family had a kitty and a playful dog named Dior, who helped me learn that no matter what country you are in a dog will always be your companion. The Scheer family raises about 23 highlander cows, and has 2 horses named Beauty and Miley ( Miley was not named after Miley Cyrus, if you were wondering). Our first meal together consisted of some highlander meat ( One of their own), salad, bread, cheese, and fries. And for dessert we had chocolate moose. The whole meal was delicious.
The next day, I had limited time with my family because we spent all day at the Luxembourg national show, where I lead two sale calves in the Luxembourg International sale. Nadean even saw me lead my animals and translated the crazy auctioneer's lingo! The following day was a full day of viewing Luxembourg, and enjoying each other and learning about each others culture. First, we went to J.P.'s dairy farm, a well known Luxembourg farmer. His farm was very beautiful and clean and had cool collar's on the milking cows to determine how much food they needed to be fed. Next, we headed to Luxembourg City and saw the history of the city and beautiful scenery of trees, and old buildings. Then, we had Chinese food for lunch, I have no idea why, but the food was good and satisfied our hunger needs. After a nice stroll in the city we went to the lake for a nice cooling swim. The sun was shinning and the water felt great. For dinner we headed back to the show to have a barbecue with all the other families. The barbecue was really fun and I found out that Morgan's host family is good friends with my family which I thought was really cool. With a late night of fun, we head back home for my final night with the Scheer family. The last day together we went and got Belgium chocolate at a local store.(sorry family and friends we ate all of the chocolate so none is coming home with me.) Then for our final meal together we had homemade Lasagna, which was a perfect meal to end a stay with my Luxembourg family that I will never forget.

chelsea's stay

2010-07-03T15:16:00.001-07:00

Well each of us will make one post each about our stay with our host families, but I know I speak for the group when I say that it was the best part of our trip thus far. I stayed with the Bosseler family in Wiltz, Luxembourg, which is a small village on this huge hill. My "dad", Arnaud, was a veterinarian for large and small animals, and he stayed involved in his work, constantly being on call in case of problems on local farms. He even told us that he would much rather perform c-sections all day then be out living and partying in the city. My mother, Marion was a sweet and talented women in cuisine, orchestra, sewing, and teaching. Needless to say I never went hungry during my time, always partaking in 4 course meals. She plays in the local orchestra and likes to sew magnificent costumes for all the children in the small plays. While she is not a teacher right now, she is very good at teaching languages and knows 5 (that I know of). My sister Aline was 18, and a wonderful dancer. It was very nice to have someone my age to hang out with and talk to. My brother Julian was 14 and he really liked animals, having rabbits, scorpions, insects, fish, a rat, lizards, and "the one thousand feet" insect (<--i think this was the name for a centipede lost in translation...but this thing wrapped around his hand and was about a foot long). The family had a beautiful estate with two dogs and some chickens.

Our first night we went to eat dinner at the Putz's, a family I became very close with as well. They had a daughter Natacha who was 20 and a son who was 17. They were very kind and made us a HUGE dinner full of fresh food. The next morning Natacha took us kids to the show in Ettelbruck, where we had to judge and help out before the sale. We walked around with her and got to know her really well. The class we had to judge was Holstein cows, and there were 8. I thought I did alright, up until our German judge put my last placed cow in 5th; that threw things off a bit. After helping out in the sale tent with the animals all afternoon, we got ready for the sale which started after 8. I was able to lead 2 small calves, one of which was the first of the sale going for 5,000 euros, while my second calf was 3200 euros. I really enjoyed helping out and talking with the fitters and herdsman of the cattle. The experience was truly rewarding.

The next day we woke up and the Putz's came again with our family to visit some local farms. We crossed the field in our back yard to go up to a dairy goat operation, which had over 600 goats. The farm milked 550 goats with a carousel milker that was able to milk 300 in one hour. He then showed us his greatest producing milker, who milks 16 liters! The next farm was a dairy farm, where the farmer was truly passionate about his cows. He had a dedication to them like one I haven't quite yet seen, and his milkhouse was beyond clean and organized. It was most likely cleaner than the bathroom in my house at home! Then we went to another dairy farm, which was smaller and had Belgian Blues on it. My dad Arnaud and Raol Putz do not like Belgian Blues, because of the risk and complications that occur with such high volume muscle. I'm no beef expert, but what they said made sense.

After another grand lunch we decided to go to the lake for a swim. Only Natacha, her brother and I went swimming, but the water felt great after such hot days in the sun! Apparently the lake is about 50meters deep, which is a longgg way down in american measurement. After that we went to the BBQ at the fairgrounds, where we saw all of the dairy kids with their host families. Natacha told me to try the keiswurscht, which is sausage with cheese inside...lets just say I'm glad I took her advice! After staying for a little while and conversing, the Putz's and my family headed to Luxembourg City. We met up with Arnaud's sister who lovesss to party. In the city was beautiful architecture and old buildings, whose history moved me. We went to this large concert by this spiritual rock band Kneudler in the open courtyard. Then we went to see the fort of Luxembourg, which Raol avidly described its background from the longg ago all the way to around WWI and WWII. (leave it to me, the history buff). Then we decided to go to the "disco" which is a club. I had lots of fun dancing with Aline and everyone for long hours of the night. We got home at 430am and went to bed at 5. (Some Luxembourg people will do this every weekend)!

After lunch the next morning (it was too late to eat breakfast) we packed up our things and went home, but not without seeing our dad's awesome vet office that existed inside his house! It was unbelievable with a waiting room, a surgery/examining room, and then a large medicine closet room. When they dropped us off there were teary goodbyes and as the bus pulled away I made the realization that no matter what location or what language is spoken,the people are the same. They had a natural goodness that made me feel at home, while away from home and I will never forget my stay with them.

Luxembourg Hospitality

2010-07-03T15:16:00.000-07:00

Hi again,

Loretta and Kiera filling in for the crew while they are still with their host families. After a long day at the fair grounds yesterday, we decided to have a calm day and pick up 144 stamps to ready our postcards for the States with that completing most of the day time activities. The girls enjoyed the day with various activities with their host families. We gathered with the host families and team members at 8pm at the fairgrounds for a BBQ hosted by the Young Farmers Association. Great food, company and awards were enjoyed by all. The girls each received a certificate for participating in the event and a great thanks for leading and helping with the sale the night before. After much socializing and conversation we departed the group to catch the last train out of Ettlebruck to Luxembourg City. The team is being picked up at 1pm tomorrow and driving south to meet the chaperons and coaches at our hotel at 2pm. Then we head East to Germany. Expect host family updates soon!

A substitute post

2010-07-02T23:18:00.000-07:00

Hi all,

Kiera and Loretta here. Apologies for not posting but it has been a whirlwind few days and wireless has proven a bit tricky. We write to you from Luxembourg City after having traveled across France with a stop in Riems to view the Cathedral and town on Thursday. A quick pass through Belgium led us into the Ardennes Forest area and our first host family stop. Chelsea, Emily and Morgan were all introduced to their host families at this first stop and Ariel met her family at the second. Nervous smiles and a lot of luggage accompanied the girls to their host family homes. (Amy - I got a picture of Lucy and the girls for you)

Friday started with a train ride to the town of Ettelbruck to attend the National Fair and Show. We met all the 4-H and FFA members there and they couldn't wait to tell each other about the adventures they had enjoyed so far. The consensus is that the people of Luxembourg are crazy drivers and love high speeds. A very long and hot day at the show was enjoyed by all as the crew was able to judge a class of cows and take care of the sale animals being sold that night in the First Annual International Sale in Luxembourg. Being able to lead and care for the animals really seemed to give everyone a taste of home that was certainly needed. The sale committee invited the tour group to lead the animals in the sale and each of our team members led two heifers all while avoiding a CRAZY Limousin on the loose. I'm sure they will have more on that later. The sale was a big success from our point of view with strong prices all the way through the 45 lots. The buyers receive a bottle of Champagne with each purchase and they play rock music between lots. Both are ideas that we think could be incorporated at home :-) After making sure that everyone was reconnected with their host families, we made the trip back to Luxembourg City.

Today is a free day for the team and their individual families, but we will all meet up tonight for a BBQ. More to come later as well as a full recap from each team member on their time in Luxembourg.

Loretta and Kiera

paris holds the key to your heart:)

2010-06-30T15:52:00.000-07:00

Salut! from Paris:)

It was an early start at 5am, and nobody experienced that more so than Ariel and Morgan. As Ariel attempted to wake Morgan from her slumber, she was extremely concerned that Morgan's ridiculously sound sleeping was in fact unconsciousness. She literally had to physically awaken the beast after minutes of panic and fear for Morgan's life; Morgan arose with a murmur, until she realized she had less than 15mins to finish packing and eat breakfast downstairs. That certainly forced her to wake up; quite the episode to begin the morning.

The chunnel itself was also an experience as we struggled to make it to the platform in the morning rushhour. Chelsea, Emily and Ariel were all thrilled to discover that they were standing in the train station where Harry Potter was filmed. Although we did not hop on the Hogwarts Express, Ariel continued to struggle finding her way with 5 bags and every member of the team's drinks and snacks for the trip. She barely made it onto the train, as she dangled from the step, to put her suitcase inside. Because it could not fit in the compartment up front, she managed to drag it to the back of the train where she hit multiple Asian individuals. Even Morgan had to lift her 50lb zebra bag over her head in the above compartment and launch it in order to secure it. Talk about a morning work out. Luckily, we all were able to sleep for the majority of the ride.

Immediately arriving to Paris, we started out with a bus tour of the city. The traffic and heat combined to make a somewhat boring ride, but nothing took away from the natural beauty of the monuments and statues that we were fortunate enough to see along the way including but not limited to the Eiffel Tower, the Louvre, L'arc de triumph, Notre Dame cathedral, and many more. Although our tour guide was nice, we still miss our dear Margot, who definitely spoiled us with her spunk. Interestingly, France has a great population of drivers, who are willing to drive over curbs and hit pedestrians on the street, especially riders on speeding mopeds.

Eventually we were able to arrive at our hotel where we were greeted by VIBRANT color schemes inside our rooms, and beautiful views. Moreover, we had a rooftop terrace that allowed us to overlook the ENTIRE city. We got plenty of pictures, to say the least. Our poor Emily felt a bit under the weather, so we scampered off to the neighboring grocery store to aid her illness with saltine crackers, peanut butter, and good ol sprite. Talk about your fixer-upper! After our saltine cracker party with Em, we decided to venture out in the local streets. We were able to eat dinner, shop at touristy shops, and have crepes all along our street with ease. Now listen up bloggers: if you ever need a bargain shopper, Loretta is the way to go! Lets just say she knew how to wheel and deal inside the locally owned shops.

As it began to darken, we ventured onto the metro in order to view the base of the Eiffel Tower lit up at night. We loved the accordian and guitar-playing musicians on the metro, who advised us to "don't worry and be happy". How original. At the base of the tower we were amazed by the size and stature of the edifice, and its specific architectural designs. The lights alone, however, illuminated the entire city and swept us all away. Soon even, sparkling lights lit up the tower and added to our amazement. Lots of vendors attempted to sell us keychains and glowing plastic eiffel towers, and they do not like to take no for an answer. One find we did enjoy, however, was a group souvenir of hand-crafted paintings of places in Europe, like the Notre Dame or Eiffel Tower. These were gorgeous and well done, and we just could not resist!

Perhaps delusional from sleep deprivation, the gang headed back to the hotel on the metro. Chelsea thought that the beeping sounds on the tube sounded like beats from a Lady Gaga song, and she opted to demonstrate for the entire group in a sing-song.

For now, we are going to partake in sleep for the duration of our evening, awaiting our introductions to our host families in Luxembourg tomorrow:)

Bon nuit:)

our day in London :)

2010-06-29T16:28:00.000-07:00

After waking up and taking the Tube to Westminster (yes, we minded the gap), we began our day at the London Eye. This was an incredible experience and the views were spectacular (no worries group photos were taken!). It was then decided that we were in dire need of coffee so we stopped at Cafe Nero, where each one of us got a version of a frappuchino- lucky enough for us our barista was SUPER sweet and adorable. We then progressed to Parliament Square. This is a small grass area where people were holding a protest against a variety of things including the Iraq and Afghanistan wars. In fact there is one man who has lived in this square for 14 YEARS. Morgan felt the need to talk to him, yet as she approached his general area he began LOUDLY communicating with a news reporter (in a not so friendly way). Once seeing that he was occupied we instead watched from approximately 10 yards away. After the reporter got flustered enough to leave he approached our group and asked to interview us (from the tourists perspective). After talking to Morgan and Emily it was obvious that he was not getting the answers he wanted (because we didn't call the protest a "visual sore") and we continued on our journey.

We came across one of the lovely red phone booths on our way to see the changing of the horse guards, and a team photo was taken (all girls in 1 not so flowery smelling phone booth). We continued our team photoing by taken pics with a guard and his horse. We then trekked into the stable area only to find a seductive blue eyed young lad slash guard. No worries lady readers, we broke his silence. We unfortunately had to leave him and began our walk through Green Park where Ariel became best friends for life with a variety of squirrels (aka rodents) and creatures of flight. The park led us to Buckingham Palace, home of the queen. We stopped for a photo op and dubbed the house Ms. Loretta's since she is "Queen Kong." Here, Ms. Loretta also suggested that Kiera make friends with a pole and Ariel also was able to 'fly' at this stop. Herrod's was our next desired stop, but of course we had adventures on the way there- this includes Chelsea further demonstrating her Chuck Norris skill's on an innocent by-standing tree, and also channeling her inner Mary Catherine Gallagher.

So if you are not aware of what Herrod's is, it is an uber expensive (AS IN REALLY REALLY expensive) 5 story shopping mall that includes an entire section for Pet Fashion. We kid you not. There was a dress for a small dog (at the puppy age) that was priced at 70 pounds. Also the baby carriage section was more like a car dealership with a variety of models priced around FOUR THOUSAND pounds. We visited a wide variety of stores from touristy places, to the most expensive kinds, and then in between. The streets were constantly packed with people, even some very attractive London boys, which triggered the "alert heifers."

Our food selection today was interesting, with lunch at quite the authentic Italian restaurant and then light appetizers in the early evening at a local bar and grill. At the bar and grill Chelsea successfully managed to try an anchovy after first throwing it in Ariel's glass. Let's just say she would not recommend them. We then headed to the show The Lion King, which we were all pretty thrilled about. The show was PHENOMENAL, with amazing voices, rocking, and dancing that shook the playhouse. Kudos to the woman playing Rafikki, and the intense puppetry and set design. Our favorites were the giraffes and the jaguar, which realistically pranced about the stage by ballet dancers. The light effects and musical talent swept us away in the African spirit, and we were uplifted leaving the theater.
(Believe me, we opted to join in a sing-song).

After navigating the tube, we came home for the night; it was indeed a long and packed day. Tomorrow we have quite the early morning starting at 5am, where we head to Paris for one day and one night. While we had tons of packing to do, Chelsea decided to try on every piece of Morgan's 30 pounds of jewelry and name every necklace. Equipped in shades and a scarf dewrag, she was definitely a figure of amusement to end the long day.

Good night all,
The Team:)

Warwick to London

2010-06-28T15:37:00.000-07:00

Well we'll start you off from last night when we were lucky to be introduced to Gordon, a previous bus driver for Agrotours. After Margots emotional departure, we felt at ease to meet a new friend so quickly. This older man was quite a hoot; from old stories about Bruce and Esmerelda, to bent telephone poles, and sing-song concerts, we could not stop laughing. He is definitely a character we will never forget on this trip.

The morning started off towards Warwick Castle, a beautiful preservation of medieval life. We toured the quaint little city and then entered the castle. Upon entering the gates, we were greeted by a peacock, who was quick to give Morgan "the up-down" eye. We immediately were swept up in the medieval characters, including a swordsmen, archer, butler, and maid, who were eager to participate in group photos. Inside the castle we met numerous realistic wax figurines and robots, including Henry VIII's six wives. We climbed up many towers (all 530 winding stairs) to outlook on the distant scenery and magnificent landscapes. Ariel's calves were a-burnin and we all felt a bit discombobulated after the circuitous route.

After a quick lunch at an excellent service stop, we drove into London. We started out with a tour of the city and were immediately swept up by the overwhelming sights of the Cathedral, the Wembley Stadium arc, the London Tower Bridge, Big Ben, Buckingham palace, and the harmonious combination of antediluvian and modern architecture. The tour was longer than usual, with a stifling heat setting in, so we were excited to reach our hotel and unpack for the night. After a little while to recharge (physically and photographically)we decided to take our chances on the tube(British for metro)and struggled to get the tickets and find the correct destination before heading to London. Be sure to "mind the gap" everytime you enter a foreign subway. A heartfelt thank you to our own Morgan who terrifically managed to successfully direct our routes. Arriving in London, we enjoyed the buildings lit up in lights along the water. Although our attempts at the London Eye flights were failed for the night, we were able to take copious amounts of group photos and even came across a great place to eat! The Four Udder Belly was right up our alley and we enjoyed some big sandwiches and hearty laughs. After dinner we scooted off to the tube again, in bright spirits to end our evening.

Our discoveries in a nutshell:
-Ariel's highlight: "Our hotel has q-tips, a fan, and a toilet that always flushes!"
-Emily learned how to spell "knowone" the proper way. Spelling Bee Score: Chelsea 1, Emily 0
-Emily is the first to officially receive the retractable backpack awards
-Past Adopted Child: Morgan; Present Adopted child of the day: Ariel
-Food Battle at Dinner: Morgan/Chelsea 3, Ariel 0
-Chelsea is a disciple of Chuck Norris

London tomorrow loves, can't wait to share all the stories.
Chip chip, cheerio:)
~The Team~

First Photos of England

2010-06-28T11:47:00.001-07:00

Well we've all been battling the low battery issue with our digital cameras over the past 24 hours. The following photos are a compilation from the entire group and our first day in England. Enjoy!

http://www.flickr.com/photos/marylanddairy2008/sets/72157624253480891/

Scotland Photos

2010-06-28T00:04:00.001-07:00

Hello! Kiera's photos from Scotland have been added to the web for you to enjoy: http://www.flickr.com/photos/marylanddairy2008/sets/72157624249676843/

There are a lot of photos and they haven't been edited in any way yet but hopefully in the near future. Enjoy and thank you again for your interest and support!

Scotland and England

2010-06-27T13:51:00.000-07:00

Today we spent a lllooonngggg time on the bus and took numerous photos though the bus windows trying to avoid the window glare and trees that line the highway that always block your view of the sights. It was our last day with our tour guide Margot. She has been an awesome guide and has treated us more like family and friends than foreigners. We truly appreciate all her time and effort. We will never forget her humorous stories, cheerful dog, Tweed, and her rockin' Scottish pants. Our first stop was in Moffat to shop at Woolen Mills. There we bought Celtic jewelry, shortbread, postcards, cashmere scarves, heather-stone items, and much more. We also had a wee snack at the cafe. Then, it was back on the road. We made a quick stop for lunch at Burger King where we went on a napkin hunt...Kiera won. We ate on the bus to save time. There was almost a ketchup, tomato sauce, famine... it could have been deadly but we survived with one extra packet. Next we headed to Ricky Jones's Dairy. The farm was absolutely gorgeous and extremely well kept. He milks around 100 Holstein cattle in a double 6 parlor. And has around 30 heifers. We walked around the farm and visited many of the pastures and crop fields. He talked to us about milk prices in England and the control the super markets have over the farmers. Interesting tidbit... In England you are paid for your milk by liter for example the top price right now is 25 pence per liter. (Pence is equivalent to cents)The most interesting part of the operation was the feeding. The milking herd is fed grain while in the parlor and TRM in the free stall that contains whole potatoes! For dinner we went to Leedham Farms for a BBQ. There we had pulled pork sandwiches with sage stuffing and apple sauce on the sandwich. It seems a little weird but it was very tasty. Afterwards we mingled with the other teams and local farmers who came to visit. We also signed a petition in opposition of constructing four windmills about 1/4 of a mile from the farm. On the way back we looked through the Luxembourg sale catalog, in which we will be participating in a few days. Tomorrow we are going to Warkick Castle in the morning and then on to London.

The Maryland Dairy Judging Team

Final Full Day of Scotland

2010-06-26T11:41:00.000-07:00

JUDGING CONTEST DAY !!!!!!
The last full day of Scotland was a day filled with smiles, laughs, and a lot good memories. The day started bright and early for us as today was the competition day! So we headed for day two of the Royal Highlands Show, which just as amazing as the our first day. The competition was quite different than the way we do judge at home. Classes were only 5 MINUTES!!! Whether they were reasons or not. Also, they don't use the same numbering or identification system of 1234, they use ABXY,which was very different and a little difficult when giving reasons to say " I placed this class XBYA ... " Also the cows were not necessarily lead in ABXY so it a minute to figure out what order the cows were in. Giving reasons was pretty similar to US reasons, but the atmosphere was much more relaxed and everyone was sitting on the lawn chatting after the classes were over. There was some confusion in the beginning as to how many reasons we were going to give at a time because we were told that we were going to give both sets back to back. We came to find out that it was one at a time. In Scotland, they wear white lab coats when judging and we thought we looked pretty cool and smart. The time constraints made us a little stressed. It was not always clearly announced when we were supposed to change rings which made us have less time in the next class. Although, it was different than we are used to we all managed to adapt and learned to "speed" judge.
After the judging contest, we went over and saw the parade of champions, there we saw the impressive lineup of animals, including, beef: Angus, Charolais, British blues, British Blondes, and much more. The dairy lineup included, Holstein, Jersey, Ayrshire, and Milking Shorthorns. Shortly after the parade show jumping fences were set for the international contest of Show Jumping. This was very interesting and we even captured some cool action shots of the horses jumping. Next came the Awards dinner, the meal included a choice between venison or fish and chips, and to top it off for dessert we had delicious strawberries with cream and tarts.

The Results:
( We were divided into judging pairs for the contest Morgan and Ariel were a team and Chelsea and Emily were a team)

*1st place 4-H team
*2nd place team overall
*Ariel and Morgan were 3rd pair overall
*Chelsea and Emily were the 6th as a pair overall.
*Morgan was high reasons individual
*2nd place reasons team
*Morgan and Ariel were 1st place reasons pair

We are very happy with the new experience and hope to cherish the Royal Highlands in our memories for a long time.

~The Team~

PS lady readers of the blog:
the men of Scotland are certainly not lacking in the looks department. They always have uniquely wonderful hair and wear IMPECCABLE jeans of which make the tushies look wonderful.

Also Emily pants were doodled upon unintentionally by a variety of Scottish male judgers, and Morgan got a kiss on the cheek by another Scottish man during the awards that was SUPER awkward because apparently its custom and she had already started to walk away.
Fans of Chelsea please inquire about her accident today (the one involving the bathroom and her pants!) But no bodily functions were involved :)

2010-06-25T13:22:00.000-07:00

Hello blog readers :)

Scotland is awesome! Today we started out by doing a bus tour of Edinburgh which is the Capitol city of Scotland. Although it may not be as large as Glasgow it certainly does not lack in character. We were all incredibly impressed by the Edinburgh Castle and the architecture in general. There were tons of cute little shops and LOTS of kilts! Like expensive 200 pounds worth of kilts!

If we haven't already mentioned it the landscape of Scotland is beautiful- LOTS of hills and fields. In fact, Edinburgh is surrounded by these great hills and we were lucky enough to drive to the top of one and see the overlook- IT WAS AMAZING! And major kudos to Margot and her wonderful guide abilities, and humorous jokes.

So next we hit up the Royal Highland Show where they show in outdoor grass show rings with white fences. The show is huge and we wish we had even more days so we could experience each part. So we are food consuming girls, and thus we hit up the food area, and samples were the apples of our eye! I immediately found our initial sample, and by the end of our food excursion we had tried every sample possible, and boy were we stuffed! We tasted everything from strawberries to shortbread cookies, fudge, meats, ice cream, cheeses, jams and chips. We didn't even purchase a legitimate lunch and walked the entire length of the building. And we even had full-cream Jersey milk out of a plastic shot glass! John may have been bashing on Jersey's yesterday, but somebody in Scotland puts them to wonderful use :).

So back to the cow part, we were really impressed by the Young Farmers program that Scotland has, and they seem to be very involved and fun. They had a large booth set up and it was quite cool. Outside they had a Wii sheep shearing game that was led by an enjoyable young red-headed fellow. They also had a bike racing contest (on the kind you ride in the gym), all in hopes to raise money to promote agriculture education in Africa. Inside they had a variety of booths that Young Farmers created, much like those that 4-H clubs create in contests. They had AMAZINGLY decorated cakes in an African Safari theme- asks to see pictures because they were way cool.

We ended up being led around by two gents named Alexander and Graham. Alexander won the Young Stockman Contest last year and showed us all the livestock and dairy and explained how they evaluate each. VERY DIFFERENT they are when it come to beef cattle, but they really do judge Dairy in a similar fashion, with the exception that they prefer them to be more moderate framed, and are not as incredibly into the 'dairy' look (don't get us wrong they are still angular and feminine). They only show a few dairy breeds and they are Holsteins, Ayrshires,and Jerseys.

We have an early day tomorrow with the contest and will update you sometime tomorrow night with the results. Another long, but successful day, we are hungry for more!
<3 The Team <3

our first adventure in Scotland

2010-06-24T10:10:00.000-07:00

Day One: Complete.
Immediately following the flight we found ourselves on the tour bus ready to start. While some of us could barely keep our eyes open, we saw rolling green hills and tons of pastures with animals grazing. Our first stop was at the National Museum of Rural Life, where we saw a scottish "man trap" and soon ventured up to the preserved farmhouse. On film we captured a ridiculously photogenic Highlander cow and soon saw the owner herding his sheep in before a rain storm. This sight was impressive, noticing not only the herder's specific and alternating calls, but his sheep dog's aggressive and experienced training. Morgan also could not help but wonder why the sheep's tails were not docked.

Our next stop was at the Scottish Agriculture College, where we were greeted by the manager of dairy operations at the college, a pleasant Mr. John. John took us for a tour of some of his pasture lots, barns, and milking parlor. In Scotland, cows primarily graze on rye grass, unlike the Marylandish alfalfa and clover. We learned from John that cows are turned out when the length of the grass is approximately the height of a beer can, and they are switched to another lot when the grass is as tall as a golf ball. The average herd size is around 200, because it is the maximum number put out on pasture; even the number of cows spending the majority of time out on pasture alone, astounded us yanks. John informed us that because Scots are not good record keepers, they tend to view management and reproductive practices from other countries, like the United States, New Zealand, and Germany. (Never trust the records of an Italian). On another interesting note, we found the identification system to be much more strict, since the outbreak of BSE.

Down in the barns we were showed their grain supplement, a "PMR", pelletized distillers grain, pelletized beet pulp, and soy beans. Then we came across a calf pen, where John showed us his new automatic calf-feeder, which can be programmed to ration out milk, knew which calf was drinking and how much, and could slowly wean the calves by distributing less milk. There were about eight calves on just one machine, and the calves were in excellent health and condition. We learned new vocabulary when venturing into the "cubicles", or what we refer to as free stalls. Even the barn alleys are known as "passageways" in Scotland. The milking parlor was a double twelve herringbone, and parlors are the most type of milking facility in the UK, where most cows are milked twice a day (three if your lucky).

~The Team

We landed !!!!

2010-06-24T00:03:00.000-07:00

Our adventure began with a lovely 45 minute wait on the excessively hot runway. Although Emily, Chelsea, and I sat together Morgan sat by herself and embarked on her journey by making new friends right away. She sat between a dear Alabamian woman and a Scots man. The Scottish man turned out to be a very interesting man. On the plane we watched Dear John and tried to sleep to no avail. Chelsea also had the opportunity of running into someone in the bathroom due to a faulty vacancy sign. We just arrived at the Glasgow airport and thankfully all our luggage arrived with us and we successfully passed through customs. US currency is worth about half the value of sterling. We will be leaving with the tour bus in a few moments. We are all very excited to venture out into Edinburgh today!!

The Maryland Dairy Judging Team

So close!

2010-06-18T14:13:00.000-07:00

Just purchased our tickets to the Lion King! There is a great little video on the following website to give you a taste of the performance.
http://www2.disney.co.uk/MusicalTheatre/TheLionKing/home/index.jsp

We also have organized our travel arrangements to the airport. Looks like we really are leaving in five days!

~Kiera

Luxembourg Host Families

2010-06-11T09:43:00.000-07:00

The Luxembourg Young Farmer assignments have arrived!

Emily Gill will be staying with Marc Scheer-Ewen
Chelsea Davis will be staying with Arnaud Bosseler
Morgan Meisenheimer will be staying with Jean-Paul Frish-Kuffer
Ariel Taxdal will be staying with Aart Versteegh

On Thursday July 1st, the 4-Hers will be meeting their hosts for the next few days. They will be living on the farms until Sunday July 4th. This is a day longer than it has been in the past due to the impact these visits make on both the Young Farmers and the trip participants. It is routinely ranked as the highlight of the two week trip.

~Kiera

Two weeks to the day!

2010-06-09T07:59:00.001-07:00

We have all had our orientation meeting and have completed our fundraising goals. 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:
Ariel Taxdal of Harford County
Chelsea Davis of Cecil County
Emily Gill of Harford County
Morgan Meisenheimer of Howard County
Loretta Wright of Carroll County coached this great group

The travel plans include visiting Scotland, England, France, Luxembourg and Germany. We will have the opportunity to judge cattle in multiple countries, see a play in London, take a cruise down the Rhine River and so much more. The ladies have even been invited to lead cattle in 1st Annual 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

Thank you!

2008-07-02T09:19:00.000-07:00

Thank you all for following along on our travel adventures! We made it home safe and sound yesterday (July 1st) and are looking forward to sharing our pictures and stories with you over the summer! If you have any questions about the dairy judging program in Maryland, please contact Kiera at kieraf@umd.edu

We had a wonderful time and learned so much, thank you for supporting us on this once in a lifetime opportunity!!!!

2008-06-30T13:08:00.000-07:00

For our day in Germany, we went to two small towns where we walked around leisurely, going into several small local shops. The houses were cute and looked very similar to the one's in Hershey Park. After eating a delicious lunch at a local restaurant, we went on a Rhine river cruise. The ship was very nice and the ride was smooth and beautiful. We saw many local towns located on the Rhine river and beautiful castles on the hills surrounding the river. The cruise was one and a half hours and after we got off the ship we took a short ride to a local vineyard. We tasted three different wines, which were all delicious. After tasting the wine, we stayed at the vineyard for a delicious dinner and desert, and then looked around at the beautiful grape vines which were located on the hills. We are now at the hotel for our last night in Germany and in Europe. Tomorrow we are flying home after an amazing trip!

Love to all,

Hannah and THE TEAM

We also posted the remaining pictures from England, France and Luxembourg. The photos from today will be posted later this week. http://www.flickr.com/photos/marylanddairy2008/

Miss us yet?

2008-06-30T00:42:00.000-07:00

Here are some more pictures to tide you over :-) Luxembourg and Germany (well, so far anyway) are posted. Hopefully I have enough time to get France up to: http://www.flickr.com/photos/marylanddairy2008/

Derek's Host Family

2008-06-29T13:16:00.000-07:00

I stayed with Andre from Michigan State at Cylvi and Louie Guth's house. They picked us up at the the agricultural college after a shindig with the Grand Duc. They took us to a pizza parlor where we ate pizza with a fork. Then we drove to their house where we met the rest of the family, Andre (12), Claude (22), Peris (20), and their worker from Portugal. We sat around the table and looked at Cylvi's picture album of her trip to Canada.

The next morning we offered to help with the chores but they didn't want our help. So we ate breakfast and watched them finish their chores. They milk about 70 holstein cows twice a day. Due to the quota system they cant expand their herd. They share a mixer wagon with the neighbors. While we were in the pasture Peris came and picked us up because the cows were out down the road. After our tour of their farm we went to the neighboring dairy farms. The first farm we went to had dairy and beef cows, methane digester, and a horse barn. The methane digester was built 5 years ago. To keep a horse at the farm it would cost 370 euros or about $814. The next farm we went to had a huge white dog and dairy cows. I was amazed by how big their houses were by just milking 45 cows. After the second tour me and Andre we invited to Claude's friend's wedding. We stuck out a lot and stood by ourselves for awhile until Hannah and her 2 other roommates showed up.

Later we went to the barbeque with Guei, another host family member. It was a lot of fun getting together with everyone again. After that Guei took us into Luxemburg city for the night. The next morning we slept in until about 11:30 which was great. Cylvi and Louie then drove us to the city for Pizza Hut. Then we said our goodbyes and got on the coach to drive to Germany.
They were extremely nice, Cylvi even did laundry for us. Overall I had a really good time and am glad it is a part of the tour.

Derek Lease

amy's visit in luxembourg

2008-06-29T12:48:00.000-07:00

well i suppose its my time to write about my host family visit in Luxembourg. I was hosted by JP and Lucy Flemmang--very good friends of Bruce's and the coordinators of our time in Luxembourg. I was with the other Aimee on the trip, from Connecticut, who was very nice. We headed off from the meeting with the Grand Duc with Lucy for a light meal at their house. We then went back into Ettelbreck to find JP at the very nice dinner that turned into a party. Headed back to the house for a very nice sleep in on Saturday.

Saturday morning we had a family breakfast and then were shown the house, the barns, and their farm by JP, Lucy, and Patrick (a foreign exchange student from Poland living with them for 3 months.) Then Lucy, Aimee, and I went to a small town about 5 minutes away to see another castle with another good workout walking up the stairs. We then went to the lake that provides more than 75% of Luxembourg's water supply which was pretty neat. We then headed back home and their girls arrived home from school. Nora is 8 and Lina is 11 and it was obvious they had both worked very hard learning to say 'Hi, my name is...' to introduce themselves to us. Lina can understand about 80% of what we were saying-Bruce has helped a lot with her English- and I think Nora can understand more than we all think. All of us then headed to the World War II museum in Bastogne where the Battle of the Bulge was fought. It was really interesting to see how much the people Luxembourg appreciate what the Americans did for them in the war. We headed back home and got ready to head to the judging and barbeque.

Although we all agreed with each other, the official did not seem to like how we placed the class. We had a very good meal and it was fun to see everyone again. This morning started out with another family breakfast and then the family headed out to a castle about 15 minutes away from the house.

It was a beautiful morning to be outside and we had a great last outing together. The weather was awesome and the views were absolutely breathtaking. Learning about Luxembourg was really neat and I had a great time. I guess my only regret is the amount of time. I wish we could've stayed there longer and helped them get ready for their big show next week. I took many pictures. Love and miss you all-pretty much ready to come home. See you soon =)
Love,
Amy

my time in Luxembourg

2008-06-29T12:10:00.000-07:00

Well, I was really nervous about spending time in another person's house that I really didn't know. However, when I met my host Luc, I knew I would have a good time. Turns out Luc, is really friendly and showed us a great time in Luxembourg. I met Luc on Friday afternoon, when we went to his beautiful house and Limousine beef farm, which surprisingly are connected and located in the "village" (town). We ate a classic Luxembourgish dinner, which consisted of bread and mozzarella cheese, which was delicious. After dinner we went out in the city where we met some of Luc's frineds, who spoke English. I was surprised to find out that most people in Luxembourg speak many languages, including, Luxembourgish, French, German, and English.

In the morning, we took a drive through many parts of Luxembourg and the edges of Germany and France. We saw beautiful landscapes, homes, and even a vineyard. We then had a delicious Italian lunch and went for an easy 3 mile hike through the forest. The path only had one steep part so the hike was very relaxing. After the hike, we went to a Luxembourgish wedding reception, which has many different traditions than in America. I didn't feel really out of place though becuase Derek, and his roomate Andre also ended up being at the wedding. What a coincidence.

After the wedding, we went to the barbeque with all the other host families. After the barbeque, we once again went back into the city for the night. In the morning, we woke up early and got pictures with the family which consisted of Luc, his mother, father, and grandmother.
Then we toured the city and I got a lot of good scenery pictures.

I must agree with Laurel, when she said that Luxembourgish driving is scary. If you think some Americans drive crazy just come to Luxembourg. However, I must say, I was really impressed by Luxembourg. The people are very friendly and very well educated. I had an amazing time and this has been the highlight of the trip.

Hannah

a visit with Pierre

2008-06-29T11:54:00.000-07:00

I'm not going to lie. I was terrified at the thought of going to some strange person's house who didn't speak English. And when Pierre greeted me with a huge hug, I was more than a little creeped out. But it turned out that Pierre was one of the funniest people I have ever met. On Friday night, Pierre took me and my roommate, Amanda, to a disco to meet some of his friends. I was surprised to find out how many people there actually spoke English. The next morning, Pierre, Amanda, and I met with some of the other Americans and hosts to tour a nearby castle. The view was absolutely amazing. While at lunch at a local restaurant, we discovered that in Luxembourg, you have to pay for any extra ketchup you use. We then drove to Belgium to see a memorial for Americans that died in World War II. That night we went to barbeque with the other host and Americans. A good time was had by all.

The next day, Pierre took Amanda and I to see a methane digester that is shared by his community. A total of 19 farms send the manure there and the heat is used to heat all of their houses. We then went to a farm to see robotic milkers before catching the bus to head to Germany.

All this joy riding might sound like a lot of fun, but riding in a car with Pierre was quite the expereince. I would compare it to riding a rollercoaster. And I held on for my life every time I got in the car. Another interesting point was that in Luxembourg, all you have for breakfast and dinner is bread. And sometimes cheese. But it was a very good experience and I had a lot of fun.

Laurel

More pictures

2008-06-28T08:33:00.001-07:00

All the UK photos have been posted. Gail and I are working on the France and Luxembourg photos tonight :-) http://www.flickr.com/photos/marylanddairy2008/

Our first night on our own

2008-06-27T15:08:00.000-07:00

The blog has been assigned to Gail and I to maintain while the team visits with their host families, so bear with us. To continue the tradition, food: Breakfast at the hotel, and on the bus by 9:15am (a late morning for us). We witnessed the crazy Parisian traffic adding almost an hour to our drive, three accidents, none involving us thank goodness, our capable driver Lucian kept us safe. Once beyond city limits, beautiful rolling grain fields and small French villages off in the distance. We did get pictures! We made our lunch stop in Reims to visit another Notre Dame cathedral. This one was the site of French king coronation for over 800 years. We were able to witness restortation in progress. After a quick lunch at a boulanger with sandwiches to go (Hannah even ordered in French! Panini Poulet!) Back on the bus for the continuation of the journey to Luxembourg.

We traveled through the Champaign region of France then onto Belgium and much steeper hills and forest. We traversed small roads for about an hour before arriving in Luxembourg. Along the way we saw Belgian Blue cattle along with many Holsteins, Ayrshires, Limousins, Charlois, and Holstein/Belgian Blue crosses. Bruce informed us that most if not all Belgian Blues have C-section births since they have weak hearts. We arrived in Ettelbruck to celebrate the 125th year anniversary of the founding of the Agricultural College. The Grand Duc made an appearance (he is the President/King of Luxembourg). The reception was held in the instructional greenhouse where we could enjoy viewing the final exams of the students in the floral and horticulture programs. Our Luxembourg coordinator, JP, took us on a tour of the campus including the ag shop and machinery repair, the classroom, and a lecture hall.

The reception was a perfect opportunity for the host families to meet up with the individual students. Anxious nervous faces on both parts were quickly overcome by smiles and warm greetings and common language(English) as well as photographs. All the adults boarded a very empty coach and headed to Luxembourg City for a group dinner to visit amongst ourselves.

We also learned today that the Connecticut FFA coach, was coached in college at UConn by our very own Jeff Semler :-)

We will explore Luxembourg City and meet up with the kids at a small judging contest and BBQ tomorrow evening. We'll keep you posted

Kiera and Gail

Walking around Paris

2008-06-26T12:17:00.000-07:00

Last night we had our first dinner in Paris. We first started our adventure in the supermarket next door to match food with names. After 20 minutes of confusion and getting in the way we decided to find food there instead of going to a restaurant. We took our salads, sandwiches, and cocoa puffs up to the roof of our hotel. We could see the Eiffel Tower, Sacre Coeur, and the Arc de Triomphe. While we ate we saw the sun set and the Eiffel Tower light up.

Today started off with breakfast in the hotel as usual. We then loaded the coach and met our orange-haired tour guide for the 3 hour tour of Paris. We saw many sights as we went along including the Louvre and a monument for the Bastille. After making our way around the Arc de Triomphe, with crazy traffic we were able to get out at the Eiffel Tower to get some pictures. The sketchy guys tried to sell us souvenirs and some our friends from Michigan even bargained with them to get Eiffel Tower figurines for 1 euro. After the Eiffel Tower we saw Notre Dame and saw the tunnel that Princess Diana had her crash and where she spent her last night.

After the tour we got off the bus at the Louvre to explore by ourselves. We ended up walking at least 5 miles around Paris. On our exhausting trip we saw many vendors by the river that had paintings and other artwork. Laurel bought a painting of the Eiffel Tower that she is very excited about. During our walk we stopped at Jardin Du Luxembourg for much needed rest and a water break. We saw the original statue of liberty inside of the park. After the park we walked a long way back to our hotel and saw many shops.

Dinner tonight was right across the street at a small French restaurant wear the waitress was dressed like she belonged on the next street over (Moulin Rouge). The food was very good and fulfilling. We are now at the hotel and are very tired. Tomorrow we travel to Luxembourg to meet our host families. We are all feeling a wee bit nervous about staying with them but hopefully it will turn out alright. We'll keep you updated as much as we can.

Love,
Derek Lease/Amy and THE TEAM

The Scotland Photos!

2008-06-25T23:23:00.000-07:00

OK, a little time at breakfast this morning, we have now posted all the Scotland photos: http://www.flickr.com/photos/marylanddairy2008/
Enjoy! The England photos will be up tomorrow hopefully!
Kiera

London on foot....

2008-06-25T14:14:00.001-07:00

Well, yesterday was quite busy. The day started at 8 when we ate breakfast at the hotel. We loaded the buses and headed to Buckingham Palace at 9:30. After being dropped off at the Palace at around 10, we quickly secured a place at the entrance gate to the palace for the changing of the guard. The area around the Palace quickly became crowded before the ceremony began at 11:30. We saw the band enter the gates and carriages and horses with guards go by. The ceremony was very long and a bit confusing. Also, the people around the gate were pushy and kept smashing us against the Buckingham Palace gate. Although, we are very glad to see part of the ceremony, we left after an hour and a half. We then went to Picadilly Circus where we ate lunch at a small cafe. Then the real walking began. After lunch, we quickly walked to Big Ben and the Houses of Parliment. On our way, we saw the house of the guards, where we took a photo with a horse guard. We then walked to Westminster Abbey and Saint Margaret's Church. We did not go in the Abbey, but we took photos of the outside, and went to the gift shops. We then rode the double decker bus to Harrod's department store. The bus was really fun, and of course we set on the upper level. In Harrods we were able to view dresses from designers like Versache and Gucci. The girls loved the experience, but needless to say, this was not Derek's favorite part of the trip. We then rode the Tube (which is like their subway), to the area where the theater was located called Covent Garden. We ate dinner at a small cafe, and went to the small local shops. After dinner, we headed to the theater where The Lion King started at 7:30. The show was amazing. This was my personal favorite part of the trip. The costumes were bright and beautiful, the actors were graceful and talented, and the set design was intricate and detailed. The show ended around 10:30, when we took the Tube back to our hotel and called it a night, after miles of walking during the day. Today, we were able to sleep in until 8. We ate breakfast and then headed across the street from our hotel to Hyde Park. We saw Kensington Palace, where Diana Princes of Wales lived. We strolled through the park, and took a rest on the park benches, before catching the buses to head to the Eurostar terminal at 12:30. The Eurostar is a fast train that took us from London to Paris. We are currently in Paris, and our hotel has a great view. From the top floor, we can see the Eiffel Tour. We went to the grocery store for dinner, to try and learn some of the foods, since everything is in French. This was quite an experience. The store was crowded and we didn't understand any of the labels. We settled on cocoa puffs, milk, dessert, salads, and chips and dip. We will be up early tomorrow to start a tour of Paris.

Hannah and THE TEAM

A couple of long days

2008-06-23T14:14:00.000-07:00

well I tried to post this earlier on the hotel computer but it didn't work so I'll try to re-create as best as I can. We started yesterday at the Scottish woolen mill which was really interesting. Laurel and I tried on authentic Scottish kilts and we looked pretty darn cute. It was a perfect day to ride on the bus because the weather was horrible. But as we crossed into England, the weather turned for the better. We arrived at a dairy farm just outside of Coventry for a farm tour. It was really fun learning about the similarities and differences in dairy farming. We were especially interested in the fact that they use potatoes in their TMR (total mixed ration for Dad =)) for energy. We then headed to a pub just down the road for dinner and played soccer with Archie and Susanna--two children related to the farmer. This morning we headed to Warwick Castle for a beautiful day! We toured the dungeon, the main house and the grounds. The 530 steps to the top of the main tower was our work-out for the trip. Derek almost punched a ghost woman in the 'ghosts of Warwick castle' show. We stopped at a service station for lunch and had KFC. We were super excited because it was our first American meal and we were really craving it. As we made our way into London, we could hardly control our excitement. We went on a fast bus tour to familiarize ourselves a wee bit with London. After checking in and settling into the hotel, we went had another American meal at a nice pizza place. Again, we were very excited with the meal choice. We walked around a sketchy shopping district and decided not to stay very long. A free day in London is the plan for us tomorrow and we can't wait! We've been having a blast and learning many new things in our travels but we miss all of you at home. We will try to keep you updated as much as possible. Missing and loving you all lots.
Love,
Amy and THE TEAM

Confusing.

2008-06-21T13:21:00.000-07:00

Our wake up calls came at 5:15 this morning. What a great way to start the day. We quickly traveled to the fairgrounds. After meeting at the Young Farmers pavilion, we were given our lab coats, stains and all, and got ready to start judging. As Derek mentioned yesterday, the contest was a bit different than we were used to. I would use the words "organized chaos" to describe it. The cows looked a lot like the ones we are used to, but judging was different. First of all, we stood in the middle of the ring to judge. This made some of us really dizzy and Hannah almost got run over by the cows. And then, of course, we only had five minutes. We surprised ourselves with the amount of notes we were able to take. Judging the four classes took about a half hour, but then the organized chaos really kicked in. We were told to walk to the other side of the fairgrounds to give reasons. We made our way there and waited with the other Americans for instructions. The Scots, however, were busy scribbling away on their notepads. Confused, Hannah started to ask all Scottish people what we were doing. We were told to "write them out as fast as you can" and to memorize both sets. They also said that we could use our notes to give reasons and not lose points. About two and a half hours later, we were finally done giving reasons and could go get lunch.

Everyone will happy to know that Hannah tried a new food at lunch today. When she brought her chicken curry to the table, we were all very surprised. Derek had a hot dog, which he waited in the queue (line) for twenty minutes. Sadly, he was disappointed with his "super-sized" choice. We had the afternoon to explore the fairgrounds. At first we watched the Parade of Champions. After watching what we thought was a lot of horses walk through the ring, the cattle began to circle. Once they were all in the ring, there were at least 200 dairy and beef cows. It was definitely a sight to see. We then began to walk around the shops and displays. Our favorite was the European Commission of Agriculture and Rural Development. There was a crazy man with glasses at this booth and he really liked Derek's tie. He called us out as Americans right away and then proceeded to quiz us on our knowledge of European geography. As a team, we did very well. As individuals, we did not. Derek had no idea where Portugal was, but the rest of us (and some of the Europeans) directed him on the map. Amy definitely knows her countries because she had to help us all out. Then the crazy man asked the other spectators if they had heard of Baltimore (they hadn't) and if they liked Americans (they didn't).

For dinner, we had a traditional Scottish meal at the fairgrounds with the awards ceremony. After tonight, we will not eat any more fish and chips. That is all they eat here. When they announced the winners, we were happy to find out that we hand swept the 4-H contest!! We then walked in the rain to the buses and came back to our hotel.

You will be happy to know that Derek has taken 7 pictures so far. But the rest of us have taken plenty for him. And we will send you a CD of the pictures when we get home. Logan, I hope this is enough detail for you.

LOVE,
Laurel and THE TEAM

Tour and Fairgrounds

2008-06-20T12:48:00.000-07:00

Hello everyone
Today we took a bus tour of the city Edinburgh. We saw a huge castle that the royal family stays in when they're in town. Our tour guide was given by a scottish man that was dressed in a kilt. We then traveled to the Royal Highland fairgrounds which was like a huge mall with all the different tents. Later a very soft-spoken man took us down to the barns to see the dairy cows. None of us could really hear him but I did learn that they use a lot of Semex bulls. Such as, September Storm, Talent, and Gibson. I also saw a mostly black Shottle fall calf (which I had never seen before). Then we were told about tomorrows contest. To our surprise we learned that there are only 5 minutes to place and take reasons on the classes as opposed to our 12-20 minutes back home. There are 4 classes 2 of them being reasons. The cows are also numbered differently, A B X Y. Another change is that everyone judges together; College, 4H, and FFA. The top 6 individuals from each species (Dairy, Beef, and Sheep) go on to the finals where you have to judge all species and give reasons and demonstrations on the animals. We have been told that the contest is very chaotic so we really don't know what we are getting into. We learned a lot at the fair like the things under goats neck are call toggles or tassles and that their pizza is different from ours. Laurel also kicked a dog at the fair. We left the fairgrounds for our hotel and a night on our own. We walked through the rain to find somewhere to eat and finally settled on a place that I cant remember the name of. The waiter could not understand Laurel at all for some reason. We have to wake up at 5 tomorrow so I need to go to sleep.

Goodbye

Derek Lease

First Day in Europe

2008-06-19T12:30:00.000-07:00

After arriving in Europe, we were all excited to get off the plane, gather our bags and stretch our legs. We went through customs, where we got our passports stamped. Then, after a short break we headed to the coach that carries the Dairy Judging teams and headed to a rural agricultural museum. We had sandwiches at this stop and then hiked a small trail to an older house and barn. On our hike we were able to see sheep, draft horses, Holstein, Ayrshire, and Scottish Highland cattle grazing on the lush green grass. The house and gardens were beautiful, and it was interesting to see the person who lived in the house before it became a museum showed Ayrshire cattle and had won several awards which were on display.

We were not able to spend a lot of time at the museum before we had to get back on the coach and we headed to the Scottish Agricultural College where we talked with the farm manager about the practices dairy farmers use in the UK. The most interesting differences between the dairy at the college and farms in Maryland are the way the public perceive dairy farmers. In Scotland, animal welfare is extremely important to the public. It is actually illegal now to house calves in hutches, because the public does not want to see young calves by themselves. In addition, no BST is allowed, and they do not eat veal. Also, the public like to see the cows outside grazing on the pastures instead of indoors. However, at the college they do use American bulls such as Shottle and breed their cows AI. The breeding goals are slightly different though, as in Scotland, they want there cows to last 8 to 10 lactations. Again this is because the public would be upset if the cows only lived through 3 or 4 lactations. Also, in Scotland freestalls are called cubicles and a freestall barn is called a cubicle shed. The trip to the Scottish Agricultural College was very interesting and a great learning experience.

After the college, we took the coach to our hotel in Glasgow. Along the trip we were able to see sheep and cattle grazing on the lush grass and rolling hills. Our hotel is very nice and we had a delicious dinner of salad, chicken, potatoes, salmon, veggies, and desert. Tomorrow we will be up early to start on our next adventure. Thats all for now.

Hannah Smith for THE TEAM :)

Addition! Day 1 pics are up http://www.flickr.com/photos/marylanddairy2008/

We're here!

2008-06-19T02:52:00.000-07:00

Hello all! We have arrived in Scotland after being delayed on the runway in Newark for almost 3 hours. The flight was fine--just a little turbulance. going to catch the bus! more later
love,
amy and THE TEAM

Ketchup Bottles

2008-06-18T15:42:00.000-07:00

Hey y'all. We're sitting in the airport right now about to board the plane. We just had a very tasty dinner at a steakhouse in the airport and Hannah was very impressed by the small ketchup bottles that we were given. We kept some of the extras as souvenirs. If you saw them you would be impressed too. Derek is so excited he can barely contain himself.

We recognize some of the other kids that are at the gate from Holstein activities and from judging. And we can't wait to get to know them all.

Love to all,
Laurel for THE TEAM

Travel day is here!

2008-06-18T05:48:00.001-07:00

When we started this process back in October, it seemed like June would never arrive! But what do you know, here it is and we are taking care of last minute details before heading to the airport. Do I have a power converter? Passport? Camera? The list seems to grow as departure time gets closer! We are headed to the airport in two separate groups, both leaving Maryland at 1:00 to drive to Newark.

Can you believe that tomorrow morning (about 2:30am on the East Coast) we will be landing in Glasgow? Check the blog for updates since we won't be able to call home right away. Off to make sure my bag is under the 50 pound limit (2 weeks, fifty pounds, that hardly seems fair).

Maybe an update from the airport tonight...
~Kiera

We will have pics!

2008-06-12T11:54:00.000-07:00

Make sure to keep an eye on our photos throughout the trip also!
http://www.flickr.com/photos/marylanddairy2008/

The countdown is on!

2008-06-12T11:42:00.000-07:00

Only six days remain before we catch a plane from Newark NJ to Glasgow Scotland! There is a lot to do before we depart:
Pack, check paperwork, pack, write letters to our host families, and did I mention we need to pack?

We have a terrific opportunity to travel for two weeks through five countries (Scotland, England, France, Luxembourg, and Germany) and see what should prove to be some incredible sights! We are even scheduled to see The Lion King in London and stay on host farms in Luxembourg!

More to come!
~Kiera