Home Hospitality

• Your Home Hospitality experience is provided by the Friendship Force Clubs of Noord and Rheinhessen.

Availability

• 6 spaces left
  

ADDITIONAL INFORMATION

• Ambassador Application

HIGHLIGHTS

• Tour Keukenhof Park, the world’s largest garden, at the peak time to view tulips in bloom
• Hike in the Palatinate Forest – part of UNESCO’s World Biosphere Reserve
• Travel the Rhine River by boat
• Discover the history of Dutch windmills and modern pumping stations
• Optional add-on cruise on the Baltic Sea from Copenhagen to St. Petersburg
  

Description: In this exchange, we will tour the city of Amsterdam and visit Friendship Force hosts in the countryside of the Netherlands. We will also stay with Friendship Force hosts in Alzey, Germany – just south of Frankfurt. We will experience this land as our local hosts do - by boat, canal, train and on foot!

We will tour the canals of Amsterdam, learn about the Dutch’s struggle with the sea, and tour the Rhine River by boat. We’ll also travel to the Palatinate Forest– a region of Germany known for vineyards, hiking, and that is a part of the UNESCO Biosphere Reserve.

We have the particular pleasure of enjoying our time in the Netherlands hosted by FF Noord and in Germany with FF Rheinhessen. They will truly cap off our journey – unless you decide to continue this trip with a Baltic Cruise from Copenhagen to St. Petersburg!

OPTIONAL ADD-ON:
Next on our agenda is a cruise on the Baltic Sea leaving from Copenhagen sailing into St. Petersburg for two days. Our cruise ship is the Norwegian Sun leaving port on May 13th for nine days visiting Berlin (Warnemuende); Tallin, Estonia; Helsinki, Finland and Stockholm, Sweden before returning to Copenhagen. We will have a short day in Copenhagen after arriving from Frankfurt, so bring your walking shoes as it is a fascinating city to explore on foot. Please note that the cruise is optional and is not part of the Friendship Force exchange.

Home Hospitality

• Provided by the Friendship Force Club of Schwerin.

Availability

• this exchange now has a waitlist, please contact the ED for more details.
  

ADDITIONAL INFORMATION

• Ambassador Application

HIGHLIGHTS

• Spend three days biking the highlights of the Schwerin area, every day exploring something new!
  
• Start this perfect week with our welcome party during a boat cruise around a fairytale-like castle.
  
• Always wanted to play golf in Germany, maneuver a canoe or hike a historic teaching path? This is your chance!
  

Description: You are invited to join us in Schwerin, Germany, on a very active exchange for ambassadors who love nature and culture. We are inviting friends from all over the world to explore Schwerin and its vicinity by bicycle!

Schwerin, the capital of Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania, lies in the wonderful scenery in the north of Germany between Hamburg and Berlin, close to the Baltic Sea. You can fly to Schwerin via Hamburg and take the train for the last part, where your Schwerin host will pick you up and take you to your new home for the week!

After a reception by the mayor, we will explore the old town of Schwerin with a guided city tour. Then we will visit the beautiful fairytale-like castle located in the middle of an island in lake Schwerin. A boat ride on the lake will end the day and be the highlight of our welcome party!

From Thursday to Saturday we will go on three bike tours where we will travel on designated bike paths or quiet streets through beautiful, mostly even landscape. In addition to the gorgeous and varying nature, we will also see cultural and historical sights. The distance will be a maximum of 40km/25 miles. (For biking "pros" longer trips can be arranged.) We are biking with a moderate speed on regular, non-motorized bikes to make sure everybody has the same speed and level of exercise. We will stop for lunch in beautiful and attractive spots.

Tour 1: Biking the inner lake of Schwerin.
The Schwerin Lake is one of the largest lakes in Germany with lovely promenades. A part of the trail will go through a national park. A cultural and historical highlight will be a visit to a farm museum.

Tour 2: Through the Lewitz
The Lewitz is an even area full of forests and meadows south of Schwerin. In the past it was a popular place for the dukes of Schwerin to go hunting.

The final destination of this trip will therefore be a historic hunting lodge. The channeled waterways leading to Schwerin Lake combined with a beautiful windmill will make you feel as if you were in the Netherlands.

Tour 3: To the hill fort of the Oborites to Gross Raden Museum
Today's bike ride will take us through a hilly area to one of the most beautiful parts of the nature park Sternberger Seenlandschaft. Our destination will be an open-air-museum with a hill fort and restored buildings, which will take us back 1,000 years in time. The scenic highlight of this day will be the gorgeous valley of the Warnow.

On Sunday you will have time to relax with your Schwerin hosts.

On Monday we will offer you three alternatives to choose from:
Option one is playing golf on the Winston Green in Vorbeck, voted Germany's best new golf course. Option two is a canoe trip on the Warnow River, and option three is a hike on a historic teaching path. After spending the day apart we want to conclude this day with a big farewell party! We will barbecue and light a bonfire in the middle of the national park on the river bank of the Warnow.

Home Hospitality

• Your Home Hospitality experience is provided by the Friendship Force Clubs of Tbilisi.

Availability

• 30 spaces available
  

ADDITIONAL INFORMATION

• Ambassador Application
• Itinerary

HIGHLIGHTS

• Attend Art Gene Festival celebrating the arts, folklore, culture and wine of Georgia
• Participate in grape collecting and wine pressing rituals
• Discover traditions of Georgian wine making including the use of Qvevri – a clay vessel lined in beeswax and buried in the earth
• Acquaint yourself with Georgian lifestyle, religion and architecture
• Optional 4 day home stay with FF Tbilisi after festival
  

Description: Wine is a symbol of Georgian hospitality, friendship and tolerance. Over thousands of years, the people of Georgia have developed a distinct tradition of winemaking and Friendship Force of Tbilisi would like to share that with you.

We will begin our tour of Georgian culture and wine in Tbilisi. Enjoy folk dancing, singing, martial arts performances, handicrafts, Georgian cuisine and Georgian wine at the Art Gene Festival, which focuses on a new aspect of Georgian culture and art every year. Before exploring more of this country, we will visit a number of churches dating back as early as the fourth century.

The second part of our journey will be to the Kakheti region where we will visit Tsinandlai Museum, home of the oldest winery in Georgia. We will get to know a Georgian family and learn about their traditions of wine making.

Next we will visit Sighnaghi and tour the town of Signagi, a royal town surrounded by defensive walls with 23 towers to protect the area from invaders. Next, we will tour Pheasant Tears Vineyards. Pheasant Tears takes its name from a Georgian tale in which the hero claims that only a wine beyond measure could make a pheasant cry. See for yourself how their adherence to traditional wine making, including a method of fermentation through bottling made in qvevri, clay vessels lined in beeswax and buried in the earth, creates a flavor unique to Georgian wines.

After our exploration of these regions of Georgia, we will return to Tbilisi for an optional four night home stay with the Friendship Force of Tbilisi to further your enjoyment of the rich history of Georgia.