A group of Whitney Institute pupils have just finished the trip of their lives to Switzerland.

And the students, all aged 12 to 13, came back excited about the time they spent in the land of cuckoo clocks, chocolate and mountains.

"It was a good experience for us,'' said 12-year-old Jason Darrell, "We never dreamed of going there as a class.'' Lombard Odier, a private Swiss banking firm with offices in Bermuda, sponsored the trip as part of its 200th anniversary celebrations. The Whitney M2 students beat about 11 other teams to win the nine day all-expenses paid trip after showing their overall impressions of Switzerland through an essay, paper mache, and water colour pictures.

The 25 students were accompanied by Lombard Odier mutual funds administrator Florance Martin and three teachers, M2 team leader Joy Tyrrell, social studies teacher David Prtheroe, and art teacher Whayne DeSilva.

Geneva, world headquarters of the Lombard Odier group of companies, was the first stop on the itinerary. However, their experience was not limited to the city. The students had a chance to visit sites of interest throughout Switzerland and across the border in France.

Jason said his favourite part of the trip was a visit to the Olympic Museum in Lausanne.

He explained: "I got to go on this computer thing which had different years of the Olympics, and showed all the different events that happened for each year.'' Classmate Deidra-Lee Bean said she enjoyed the visit to the Nestle Chocolate factory in Broc.

"I learned a lot at the chocolate factory,'' the 12-year-old said.

"They showed a video on how chocolate was made and let us taste the chocolate,'' she added. "It was much richer than chocolate in Bermuda and really fresh.'' The capital city of Berne and the city of Lucerne were visited along with the Gruyere cheese factory, the hot springs in Yverdon, and a watch factory where an $800,000 dollar watch is being made for Hollywood star Arnold Schwarzenegger.

Also visited were the towns of Gstaad, Zweissimen, Interlaken and Grindewald.

"There was a lot of open space and a lot of mountains with snow on their peaks,'' 12-year-old Tiffany Douglas said, "The lakes were especially beautiful.'' Across the border in France the class had the chance of taking a cable car up snow peaked Mount Blanc where they were able to touch the snow.

They also took a boat ride across lake Geneva to visit the small French town of Yvoire.

At the school `Ecole International' the class had the opportunity to meet some other young people.

"At that school they speak both English and French,'' 12-year-old Mendela Fubler said. "I got the address of one of the kids who I'm going to write to.'' Most of all, the children expressed their surprise over the difference between the real Switzerland and the Switzerland they had imagined. "I thought it was just mountains and fields, but there was a mixture of city and countryside,'' Tiffany said, "It was even more high tech than Bermuda.'' "I didn't expect that much green trees,'' Deidra-Lee said. "I expected it to be cold all the time but it got warm sometimes.'' "It was not as I expected it to be, it was just beautiful,'' Mendela said.

"I expected an old town maybe like St. George's but it was sort of modern.'' SAY SWISS CHEESE -- Pictured with Whitney students are M2 team leader Joy Tyrrell and social studies teacher David Protheroe.