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Friendship Force of Baton Rouge 
Outgoing International Exchange to Canada:
Niagara, Ottawa, and Sherbrooke
September 23 through October 10, 2015

FFBR visited three clubs in Canada in 2015 for 17 days – Niagara and Ottawa, Ontario, and Sherbrooke, Quebec - with Lynn Robbins as the Exchange Director.  The exchange was a reciprocal visit for all three clubs. It was somewhat global in nature because the ambassadors included those from Baton Rouge, Texas, California, New Jersey, Germany and Taiwan, and two E-members.  Chartered shuttles were used to transport ambassadors from site to site.

The exchange began with a meet-up of ambassadors from the U.S. in Buffalo, NY, for a dinner together before taking a chartered shuttle to meet the Niagara club the next morning, 9/23.

The highlights in Niagara included:  a welcome party at a community club house on Lake Ontario; Niagara on the Lake Day with a visit to the Shaw Theater to see Sweet Charity, a back stage tour and picnic; Niagara Falls Day with visits to the Skylon Tower, the IMAX Theater and a cruise on the Hornblower to Niagara Falls; Welland Canal, which connects Lake Ontario and Lake Erie; Small Talk Winery tour through the vineyards featuring grape and wine tasting; Jordan School House, a Mennonite village; Niagara Belle river cruise; small dinner parties in members’ homes, and a farewell party with an Italian dinner and entertainment.  

The highlights of the 3-night stop-over in Ottawa included:  a guided tour of the Canadian Parliament, a guided tour of the Museum of History, small dinner parties, and a farewell party at a community club house. 
 
The highlights of Sherbrooke included:  a welcome party featuring many local foods, a visit to Mount Orford to view the fall foliage with a picnic then food tastings at local food and wine venues, a Sugar Bush dinner at a maple syrup factory and restaurant with all food prepared with maple syrup, a visit to the Sherbrooke town hall with a guided walk in downtown, an English tea at the Upland Museum, a spaghetti dinner with entertainment, a visit to the two universities in Sherbrooke, a guided tour of a black currant farm with lunch, a guided tour of Capelton Mine (an old copper mine), a visit to the Granite Museum and miniature train museum in Stanstead on the border of Quebec and Vermont, a guided tour of a winery (Cep d’Argent) including a tasting, delicious lunch and grape picking, small dinner parties in members’ homes, a walk through Forest Lumina (a lighted path with animation), small dinner parties, and a farewell party at an international restaurant with entertainment and dancing.  

The exchange ended on 10/10 with drop-offs at the Montreal airport and downtown Montreal for extensions or returns home.  

In summary, it was wonderful to see FF members who had visited with us before.  It was rewarding to have ambassadors from so many other clubs on the exchange, which further added to spreading friendships across borders.  We learned that E-members could be an interesting addition to an exchange.  

Niagara, Canada

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Ottawa, Canada

Sherbrooke, Canada

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Friendship Force of Baton Rouge had  a Domestic Outgoing Exchange to
Charlotte, North Carolina for 2015
Trudy Ivy was the Exchange Director and the date of this Exchange were April 8 - April 15. 

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Charlotte, NC Friendship Force Club hosted 7 ambassadors from Baton Rouge, LA for a one week domestic exchange.  Two ambassadors from St. Louis, Missouri joined us for this exchange which began April 8, 2015, (the Wednesday after Easter) and ended the morning of Wednesday, April 15, 2015.
We began with a walking tour of uptown Charlotte to view art and architecture.  We saw frescoes, mosaics, statures, modern and old architecture.  We learned that Charlotte is the second largest banking center in the country with Bank of America and Wells Fargo.  One of the FF members did an excellent job conducting this tour.
The visit at the Levine Museum of the New South showed some of the history of Charlotte and the Piedmont area.
At Charlotte's Aviation Museum we saw ¨the Miracle on the Hudson¨ aircraft.  The guide here did a fantastic job of explaining the entire story -- there were photos, displays, audio recordings, videos, artifacts, and the actual plane with all of the scratches and dents.
The "Feel the Thrill" NASCAR Speedway Tour took us over 80 mph on the various tracks at this huge facility and we even made it into winners circle.
While visiting the Reed Gold Mine we learned that gold was discovered in North Carolina before the California Gold Rush.  The temperature was much lower in the mine.  Keith and Trudy were lucky enough to find gold when we did a little panning.
At the Alphabet Museum at JAARS (Jungle Aviation and Radio Service) we learned about many different alphabets and the history of these.
Rocky River Vineyards provided a beautiful view of the countryside and a moment to relax.
A visit to the community recycle center was both educational and interesting.  
The Olympic white water center was a huge man-made facility that allows visitors to kayak, raft, zip line, or rock climb. 
The Charlotte club fed us very well from a lasagna welcome party to the barbecue and cover dish farewell party where we heard blue-grass music.  We were surprised to be treated to 3 small dinner parties!  The view of the track at the Charlotte Speedway Club House was very impressive.  
Dorthe Tremble, Exchange Director, did a great job of organizing the exchange and keeping everyone on schedule.  She was a very gracious host.
I thought it was very interesting when the ambassadors were asked which was there favorite activity and there were several different answers:  the track, the airplane museum, the gold mine, and the JAARS facility.
Despite a lost earring (which was found) and one group going to the wrong house on the wrong night for a dinner party, everything turned out great!
We gave Elmer's Easter candy for treats and did the Mardi Gras second line at the farewell party. 
Janet Varnado prepared the financial report which returned $10 to the Baton Rouge Club.