YOLO

Grüsse!
    So how many people are either laughing or shaking their head at the title right now? Anyone in my generation would be. :] (For others it means: You only live once). And it's especially true for my exchange! I'm only going to live this year once so I'm doing as much as possible. Whenever someone asks me if I want to do something, most of the time I say yes.
    Anyway, So Saturday, my host sister and I went riding (in the drizzle, it was fun, I'm pretty sure people thought we were crazy though, my host parents thought so). It was at the Western place again, and we full on galloped on a really long straight away. Those horses have so much power it's amazing and SO much fun :]  It was laundry and chore day too, so I cleaned "my level" of the house (I live in the basement). One load of laundry takes 2 hours here. That's just the washing machine. And you hang everything to dry. Needless to say, it takes pretty much all day. My friend invited me to a movie with her (Expendables 2 in german haha), and during the break she explained to me anything that I missed (Not that there was much plot line). And yes there's a break. Halfway through the movie it just stops and the lights come back on so people can get more food or use the restroom. I was pretty confused at what was happening at first haha. I stayed overnight at her house afterwards. On Sunday my host parents took me to a tower in the forest (hiked to it) where you could see the whole surrounding villages (Seeland) for miles (Kilometer, still not used to metric). For dinner we had Raclette. Which is melted cheese. With bacon. That you put on potatoes, veggies, and other meats. It is so good. Honestly one of my favorite things here so far (and sooo fattening haha).
    Monday I had Deutschkurs. Normal. I skyped my parents :] It was good to see them again. Tuesday I had my Deutschkurs, my friend (by the way only right now) invited me to her house so I was there for most of the evening. Her dad is rotary (not my club) so it was cool to meet him. Wednesday had Deutschkurs, then I went to my friend's school (she goes to the one "on the hill", I'm going to the one "on the lake") just to see what a Swiss school was like. I sat through one lesson of history (Vietnam War) and two of geography (Islamic cities and a video about Paris). I did okay understanding wise in the history class but I was so lost in the geography class... Probably because it was a completely new subject with complicated words so I had no idea what was going on.. :] Went to Body Pump that evening, which is "forced endurance training" to music. I have a punch card good for 12 classes now (150 CHF). The teacher of the class is hilarious because she speaks some English so I can understand whats going on, and French for others, even though the class is advertised as in German. haha
    Thursday, the day of our dreaded final test in Deutschkurs! It covered pretty much everything we have learned and we got it back today. I didn't do to bad! :] haha Every noun here is masculine, feminine, or neutur, and there are no rules telling you what it will be; you just have to know. So it's really hard to remember all of them. After our test we were allowed to leave, and the other American exchange student and I finished at the same time, so we went to her house in Bremgarten (10 min out of Bern) and baked/ made desserts for the rotary weekend this Sat-Sun. We had a great time, it was probably the most I've laughed since I've been here :] Also Thursday, my friend, took me (with tickets from her father, who was there too) to see a acrobatic show called Cyclope (they pronounce it see-clop). It was a lot like cirque du soliel where the artists have this set that they do different tricks off of. One guy could do tricks on a pole, flips on a trampoline, and flips on/off a teeter-totter. It was soooo amazing.
    Today was also a fun day. Last day of Deutschkurs. All of the exchange students had to give a presentation about themselves, where they live, their country (basically the rotary presentation). It was interesting to see all the different places (though we had 3 Kanada's). We somehow (accidentally) met up with another group of exchange students (also from rotary) when we were done with our Kurs. It was nice to see them all, some again because we saw them at the Welcome meeting.  After that adventure I went to my school with my host mom to get my schedule and actually see the inside of the school. One of the teachers met with us and talked to us about my courses and stuff.. I have a different schedule everyday (like college).
Mondays I have Deutsch, Math, Biology.
Tuesday I have music, english (yesss), a class meeting like thing, a huge break and then Chemistry
Wednesday is super long, with Archeology (an elective), English, Gym (all girls), Chemistry, and history in English (literally the class name)
Thursday German, Physics (boo), Math, Chemistry, and "Practical Physics"
Friday Geography, history, Gym, and Biology
I have a feeling this will take some getting used to. My first day is Monday, but I just learned I will only have Math, because they have a test in German so there's no point in me being there because it's my first day and Bio class isn't happening either. This should be interesting!
Tomorrow I am off to Rigi for a two-day trip with the other exchange students. It's camping and hiking, and we are supposed to bring a dessert from our country to share (hence the baking chocolate chip cookies).
Anyway, Hope you had fun reading that super long thing ;]
Tschüss!
-Anne-Marie