Ok wow. I have three weeks left of my exchange. And I may or
may not be super far behind on writing this blog. Oops.
Let’s see:
April: I switched host families, and went to Rome and Venice
(and took 500 pictures). My new host family is great. I feel like I haven’t
been around them much because I keep going on trips and things, but they are
still awesome. I have three host sisters; the oldest went to Australia two
years ago on exchange, so she speaks to me in English, then the middle speaks
Swiss German or High German, and the youngest pretty much only High German. It
makes my brain keep thinking! Haha The trip to Rome and Venice was with all the
Rotary Exchange students (well 54 of them). It was SO much fun. We had 3 days
in Rome and 2 in Venice, and we walked A
LOT. It was also 4 to a room, and when you have four teenagers in a room
together, not much sleeping happens. I guess it was good we walked so much, so
we went to bed a little earlier at least. Haha Like I said earlier, I took 500
photos just on that trip, so I’ll try to pick out the best ones to post on
here. :]
May: First I sang in a choir concert, on May 1, 3, 4, and 5. Most
of the songs were in other languages, including Swiss German, English, French,
Italian, and Portuguese. I only sang one song in Swiss German, but we did sing
three in English. My favorite one we sang was Bohemian Rhapsody, except they
can’t pronounce the “th” sound so we would sing “sympaTy” instead of the right
way. Haha My second favorite was the French one we sung called Tourdion. Each
section (bass, tenor, alto, soprano) sings different verses, and they sound so
pretty together. It’s also a drinking song haha. I also went to my friends
Opera concert on May 8. Next I went with my current host family to France from
May 9 to the 11. We were visiting a friend of my host mom who lives near Annecy.
We also went to this really cool (scary) gorge called Les Gorges du Fier. There
was a walkway built into the side of the gorge. And the water rushed below us.
Got back, had school for a week, and then went to France
again! :] This time to Alsace from the 17th to the 20th
with my first host family, but because it was a family trip, my second family
was there too. (Host dads are brothers) I’ve gotten to know that big family
really well with me living with both of them. :] We had a lot of fun, eating a
lot, going to the nearby city of Colmar, going walking (three hours in the rain
to a different village to have lunch, and then back), and seeing the Stork
Park. I really felt like I was another
family member, I loved it.
Next I had school for a week; well three das really, because on
Friday (5/24) my class went on a field trip. We went for geography class,
learning about agglomerations, and the villages around Bern. We also hiked
through the forest, saw a waterfall, and hiked by the river. :] It was a bit
cold, and a very gray day, but it was still a lot of fun.
Then my parents and aunt and uncle arrived!!! I was so happy
to see them again after 10 months! They arrived on the 26th, and we
toured around Switzerland for a week. We saw Jungfraujoch, my home city of
Biel, the Gruyere cheese factory and village/ castle and the Cailler chocolate
factory, Schaffhausen and Rhine Fall, Avences to see some Roman ruins, Bern (my
favorite city), and a bit of Geneva before we caught the train to France. My favorite
evening was when my parents and aunt and uncle got to meet all three of my host
families. We all had dinner together on Friday evening. I have pictures of all
of my mothers, and all of my fathers together; I think they are my new favorite
pictures ever.
Then it was June! My parents, aunt and uncle, and I caught
the TGV train to Paris on the 2nd. Paris is just as amazing as
everyone raves it is! We had dinner with friends of my parents, and the parents
of the Frenchie who stayed at our house for a month two summers ago. It was
great to see him again. :] I saw the
Eiffel Tower up close at least 4 times, and went up it once, went up the Arc de
Triomphe, walked down the Champs Elysees, went on the Bateux Mouches (a super
fancy, dinner boat tour), saw Notre Dame, Sainte-Chapelle, and Sacre Couer
Cathedrals, and, of course, the Louvre, and finally a Moulin Rouge show! It was
definitely an awesome week! Then I hoped on a train to come back to Switzerland
on the 7th, while my parents and aunt and uncle stayed in Paris to
catch planes home the next day. It felt kind of weird leaving them, the whole
time I was with them, I felt like I was going to be going home with them. I’m
still in Switzerland for three weeks though! And I’m definitely going to be
enjoying them!
This week, I gave my last presentation to Rotary on Tuesday.
I compared the US and Switzerland (with WAAAAY better German this time, haha), and
then I tried to tell them about my exchange. I saw tried, because I got about three
sentences out before I just started bawling. I think they thought it was because
I was nervous or something first, so they had me sit down, and the kid who’s going
to Brazil next year gave a quick speech about who he was and why he wanted to
go on exchange. Then I stood up and tried again, I made it to the last slide,
with a trembling voice and half sobs, but then I just glanced at the pictures
of me with my host family, and my host sisters and I just lost it again. I don’t
want to go home.
Don’ t get me wrong, I love my family and friends in the US
and all that. And I am excited to start college. But I have another home here too. And I’m going to miss it so bad
when I have to leave it all on the 5th.
So I started my crunch of trying to do as many things as
possible in the little time I have left. I’ve been doing awesome so far! I had
dinner with my class at a teachers house on Tuesday night; went to an Opera
Wednesday night, and it was actually funny and interesting, because I could
actually read the translation into German (it was originally in Italian); then
I went with my class on Thursday to Europapark, a big theme park in Germany;
then Friday I actually had school (which I didn’t know until Tuesday evening
haha). Yesterday my Rotary district (about 20 exchange students) had our last
debriefing meeting. Although honestly, it was not very well planned out. We
took pictures and all that, which was fun, and then they said wait 15 or 20
minutes and we’ll call you in to walk around with your flags. We waited and
hour and a half! And then we walked two circles around a room, while people
clapped. Then someone spoke in French, even though half of us only speak
German, and have no idea what was being said. And the “lunch” was basically
little tiny appetizers, you had to eat so many to get a real meal. Haha Then
finally we met with a Rotarian who spoke German, and we talked about how our
exchange went. For about 20 minutes. The best part about it was that I got my
exchange friends to sign my Swiss flag (all exchange students get a flag
from their host country signed, yes even
the ones in America).
Well that was my last three months! I’ll try to get some photos
up, but I’ll try and pick the best ones too, so there aren’t like 500. ;] I
probably won’t write again within the next three weeks, but I’ll try and write
an update when I’m finally back in the states.
Tschüss!
-Anne-Marie
