Grüsse!
Every time I have taken a picture of it snowing here, it has melted the next day. Seriously. So this time I didn't take a picture of it snowing like crazy on and off for around a week and it has stuck around for awhile. :] Everyone says it's a crazy amount of snow, but to me it's a normal winter! haha
Since it's December, it is the season of Advent here, with holidays like St. Nicholas Day (observed by eating lots of chocolate, oranges, and peanuts), and many, many Christmas markets. There is one every weekend in different villages across Switzerland (and all Europe for that matter). I'm pretty sure I have been to at least one every week.
Two weekends ago (12/1-2) I went to two Christmas markets. The first was in Aarberg with my host sister, and the second was in the Altstadt (old city) in Biel. The Aarberg was all in one centralplatz, and Biel's was both in the centralplatz and along side streets. Both were really pretty, and I didn't even buy anything. Both days were also super cold!! But it wasn't until later that week that we got all the snow.
Last Thursday, I had an advent event with my host Rotary club. I really like my club, and I'm not just saying that because I'm trying to be a suck up. haha They are all super nice and easy to talk to (even in German). We went to a church to hear advent songs, and then we went to a Spanish restaurant called Schöngrün for dinner. The dinner lasted until past 11! I was really tired the next day. =P
Last Saturday (12/8), I made chicken wild rice soup for my host family and a friend. I think it turned out pretty good with European ingredients! My mom would be proud I think! haha My host mom wants the recipe now, so I call that a success. :] Then on Sunday (yesterday 12/9), we went Sledding! Only not the sledding you would think of where you go up and down a hill a million times. No we went up on really long curving hill (basically up a snow- covered road), playing in the snow on the way up, and then taking one really long sled down the hill. We had two sleds: my host parents, and my host sister and I. My host sister and I crashed into the snow banks multiple times. haha It was more than likely my fault too. haha That was a lot of fun though.
Today it snowed in the morning, and then got super sunny and warmer, but I hope because there's so much of it the snow won't melt, even if there is a lot of slush now. =P
Ich wünsche dir eine schönen Woche! :] Tschüss!
-Anne-Marie
Monday, December 10, 2012
Saturday, December 1, 2012
Mountains and Onions
HALLO! :D
So last weekend while you were all eating Turkey with your
families (or maybe already eating the leftovers), I was with 98 other exchange
students in Zermatt, where the Matterhorn is! :]
The first day (Saturday) we had a perfect view of the Matterhorn
so many pictures were taken. I stupidly forgot to charge my camera so I
actually have very few pictures, but good thing everyone else with me had a
camera. :] The first day was spent exploring Zermatt with a game from Rotex
(past exchange students). We had to do silly tasks like somehow get a
sunny-side-up egg (yes cooked). We kindly asked an old man for an egg and a
dish, and another woman cooked it for us. Haha We also had to trade an item for
something better, by either talking to people in the street, or going into
shops. We started out with an eraser, then we got a pen, then some Riccola
cough drops, then a toothbrush (from another exchange student group), then a bundle
of Yarn, then a fancy handwarmer, etc. and somehow we ended up with three
things (I think I traded off another pen we had), and we ended up with a
Matterhorn pocket knife, and two Swiss T-shirts. Other groups found stuff in the garbage, such
as A full table and six chair set (the table was a door), an old TV and a lamp,
a cigarette costume, the list goes on. Needless to say it was an interesting
way to spend a few hours.
That same day we toured the Matterhorn museum, ate cheese fondue,
had a “disco” (really just a normal dance, but Mackenzie and I went all out
with sparkly hats and tights), and just had an awesome time with a bunch of
crazy exchange students. At the disco, the Rotary adults started dancing with
us, and took mine and Mackenzie’s hats as they were dancing. Haha It was a good
time ;] After the disco, they gave us another
meal (basically a hamburger and fries), and every country had to sing a song
from their country. The USA has the most people, so we couldn’t agree on a
song, but we ended up singing “Party in the USA” by Miley Cyrus. I hate that
song, isn’t “Don’t Stop Believing” way better? But that’s what happens with 20+
American exchange students, we never agree. The other countries songs were
great though; a boy from Thailand had to sing alone, but he got the loudest
applause I think. :]
The next day, after breakfast, a single cloud covered up the
Matterhorn, and that was pretty much the only cloud in the sky. But, we rode
cable cars up to the “Little Matterhorn” and took pictures there. Then we went
down a level, and played in the snow for a good hour or two. It was a lot of
fun, I think especially for the exchangies from South America or warm Asian
countries and have never seen snow. We made pyramids, tackled each other into
the snow, and generally acted crazy. Haha
Then it was time to go home, and Mackenzie, two other exchange
students and I ended up sitting with the Rotex, who I’m pretty sure were
laughing at us the bulk of the two hour train ride to Visp from Zermatt. It was
around 8 when I finally made it to Ipsach.
Then, on Monday, I went to Zweibelmarkt in Bern! :] I got up at
4:50 and got to Bern a bit before 6, and
started walking around. People pelt confetti at each other, hit people on the
head with plastic squeaky hammers, and buy lots of food and hand made things. I
was there the entire day because I kept meeting up with exchange students; some
would leave, and new people would show up. So I was literally there for around
12 hours. It was a lot of fun, but I was exhausted, especially after the crazy
Matterhorn weekend added in. My bedroom floor is still covered in confetti from
the stuff that got into my clothes, I’ll vacuum it soon, but it kinda looks
happy ;] haha
In other news from this week, I got a 4 on my Math test! :D That’s
kind of like a C I gather (Grading scale from 1-6, 1 is fail, 6 is perfect).
But for having to translate the word problems and memorizing the formulas
because I don’t have a book, I think it’s pretty good! :]
Hope you all had a great Turkey Day, and welcome to Dezember! :D I
hope it snows here soon, so far it’s only in the Mountains or high “hills”
(Basically mountains to us).
Tschuss!
-Anne-Marie
Monday, November 12, 2012
3 Months!
Grüsse!
As of yesterday (11/11) I have been here 3 months!! I can't believe it, time has gone by so fast, and I am having so much fun here. My weekends always have plans, so for those of you who check this blog on Sundays, you may want to change it to Mondays because I have Monday afternoons off (of school anyway). These last two weekends had a few highlights, and as always were pretty busy. :]
Last Sunday (not yesterday, so the 4th), my host parents took me to a gorge (I seriously could not remember that word in English that day, good thing the French word is the same). As always when my host parents take me to some nature thing in Switzerland, it was GORGEOUS. (Get it? GORGEous, haha ;] ) The leaves were all changing colors and there's a river running through it.. Ya it was just really, really pretty. Even when it started raining and all I had was my UWEC sweatshirt it was still really fun and soo pretty. Waterfalls started coming off of the sides, and it was just awesome :]
Last Friday night (11/9, and who had the Katy Perry song start playing in their head, be honest ;] ) I went Irish dancing with my host mothers (1st and 3rd haha). That was SO much fun. And actually really hard! Lots of leg moving and with around 50 people there (or more) it got really hot. I was wearing a tank top and it was probably 40 degrees F outside. And after that I met up with one of my best friends here, Mackenzie, from Buffalo, New York. :] We hung out in Bern for awhile, and then I stayed at her house overnight.
Sunday (yesterday 11/11), we had a country fair for all potential exchange students from Switzerland to talk with exchange students from the country they want to go to. 60 Swiss people want to go to the USA! The person in charge told us right away that we didn't have to do anything to convince people to come the the US. haha In fact she wanted us to tell them other countries might be a better choice haha. It's really hard not to talk good about your country though, but maybe because there were so many of us and we are so outgoing maybe we scared a few of them off... Oops.. haha Swiss people are definitely a bit more reserved than Americans (South America included, Brazilians are LOUD). So that was a fun time. :]
School, is school... I have nothing really to say about it. haha I'm getting better with German everyday, including Swiss German. :] You know you are understanding the language and culture when you notice the random things they do while speaking. For example, they say "Gau?" and it's usually an exclamation. The "direct translation" is "Isn't it?" but it think it's more like our "right?". Here's an example: "Scheisse, es ist kalt!" To which another person would reply: "Gau?". (In English that's "Crap, it's cold!" "Right?") Another thing is they say "Tak!" when they take something or put something in place. And I started saying it too without realizing it.. I'm becoming Swiss! ;]
Going to another hockey game this weekend, Allez Bienne, Allez! :]
Tschüss! -Anne-Marie
As of yesterday (11/11) I have been here 3 months!! I can't believe it, time has gone by so fast, and I am having so much fun here. My weekends always have plans, so for those of you who check this blog on Sundays, you may want to change it to Mondays because I have Monday afternoons off (of school anyway). These last two weekends had a few highlights, and as always were pretty busy. :]
Last Sunday (not yesterday, so the 4th), my host parents took me to a gorge (I seriously could not remember that word in English that day, good thing the French word is the same). As always when my host parents take me to some nature thing in Switzerland, it was GORGEOUS. (Get it? GORGEous, haha ;] ) The leaves were all changing colors and there's a river running through it.. Ya it was just really, really pretty. Even when it started raining and all I had was my UWEC sweatshirt it was still really fun and soo pretty. Waterfalls started coming off of the sides, and it was just awesome :]
Last Friday night (11/9, and who had the Katy Perry song start playing in their head, be honest ;] ) I went Irish dancing with my host mothers (1st and 3rd haha). That was SO much fun. And actually really hard! Lots of leg moving and with around 50 people there (or more) it got really hot. I was wearing a tank top and it was probably 40 degrees F outside. And after that I met up with one of my best friends here, Mackenzie, from Buffalo, New York. :] We hung out in Bern for awhile, and then I stayed at her house overnight.
Sunday (yesterday 11/11), we had a country fair for all potential exchange students from Switzerland to talk with exchange students from the country they want to go to. 60 Swiss people want to go to the USA! The person in charge told us right away that we didn't have to do anything to convince people to come the the US. haha In fact she wanted us to tell them other countries might be a better choice haha. It's really hard not to talk good about your country though, but maybe because there were so many of us and we are so outgoing maybe we scared a few of them off... Oops.. haha Swiss people are definitely a bit more reserved than Americans (South America included, Brazilians are LOUD). So that was a fun time. :]
School, is school... I have nothing really to say about it. haha I'm getting better with German everyday, including Swiss German. :] You know you are understanding the language and culture when you notice the random things they do while speaking. For example, they say "Gau?" and it's usually an exclamation. The "direct translation" is "Isn't it?" but it think it's more like our "right?". Here's an example: "Scheisse, es ist kalt!" To which another person would reply: "Gau?". (In English that's "Crap, it's cold!" "Right?") Another thing is they say "Tak!" when they take something or put something in place. And I started saying it too without realizing it.. I'm becoming Swiss! ;]
Going to another hockey game this weekend, Allez Bienne, Allez! :]
Tschüss! -Anne-Marie
Sunday, October 28, 2012
Herbst/ Winter
Hallo!
Don't worry I'm alive! :]
Soo my last week of Holidays was fun! Had my first Rotary meeting, went riding with my host sister, hung out with some exchange students (some of the best people I have ever met in my life). My Rotary meeting on that Tuesday (10/9) went well, I was introduced to everyone in my club (but I honestly cannot remember a lot of names, I always meet waaay to many people at once...) I also gave a presentation all about me, my state, and the USA in general; all in GERMAN. I was seriously nervous, but I guess I did okay; I was understood at least... I hope.. One person said we should of recorded it and watched it at the end of he year to see how much my German will improve.. lol Oh well, I'll go to another meeting soon, every week my German gets better. I went to Montreux with a group of exchange students on that Thursday (10/11), and we walked around the city being loud and obnoxious like usual. ;] We also visited the castle that is literally ON Lake Geneva. It was gorgeous (like pretty much every castle haha). I love exchange students, I've probably said this a hundred times, but we act like family even if you just met them an hour ago. They're so easy to talk to and get along with.
After my 4 weeks of vacation (kind of, never a vacation off learning German ;] ), I was back into school! So I've had 3 weeks now (the first one is hard to count though, it was more like a quick trial). I'm getting used to the schedule, but I still have to look up my schedule all the time to know where I'm going. I've "taken" a Physiks and a Chemie test so far (there were other tests, but these were the first I've actually been given. The teachers know I can't really understand anything yet, so I basically just translated the tests and did the few questions I could answer. haha School has been fun, I'm always exhausted by Friday though, my brain is just like "no more thinking so hard in a foreign language please". :] I can tell I'm getting better though, I can follow most conversations, picking out a few words that I understand, though the Swiss German is still a little rough. I understand the numbers and a few words though..
As some of you saw on my Facebook, I carved a pumpkin on Thursday! That was fun, I also roasted the pumpkin seeds and I've been snacking on those all weekend. :] Friday I went to a Biel ice hockey game with some of my classmates, that was so much fun! It's a lot like our American football games, with all of the younger fans in a standing section and jumping and cheering for their team VERY loudly (mostly in French [Biel is a bilingual city, it's also called Bienne], but a bit of German too). Annd we won 6-1! So it was awesome. :] Yesterday (Saturday), I had a "Follow-up meeting" with the Rotary exchange program in Freibourg, with the "West" group of exchange students, which includes the "Frenchies" as we call them. (They are in the French part of Switzerland) We talked about any problems we might be having here, and how we are "integrating" into Swiss life. Most of us agreed school is hard, but we all love it here. After the meeting, the Rotary people bought us all lunch, during which it started snowing! So after our lunch, we walked around the city. Snow might not seem like a big deal to most of us Minnesotans or to the other exchange students from Canada and Northern states, but we had exchange students from South America with us who had never seen snow before! It was fun watching them freak out about it, and they were freezing haha. So it was fall for all of 2 weeks here... And now it's snowing. It hasn't been sticking to much around my house, but in the hills and in Bern they have a good layer. :]
So I go back to school tomorrow! And I have to bike. I have been for the past few weeks, don't get me wrong, but now it's SNOWING and COLD. Crazy Swiss people. :]
Tchüss!
-Anne-Marie
Don't worry I'm alive! :]
Soo my last week of Holidays was fun! Had my first Rotary meeting, went riding with my host sister, hung out with some exchange students (some of the best people I have ever met in my life). My Rotary meeting on that Tuesday (10/9) went well, I was introduced to everyone in my club (but I honestly cannot remember a lot of names, I always meet waaay to many people at once...) I also gave a presentation all about me, my state, and the USA in general; all in GERMAN. I was seriously nervous, but I guess I did okay; I was understood at least... I hope.. One person said we should of recorded it and watched it at the end of he year to see how much my German will improve.. lol Oh well, I'll go to another meeting soon, every week my German gets better. I went to Montreux with a group of exchange students on that Thursday (10/11), and we walked around the city being loud and obnoxious like usual. ;] We also visited the castle that is literally ON Lake Geneva. It was gorgeous (like pretty much every castle haha). I love exchange students, I've probably said this a hundred times, but we act like family even if you just met them an hour ago. They're so easy to talk to and get along with.
After my 4 weeks of vacation (kind of, never a vacation off learning German ;] ), I was back into school! So I've had 3 weeks now (the first one is hard to count though, it was more like a quick trial). I'm getting used to the schedule, but I still have to look up my schedule all the time to know where I'm going. I've "taken" a Physiks and a Chemie test so far (there were other tests, but these were the first I've actually been given. The teachers know I can't really understand anything yet, so I basically just translated the tests and did the few questions I could answer. haha School has been fun, I'm always exhausted by Friday though, my brain is just like "no more thinking so hard in a foreign language please". :] I can tell I'm getting better though, I can follow most conversations, picking out a few words that I understand, though the Swiss German is still a little rough. I understand the numbers and a few words though..
As some of you saw on my Facebook, I carved a pumpkin on Thursday! That was fun, I also roasted the pumpkin seeds and I've been snacking on those all weekend. :] Friday I went to a Biel ice hockey game with some of my classmates, that was so much fun! It's a lot like our American football games, with all of the younger fans in a standing section and jumping and cheering for their team VERY loudly (mostly in French [Biel is a bilingual city, it's also called Bienne], but a bit of German too). Annd we won 6-1! So it was awesome. :] Yesterday (Saturday), I had a "Follow-up meeting" with the Rotary exchange program in Freibourg, with the "West" group of exchange students, which includes the "Frenchies" as we call them. (They are in the French part of Switzerland) We talked about any problems we might be having here, and how we are "integrating" into Swiss life. Most of us agreed school is hard, but we all love it here. After the meeting, the Rotary people bought us all lunch, during which it started snowing! So after our lunch, we walked around the city. Snow might not seem like a big deal to most of us Minnesotans or to the other exchange students from Canada and Northern states, but we had exchange students from South America with us who had never seen snow before! It was fun watching them freak out about it, and they were freezing haha. So it was fall for all of 2 weeks here... And now it's snowing. It hasn't been sticking to much around my house, but in the hills and in Bern they have a good layer. :]
So I go back to school tomorrow! And I have to bike. I have been for the past few weeks, don't get me wrong, but now it's SNOWING and COLD. Crazy Swiss people. :]
Tchüss!
-Anne-Marie
Monday, October 8, 2012
Grüsse/ Salut/ Hola
Here goes nothing...
Prepare to be updated on the last 3 weeks of my Swiss life, crazy long blog style ;]
WEEK 1:
My first week of my holidays. My class was in London, but couldn't take me due to it being to hard to get tickets and stuff like that, so I had an entire extra week off than other Swiss people. My host sister still had school, so she was gone most of the day, but we still went riding a couple times that week :]
My host mom took me a the 3-Seenfahrt (3 lake) tour on Wednesday, it was gorgeous, but we both agreed we should have taken the train back, it was a long time to spend on a boat, and see the same scenery twice. the 3-Seen were Bielersee (the one I'm closest too), then through part of Lac de Neuchatel, then final through Murtensee to the village of Murten. We got off in Murten and climbed up the Ramparts (old castle wall surrounding part of he town). Really gorgeous view of the lake, with the old houses. (I have pictures, don't worry ;] ) The whole thing took up basically the whole day, and it rained on the way back, so that made it less enjoyable, but still a good day.
I'm going to be honest, the bulk of that week was spent by me being really lazy and not doing much. It was kind of nice to not doing much though, after being so busy and always going places since I've been here. Toward the end of the week, I packed for our two week trip to France and then Spain.
WEEK 2:
This week started off with a 7 hour car ride with my host family plus a friend of my host sister, to France, Cap D'Agde to be exact if you want to look it up. (Guess it didn't really start then because that was Saturday, but it felt like that) That wasn't to bad actually, I had my iPod and my computer so it went by pretty fast. And it was GORGEOUS. We had a small apartment, on the fourth floor of a building that was literally ON the Mediterranean Sea. 2 minute walk to the beach. The view was AMAZING. (I have lots of pictures of that too). So there was lots of beach time that week. :]
The day after we got to Cap D'Agde (Sunday), went to a really cool castle called Carcassonne that had been restored to look like it did in all it's glory. (Well mostly) It was basically for tourists, there were lots of little shops you could buy little trinkets from, lots of little cafes and restaurants; and I heard a lot of British people haha. After the castle we went to a French town/ city and just walked around (honestly can't remember what city.... oops). There was a huge square cut out in the middle of town so that you could see the original Roman road that runs under the entire city, and you can actually walk on it yourself. You can see the ruts in the stone from the carts and wagons of the people so it's pretty cool. Monday and Tuesday were beach days! :] Wednesday we went to a cave called Grotte de Clamouse, which means something like "Cathedral Cave" or so they said. It was really cool seeing the weird things minerals can make with water given time. Some of it doesn't look real. I took some pictures, but they obviously don't do it justice because it's a dark cave... After the cave we went to an old village that had some really old building and awesome architecture. And when I say old, I mean old. The rest of the days were spent on the beach, but the night before we were supposed to leave (Fri. night), my host fams car started making funny noises. And it was past 9, and everything in France closes around 6 or 7. So that was interesting, waiting for a tow truck, getting a taxi back to our apartment, and then the next day packing and cleaning the entire apartment (so they didn't have to pay for the cleaning service), all of our stuff ended up in the hallway waiting for a call so we could get a rental car and go to Spain. Finally we got a car, but by that time the sky had started pouring buckets of water on to us, so packing all of our stuff into the car was interesting. You couldn't see out the back window, and my host sister, her friend, and I were all squished together on the bench seat in the back. So that's how our four hour drive to Spain began.
WEEK 3:
We made it to Spain in the pouring rain. We had to run to get our stuff into our bungalow (Basically a small cabin). That week we were with my host fams church (unlike France, where it was just the five of us), so i met a lot of people. There were probably over 50 teenagers there, along with a lot of adults, and almost everyone soon knew I was the American. Basically that week was spent on the beach. I actually have tan lines! For those who know don't: I don't tan, pretty much stay white all year round. Somehow I got tan though (for me, still pale compared to everyone else...). We played lots of beach volleyball, badminton (minus the net), went in the ocean..
On Tuesday, we went to Port Aventura, which is an amusement park. People, be proud of me! I went on almost every ride! Yes even the roller coaster called "Shambala" that was "an expedition through the Himalayas" and literally was the biggest roller coaster I have ever seen. You went up this huuuuge incline, then down I'm pretty sure as steep as possible without dying. And the thing broke before we went on it, but I still did it! There were roller coasters that did full on upside down loops (one was called something with a dragon; looots of loops); and a ride like the power tower (for those who know valley fair) that brought you up higher than even "Shambala", then dropped you straight down as you thought you saw your life flash before your eyes. But this one was a little different, because when you get to the top, they tilt you forward a bit so they can see your even more scared face as you are forced to look at the drop you are about to do, then they take your picture mid-freak-out, and drop you. Should be proud of me though, the second time we went on it, I put my thumbs up to the camera. ;] That was a fun day...
On Thursday I went with my host fam on a tour of the Spanish countryside (AKA Hinterland), and it was gorgeous. I love European architecture. There are interesting differences between each country too, and I kind of just love old fashioned things. There's definitely plenty of that here. :]
We left Spain on Saturday morning, and drove the four hours back to Cap D'Agde to get my host fams now fixed car. We stopped at McDonald's for a quick lunch (first time eating it in Europe, TAKE THAT STEREOTYPE). We had a seven hour car ride before us, and I thought I could just go on my laptop, since my iPod died just before we got to Cap D'Agde, but nooo it decided it didn't want to charge while in Spain, so I literally had seven hours of doing nothing but staring out the window, or trying to sleep (Can't really fall asleep in cars). Let's just say those seven hours seemed like a very long time.
WEEK 4:
Sooo now I'm on week 4 of my month long holidays off school! I have my first meeting with my host club tomorrow (have to give a speech in German, yikes!), and then hanging out with some other exchange students later in the week. Then back to school next week! Though I kind of feel like it will be my first real week because the schedule was messed around so much the first, first week...
Anyway; hope you all enjoyed reading this and didn't doze off halfway through or something. ;] If you had to take breaks I understand! haha
Comment and I'll do my best to answer soon! No pictures until tomorrow, sorry, it's already almost 11 here..
Liebe grüsse,
Anne-Marie
P.S. I didn't realize there were so many options for commenting, sorry! If you want to leave a comment put it under "Anonymous" and leave you name at the end of you comment so I k
Prepare to be updated on the last 3 weeks of my Swiss life, crazy long blog style ;]
WEEK 1:
My first week of my holidays. My class was in London, but couldn't take me due to it being to hard to get tickets and stuff like that, so I had an entire extra week off than other Swiss people. My host sister still had school, so she was gone most of the day, but we still went riding a couple times that week :]
My host mom took me a the 3-Seenfahrt (3 lake) tour on Wednesday, it was gorgeous, but we both agreed we should have taken the train back, it was a long time to spend on a boat, and see the same scenery twice. the 3-Seen were Bielersee (the one I'm closest too), then through part of Lac de Neuchatel, then final through Murtensee to the village of Murten. We got off in Murten and climbed up the Ramparts (old castle wall surrounding part of he town). Really gorgeous view of the lake, with the old houses. (I have pictures, don't worry ;] ) The whole thing took up basically the whole day, and it rained on the way back, so that made it less enjoyable, but still a good day.
I'm going to be honest, the bulk of that week was spent by me being really lazy and not doing much. It was kind of nice to not doing much though, after being so busy and always going places since I've been here. Toward the end of the week, I packed for our two week trip to France and then Spain.
WEEK 2:
This week started off with a 7 hour car ride with my host family plus a friend of my host sister, to France, Cap D'Agde to be exact if you want to look it up. (Guess it didn't really start then because that was Saturday, but it felt like that) That wasn't to bad actually, I had my iPod and my computer so it went by pretty fast. And it was GORGEOUS. We had a small apartment, on the fourth floor of a building that was literally ON the Mediterranean Sea. 2 minute walk to the beach. The view was AMAZING. (I have lots of pictures of that too). So there was lots of beach time that week. :]
The day after we got to Cap D'Agde (Sunday), went to a really cool castle called Carcassonne that had been restored to look like it did in all it's glory. (Well mostly) It was basically for tourists, there were lots of little shops you could buy little trinkets from, lots of little cafes and restaurants; and I heard a lot of British people haha. After the castle we went to a French town/ city and just walked around (honestly can't remember what city.... oops). There was a huge square cut out in the middle of town so that you could see the original Roman road that runs under the entire city, and you can actually walk on it yourself. You can see the ruts in the stone from the carts and wagons of the people so it's pretty cool. Monday and Tuesday were beach days! :] Wednesday we went to a cave called Grotte de Clamouse, which means something like "Cathedral Cave" or so they said. It was really cool seeing the weird things minerals can make with water given time. Some of it doesn't look real. I took some pictures, but they obviously don't do it justice because it's a dark cave... After the cave we went to an old village that had some really old building and awesome architecture. And when I say old, I mean old. The rest of the days were spent on the beach, but the night before we were supposed to leave (Fri. night), my host fams car started making funny noises. And it was past 9, and everything in France closes around 6 or 7. So that was interesting, waiting for a tow truck, getting a taxi back to our apartment, and then the next day packing and cleaning the entire apartment (so they didn't have to pay for the cleaning service), all of our stuff ended up in the hallway waiting for a call so we could get a rental car and go to Spain. Finally we got a car, but by that time the sky had started pouring buckets of water on to us, so packing all of our stuff into the car was interesting. You couldn't see out the back window, and my host sister, her friend, and I were all squished together on the bench seat in the back. So that's how our four hour drive to Spain began.
WEEK 3:
We made it to Spain in the pouring rain. We had to run to get our stuff into our bungalow (Basically a small cabin). That week we were with my host fams church (unlike France, where it was just the five of us), so i met a lot of people. There were probably over 50 teenagers there, along with a lot of adults, and almost everyone soon knew I was the American. Basically that week was spent on the beach. I actually have tan lines! For those who know don't: I don't tan, pretty much stay white all year round. Somehow I got tan though (for me, still pale compared to everyone else...). We played lots of beach volleyball, badminton (minus the net), went in the ocean..
On Tuesday, we went to Port Aventura, which is an amusement park. People, be proud of me! I went on almost every ride! Yes even the roller coaster called "Shambala" that was "an expedition through the Himalayas" and literally was the biggest roller coaster I have ever seen. You went up this huuuuge incline, then down I'm pretty sure as steep as possible without dying. And the thing broke before we went on it, but I still did it! There were roller coasters that did full on upside down loops (one was called something with a dragon; looots of loops); and a ride like the power tower (for those who know valley fair) that brought you up higher than even "Shambala", then dropped you straight down as you thought you saw your life flash before your eyes. But this one was a little different, because when you get to the top, they tilt you forward a bit so they can see your even more scared face as you are forced to look at the drop you are about to do, then they take your picture mid-freak-out, and drop you. Should be proud of me though, the second time we went on it, I put my thumbs up to the camera. ;] That was a fun day...
On Thursday I went with my host fam on a tour of the Spanish countryside (AKA Hinterland), and it was gorgeous. I love European architecture. There are interesting differences between each country too, and I kind of just love old fashioned things. There's definitely plenty of that here. :]
We left Spain on Saturday morning, and drove the four hours back to Cap D'Agde to get my host fams now fixed car. We stopped at McDonald's for a quick lunch (first time eating it in Europe, TAKE THAT STEREOTYPE). We had a seven hour car ride before us, and I thought I could just go on my laptop, since my iPod died just before we got to Cap D'Agde, but nooo it decided it didn't want to charge while in Spain, so I literally had seven hours of doing nothing but staring out the window, or trying to sleep (Can't really fall asleep in cars). Let's just say those seven hours seemed like a very long time.
WEEK 4:
Sooo now I'm on week 4 of my month long holidays off school! I have my first meeting with my host club tomorrow (have to give a speech in German, yikes!), and then hanging out with some other exchange students later in the week. Then back to school next week! Though I kind of feel like it will be my first real week because the schedule was messed around so much the first, first week...
Anyway; hope you all enjoyed reading this and didn't doze off halfway through or something. ;] If you had to take breaks I understand! haha
Comment and I'll do my best to answer soon! No pictures until tomorrow, sorry, it's already almost 11 here..
Liebe grüsse,
Anne-Marie
P.S. I didn't realize there were so many options for commenting, sorry! If you want to leave a comment put it under "Anonymous" and leave you name at the end of you comment so I k
Saturday, September 15, 2012
Three Crazy Things
Grüsse Jedermann!
So three crazy things is the title, and that is exactly what happened to me this week.
Crazy thing #1: I climbed a freaking mountain!!!!!!!!!!!!! :D For real! At 5 in the morning! For two hours, I hiked with 45 other exchange students up the Rigi, just to see the sunrise. If that's not crazy I don't know what is. But it was soooo worth it. That was the most amazing sunrise I have ever seen, well worth the exhausting hike (and we hiked for pretty much the rest of that day too), and being dead tired when I got back home. Gorgeous. And I got really close to all of the other exchange students. I think I've said this before, but I feel like I have a million instant best friends because we all know what each other are going through. We share stories about stuff that's happened to us so far, and most of them are hilarious. We talk about being a bit homesick, having language troubles, but at the same time all of us are in love with Switzerland. :] The exchange students are from all over the world, and staying all over Switzerland (8 were from the French part, so we couldn't speak German to them, we pretty much had an English speaking weekend, it was a nice break, I didn't have to think so hard haha) That was pretty much the most fun I've had so far, but I know something will be even better in the future :]
Crazy thing #2: I started Swiss school. I have to be insane. I'm in a foreign country, that I don't speak the language of, and I'm repeating a year of high school, with teenagers, who are at their most judgmental point in life (because let's be honest, teenagers are). But that's exactly why I came on exchange, to be open-minded, and maybe change other peoples minds about Americans, especially us crazy youth. ;] All of the kids in my class (a whopping 14, compared to the sometimes 30+ in Prior Lake), are super nice to me. They are all very interested me, and always explain anything I don't understand (which happens a lot when you don't speak the language). I think a lot of them like practicing their English on me. haha Another crazy thing that happened is I have to learn Piano!!! I have never played the piano in my life, and I have very little hand coordination, or any coordination for that matter (hence the watersports). Now they have the monumental task of trying to teach me how to play. I may come back to the states with a new skill!
Crazy thing #3: I'm on holidays already. Yup, one week of school and now I have an entire month off. This is because my class (the 14 of them, minus one or two) went to London this morning for 1 or 2 weeks (can't remember which). And there was no way they could get me a ticket and reservations after I had only been in the school a week, so I have holidays already... I want to go to London, but I don;t need to learn English haha. And my host family is taking me to France for a week and then Spain for a week, one right after the other!! That definitely makes up for it! :D So I'll try to write in this before I leave, but don't expect me to write while I'm in France or Spain. I don't think I'll be bringing my laptop...
So those were my three crazy things! How many people read this blog anyway??? Someone want to give me a rough estimate? haha Comment below and I will try to answer! Just make sure you comment on the most recent blog and not an older one because I don't see those!
Tschüss!!
-Anne-Marie
So three crazy things is the title, and that is exactly what happened to me this week.
Crazy thing #1: I climbed a freaking mountain!!!!!!!!!!!!! :D For real! At 5 in the morning! For two hours, I hiked with 45 other exchange students up the Rigi, just to see the sunrise. If that's not crazy I don't know what is. But it was soooo worth it. That was the most amazing sunrise I have ever seen, well worth the exhausting hike (and we hiked for pretty much the rest of that day too), and being dead tired when I got back home. Gorgeous. And I got really close to all of the other exchange students. I think I've said this before, but I feel like I have a million instant best friends because we all know what each other are going through. We share stories about stuff that's happened to us so far, and most of them are hilarious. We talk about being a bit homesick, having language troubles, but at the same time all of us are in love with Switzerland. :] The exchange students are from all over the world, and staying all over Switzerland (8 were from the French part, so we couldn't speak German to them, we pretty much had an English speaking weekend, it was a nice break, I didn't have to think so hard haha) That was pretty much the most fun I've had so far, but I know something will be even better in the future :]
Crazy thing #2: I started Swiss school. I have to be insane. I'm in a foreign country, that I don't speak the language of, and I'm repeating a year of high school, with teenagers, who are at their most judgmental point in life (because let's be honest, teenagers are). But that's exactly why I came on exchange, to be open-minded, and maybe change other peoples minds about Americans, especially us crazy youth. ;] All of the kids in my class (a whopping 14, compared to the sometimes 30+ in Prior Lake), are super nice to me. They are all very interested me, and always explain anything I don't understand (which happens a lot when you don't speak the language). I think a lot of them like practicing their English on me. haha Another crazy thing that happened is I have to learn Piano!!! I have never played the piano in my life, and I have very little hand coordination, or any coordination for that matter (hence the watersports). Now they have the monumental task of trying to teach me how to play. I may come back to the states with a new skill!
Crazy thing #3: I'm on holidays already. Yup, one week of school and now I have an entire month off. This is because my class (the 14 of them, minus one or two) went to London this morning for 1 or 2 weeks (can't remember which). And there was no way they could get me a ticket and reservations after I had only been in the school a week, so I have holidays already... I want to go to London, but I don;t need to learn English haha. And my host family is taking me to France for a week and then Spain for a week, one right after the other!! That definitely makes up for it! :D So I'll try to write in this before I leave, but don't expect me to write while I'm in France or Spain. I don't think I'll be bringing my laptop...
So those were my three crazy things! How many people read this blog anyway??? Someone want to give me a rough estimate? haha Comment below and I will try to answer! Just make sure you comment on the most recent blog and not an older one because I don't see those!
Tschüss!!
-Anne-Marie
Friday, September 7, 2012
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
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
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