Winter und Weihnachten

I will apologize beforehand for not posting anything for the past two months. To be honest I COMPLETELY forgot I even had a blog but (hopefully) I'll keep this up more often.

I'll start by saying the November-December were not the easiest months of my exchange. The weather has gotten colder, the days have become shorter, and a variety of other frustrations have been lingering in the air as well. I'm dealing with everything the best I can, which is really the only this I can do. Anyways, the colder months have not stopped me from seeing more of this beautiful country. At the end of November, all the Rotary exchange students in Switzerland (which was about 111 students) went to Zermatt in Canton Valais to see the Matterhorn, one of Europe's most famous mountains. We took a beautiful gondola ride to the top of the "small" Matterhorn and got an amazing view of the mountain range. I have to admit that the air all the way at the top of the mountain made it really hard to breath and I almost passed out. After drinking some water and sitting down for a bit I was good to go!

I current;ly have 2 weeks off from school because of Weihnachtsferien (Christmas vacation) and spent all of last week in Canton Graubünden skiing with my wonderful host family. I was a little nervous at first because the last time I was skiing was back in 2007 but once you get the hang of it there's no stopping you. :) My host mom even compared me to Olympian Brody Miller because I was "so fast" (I love her sense of humor). I even had to opportunity to ski with a few classmates of mine that just so happen to be skiing at the same location. To put it simply, I HAD A BLAST. Skiing in the Alps is so far my #1 highlight of being an exchange student in Switzerland. You haven't lived until you've skied here, you just haven't. The conditions were perfect, the scenery was beautiful... what else could you ask for? I soaked it all in as best as I could and had the time of my life.

                          Frohe Weihnachten und ein gutes neues Jahr aus der Schweiz!
                         Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year from Switzerland!

2 Months In

If we're going to get really technical, it's been 2 months and 15 days since my arrival in lovely Switzerland. I just started school again yesterday from having 2 weeks off for fall holiday, and what an adventure that was. I did so much traveling that I could write a novel about everything I saw, but I'll just recap the most important highlights.

WEEK 1

The first week of vacation included trips to Geneva, Basel, Lugano (Italian part of Switzerland) and Porlezza, Italy. A few other exchange students and I took a 4 hour train ride from Zürich Hauptbahnhof (main train station) to, what seemed like a totally different country. It blew my mind that you can travel about 3 hours west or south and you are no longer able to speak the language (at least for me) and we were STILL in the same country. It was quite the challenge to communicate with people. The french part of Switzerland isn't exactly the biggest fan of the German language and vice-versa for the German speaking region. Luckily some of the exchange students I was with knew a little French so we were all set. We took a bus to the United Nations and actually got a guided tour (in English)! It was really interesting. The U.N has 6 main languages that are spoken/translated; English, French, Spanish, Russian, Arabic, and Mandarin Chinese. It becomes really complicated with countries (which are most of them) that do not use these as their official language so translators are always a vital part of this organization.

The traveling continued onto the next day, where I went about an hour west to Basel (towards the German and French border). Basel is a beautiful old city that is known for it's harbor, which is on the Rhein river and then connects to the ocean. A bunch of us walked to one specific location which technically allows you to be in Germany, France, and Switzerland all at the same time. How epic is that?!

On Friday, an AFS (not Rotary) exchange student friend of mine and I traveled south to Lugano, which is the southern most point in the country towards Italy. Again, I was in a bit of trouble because I don't speak Italian! I feel almost at home when I'm in the German part of the country because at least there I can communicate with people! French and Italian are my next languages to conquer, that's for sure. Moving onward, we walked around, ate Chinese food (why is that hilarious?) and then took this beautiful boat tour on Lake Lugano. Even though is was a bit cloudy, seeing the coastal fishing villages was so worth it. The ship dropped us off at some of these villages, where Sam and I walked around. We ended up walking in old churches,  got lost in the "coastal-maze", and then the ship took us to ITALY!!! There we bought gelato and were having a conversation with the lady that owned the cute little shop. It was probably the FUNNIEST thing that has happened to me in Europe because she only spoke Italian, so you could only imagine the struggle with communicating. We would say one thing and she would go on a total rant and we wouldn't understand a single word... It made my day.

WEEK 2

Last Sunday I traveled to Liechtenstein (I pretty much saw the whole country because it's so small) and Feldkirch, Austria. Because Liechtenstein has no train station, we took the the train to the last station in Switzerland before the border. Then we took this lime green double-decker bus to Liechtenstein! Liechtenstein has a population of about 35,000 people and only 9 of them are unemployed. Liechtenstein is the smallest yet the richest (by measure of GDP per capita) German-speaking country in the world and the only country to lie entirely within the Alps. It is the only predominantly German-speaking country not to share a common border with Germany and the only predominantly German-speaking nation to have a monarch. We saw the prince's castle, took a nice stroll through the country, and then took another bus to Feldkirch, Austria, where we pretty much did the same thing. It's crazy that all these countries are so close to Switzerland. It's so easy to travel!

The next day, my host family took me to Europa-Park (their version of Six Flags sort of) in Germany. I had  such a blast with everyone. We went on rides in different "countries" (hence why it's called Europa-Park). The two biggest roller coasters at the park were Blue Fire and Silverstar. I didn't find them scary whatsoever though... Maybe I need something with explosions and more loops and something that goes over 100 miles per hour. Overall, I still had so much fun. :p

From Tuesday to Saturday, my host family took me on a grand tour of Switzerland. Places we traveled to included Bern (Switzerland's capital city), Lavaux, Wallis, and Ilanz. I have never seen such beautiful places in my entire life. I know I keep writing that but it's honestly true! I can't get over it! Here are some pictures from the beginning of the tour.

For the second part of our tour, we stayed at the host family's winter house in the Alps. If you were to Google Image "The Swiss Alps", I pretty much saw those mountains IN REAL LIFE. I witnessed my first Swiss snowfall at 2,500 meters above sea level. Snow was everywhere and it literally looked like Christmas! 

My host dad took this artsy picture of me. Totally have to give him credit for it.

I'm actually OK with being back in school because I get to see all my lovely Swiss friends again. Other than that, waking up so early doesn't make me the happiest person in the world but it'll get better. Thanks for reading about my life!!!

Autumn

It's officially been fall for about two weeks now and that means only one thing: FALL VACATION! It sounds a bit strange that we have 2 weeks off in the fall but I'll take it with NO problem. I still have this next week of school but it's not exactly a "typical" school week. To explain it lightly, it's a project week where the students visit museums, labs, universities, and learn about professions that they might want to study after the Gymnasium (Switzerland's "high school"). I think this week will go by rather quickly. Tomorrow I am seeing BRITNEY SPEARS in Zürich with some exchange students. I honestly cannot believe I will be seeing her LIVE...TOMORROW. Of course I am not the biggest Brit-fan but I think it'd be awesome to see such a celebrity/musician live here. It's also only 25 minutes away from me too, so why not?!

This has been one crazy weekend. Yesterday I woke up early to go to the shooting range in a neighboring village with my host dad. I've never used a real gun before so I was a tad nervous. But, it wasn't as scary as I initially thought. My host dad loaded the rifle, handed it to me, and I was ready to shoot. I did pretty well my first round because I was just shooting at a typical circle target. The second round I shot at a target in the shape of a pig so it was quite difficult. My host dad told me it's even hard for professionals to hit the pig. At least I shot it once! I felt as if I were a real Swiss person taking part in one of this country's many traditions. Later in the day, my host dad took me on a 3 hour motorcycle tour all the way to Appenzell. We were going so fast I couldn't believe it (it's a BMW, hence why we were going so fast), and the scenery around us was absolutely stunning. I honestly don't think I have ever seen such beauty in my entire life. Sorry, guys. Looks like I'll never be coming home. ;) It was also my younger host brother, Tobi's 14th birthday so, later in the night, we had a lot of family and friends to celebrate. I understood a lot of Swiss German at the dinner table which makes me proud and astounded that I'm picking up the dialect so quickly.
Today was another beautiful day with the host family. I'd like to call it a Host Family Bonding Weekend! Anyways, we took the train to Luzern, one of Switzerland's bigger tourist spots. There we took a boat tour around Vierwaldstättersee and had an amazing lunch on the ship. It was rather foggy but, other than that, we couldn't have asked for a better day to go. I'm happy I made friends who live there so I always have a reason to go back!
During the fall vacation (what I am sure of), my host family and I are doing a big tour of Switzerland. I'm so excited I get to see more of what this place has to offer. And one day we are stopping in Germany to go to Europapark, which is a huge amusement park just like 6 Flags. I'm sure vacation is going to go fast and I'll be headed right back to school.

Thanks for reading and I promise I'll try to update this more often!

1 Month In

Wow... Well, a month just completely flew past me. I should keep track of time more closely. It feels like just yesterday that everything was so new and different, and the realization of actually living in Switzerland for a whole year hadn't sunk in. But, now that it's September, I feel settled in and know I have a long adventure to look forward to.
So much has happened since my last blog entry. In a nut  shell, I can't complain about anything. I enjoy going to school to see my Swiss friends (minus the 5:30 AM wake-up call) and speaking the language gets easier day by day. I actually tend to hang out with my Swiss friends more than exchange student friends, it seems. It's not like I have anything against them! It just happens to be like that at the moment. In a way, it's a good thing for many reasons; I can keep speaking German while making long-lasting relationships and learn more about this beautiful country. But I have been with exchange students a little this past week. This Sunday in Zürich was a Knobschiessenfest, which was pretty much like the Altamont Fair back home; rides, food, games, entertainment, and even a "shooting range" where you shoot this target and try to win up to Fr. 3,000! (Or more...or less... I can't seem to remember). I didn't shoot because 1) You have to be younger than 18 (safe?) and 2) It started to DOWNPOUR so the other exchange students and I RAN to find a tram back to Zürich's main station.

About two weeks ago I went to Konstanz, Germany to go shoe shopping with my host family (no big deal or anything..). It was so cool because once we crossed the border and hit the Autobahn with NO SPEED LIMIT, my host dad floored it in his BMW 5-Series at about 240 kilometers per hour. I THOUGHT WE WERE GOING TO LEAVE THE GROUND AND START FLYING. IT WAS INSANE!
I kind of want to write a little schedule of my daily activities (when I'm in school), just to give you guys a quick rundown.

1) Wake up at 5:30 AM... Fun.

2) Get ready, eat breakfast with host family around 6 AM.

3) Walk 2 minutes to bus stop and wait for bus until 6:33 AM.

4) Arrive at Hüntwangen-Wil Bahnhof and catch train at 6:50 AM.

5) Get off train and Bülach and catch connecting train at 7:05 AM to Winterthur.

6) Arrive at Winterthur Bahnhof at 7:24 AM and meet Swiss friends from school to catch the bus to Kantonsschule Büelrain.

7) First class begins at 7:45 AM. Now, this gets a little complicated. Sometimes I have breaks in-between the school day because either I am not obligated to take certain classes (like French, Latin, etc), or I am not scheduled whatsoever. Classes range from German, Music, Math, Geography, Physics, Biology, Chemistry, English (I have to take.....), and Economics. It's quite a challenge since everything is in German plus the Swiss German accent when the teachers speak High Geman but I take it day by day. I can't expect to be perfectly AMAZINGLY fluent in one month, ESPECIALLY in Swiss German.

8) Last class ends at either 3:05 or 4 PM. Catch bus to Winterthur Bahnhof and take train to Bülach at 4:37 PM.

9) Take connecting train from Bülach to Hüntwangen-Wil Bahnhof at 5:01 PM and catch bus back home.

10) Eat dinner usually as soon as I get home from school, mostly around 6 PM.

11) "Play" piano for about an hour or two (my how dog seems to really like it). :)

12) On Thursdays, I go to the church choir rehearsal with my host parents from 7:45 to 9:30 PM. The director is from Chicago and now living in Switzerland. It's been really nice to listen to the choir.

13) Hang out with the how family, get ready for bed, and asleep usually by 11:30 PM. I should actually try going to bed earlier!

That's a pretty GENERAL overview of my day. Friday nights and weekends are usually with my Swiss friends from school and exchange students sometimes. The kids in my class have been so welcoming and always invite me to their hang outs. I honestly feel honored and blessed to have such an amazing group of kids to go to school with. I am beyond lucky.

Thanks for reading!

Kantonsschule Büelrain

Before school started, I've been hanging out with all the exchange students in the Lanugage Camp that I was in before I dropped out of it. Both Monday and Tuesday last week I met up with them and went swimming in Zürich by this huge fountain in the middle of the lake. I just sat in the water, looked at my surroundings and just tried to soak in all of the city's beauty. It was the most gorgeous site ever. It was a perfect sunny day and I was spending it swimming in ZÜRICH. How much more epic could my life be?

I started school last Wednesday. I am going to completely honest and say I was scared and nervous out of my mind to go to school in a foreign country. The thoughts in my head were, "Am I going to make friends?", "Am I going to be able to communicate?", "WILL THEY EVEN LIKE ME?!?!". I woke at 4:30 in the morning to catch the bus at 5:33 in the morning.........Rough, if you ask me. My lovely host mother came with my though to set up my classes and make sure I knew where I was going. I go to school in a city called Winterthur, and it takes roughly an hour to get there. I walk to the bus stop from my house, go to Hüntwangen-Wil Bahnhof (train station), catch a connecting train at Bülach Bahnhof, get to Winterthur, and take another bus to school. It was a lot to handle at first but I'm so use to it now. The time goes by pretty fast.
The first day was pretty hard. It was a lot to take in and translate. I barley understood what was being said to me. **Sidenote: School is spoken in Hochdeutsch, which is standard German. But when the class is over, the students and the teachers switch back to Swiss German, which is still a foreign language to me**. On a good note, the kids in my class are so friendly and nice! They ask me to hang out and spend time with them. I was more than shocked that I made friends this quickly. This past weekend, I spent some time in a nearby province, Schaffhausen with a good friend, Guiliano from school. He showed me around the old city and ate lots of food at his house. Later that night, I took the train back to Winterthur and went to a local-band concert event with even more kids from my school. They're all so nice and it's totally beneficial for me so I can keep speaking German. Having friends and speaking more German everyday... It's the best of both worlds!
Last Friday night, I went to the biggest club in Zürich, Alter Börse with my host brother, Niclas. One of the most famous DJ's in the world, Skrillex was holding a concert there. IT WAS OUT OF THIS WORLD I HAD SO MUCH FUN! The techno music was crazy loud and we had a great time. I'm glad I had a chance to hang out with my host brother. It was really nice of him to take me to this concert.

This past Sunday, my host dad took me to another city called Stein am Rhein, which is famous for it's castles and scenery. I couldn't get over the view from the top of the mountain. I kept asking myself, "DO I REALLY LIVE IN THIS COUNTRY?!" I always ask people around me if they ever get sick of Switzerland's beauty because I don't think I ever will.

On a sad note, I got this really awkward cold the other day. The weather here last week was SO HOT and then this week changed to autumn-like weather in a flick of a switch. I'm also not the only one sick. It seems like a bunch of people around me are sick, too. AHHH! I hope I get better soon. I going to spend a day in Germany with my host family this Saturday shopping because everything is MUCH cheaper than it is here. Shoes that would cost about $40 back home are literally FR. 150... Yeah....A tad expensive.

Thanks for reading!

President of Switzerland

I've been so busy I forgot I even had a blog! Oops... Anyways, I can't remember everything I have done this week but I'll try to remember.

I've been spending a lot of time in the Rhein river. It has been so warm here that you can't NOT go spend a few hours swimming. We blew up the boats and floated down the river. It was so relaxing. After floating in the river, my host brother asked me if I wanted to jump off the bridge nearby. Of course I said yes! Never thought I would have jumped off a bridge here! My host mom was more nervous than i was. How cute :). No worries, though! I'm still in one piece!

I went to the river a few more times after that. I was actually there yesterday and we floated down the river for almost 2 and a half hours. I couldn't get over how beautiful this country is. I forget how lucky I am sometimes.
Last Tuesday was kind of stressful. I had to wake up at 6 in the morning and go to language camp in a city called Oerlikon. Since, I believe, my German is decent, I didn't think I should have to go to this school. I had to take a test, speak German with one of the Rotary advisors, and then it was OK for me to leave. A tad annoying, but it's all fine now. The only thing is now, because I don't have language camp, I start school on Wednesday in Winterthur. I'm so nervous for school, to be honest. I hope everything goes well.
I MET THE PRESIDENT OF SWITZERLAND. I DON'T THINK I EVER THOUGHT THAT WOULD HAPPEN! My host father and I went to an opening of this new Nature Reserve in Flaach. There were so many people there and I wasn't exactly sure as to why. I turn around and I see this woman walking with a bunch of bodyguards. I knew she was a political figure but didn't know what all the fuss was about. I ask my host dad who exactly she is and he tells me she is the highest positioned President of Switzerland. Now, that may sound weird to you. The Swiss Confederation has a board of 7 "Presidents" that work together. There isn't just 1 person making all the decisions. But, Doris Leuthard, the woman I met, holds the highest position. HOW CRAZY IS THAT?! There were animal-like performers and lots of music there. It was really interesting, if you ask me.
I finally met a HUGE amount of exchange students! They're awesome. Today was our Welcome-Orientation and I finally got to exchange pins. I'm loving my blazer now! I'll post a picture of it sometime this week. At the meeting, we got in groups and talked about what is expected of us as exchange students in Switzerland. I met former Swiss exchange students, new ones, and old ones that have been here since January. We laughed a lot and I am sure I'll see them all very shortly.
My German is getting better and better each and every day. I'm even beginning to understand SOME Swiss German. I didn't think it was going to click that fast! The other day, one of the main Rotary councilors came over to my house just to do some paper work. We were talking and he began to say that I speak German like an exchange student that has been here for one year already. I literally was SPEECHLESS after hearing this. In all COMPLETE honesty, it's just decent. Conversation is OK but I can't state my opinion as well as I want to. I know that I won't have that much trouble as other exchange students. I only know of one other person here in the whole country that has had previous experience with learning german. Everyone else is a small fish in a pretty neutral pond.
Oh I forgot! I went to work with my host parents the other day and REALLY got to know what my host parents do for a living. They own this glue-adheasive company that distributes it's products all over the world. (***If you want to learn more, the website is http://www.alfa-klebstoffe.com/en/simalfa/overview/***) It has a sister company in New Jersey, too. Anyways, my host dad had me translate the english websites for him to see if there were any mistakes. Everything was OK! Just a few things only a native speaker wold notice. I was happy I could help him out. :)

I've been riding my bike a lot lately. It just relaxes me and makes me happy. Plus I am getting my exercise! I love being out and about having my own adventure. The other day, my host mom, host brother, and I went and explored Zürich. It's so diverse and beautiful. We walked through a lot of the old city which were just these stoned paths and alleyways with cute little shops and restaurants. Later that night I met up with a lot of Aussie exchange students and went to Enge, which is a very popular place to swim in Zürich.

I meet new people everyday. Everything is still pretty new but I am finally beginning to settle in. All is well and will hopefully update this sooner.

LG aus Hüntwangen

Mark