Mai-May

It's hard to believe that May is already over. This past month has flown by, and I cannot imagine life outside of Switzerland. May has been a crazy busy month; toured a chocolate factory in Gruyere, watched the Landesgemeinde in Glarus, visited Basel with my class from school, explored Chateaux de Chillion on Lake Geneva, vacation in Tessin with my host family, and I cannot forget the wonderful four days I spent with Rotary in Paris! 

Over the first weekend of May, I visited the Gailler chocolate factory in Gruyere Switzerland, about four hours from me in the French part of the country. Rotex, an organization formed by former exchange students, planned a trip to this famous chocolate factory in the cute town of Gruyere. The tour was very well done, it went through the complete history of chocolate and how it arrived in Switzerland. When the tour ends, you enter a room filled with endless trays of chocolate for you to eat as much as you want. The chocolate was absolutely incredible, but by the end I could not eat any more! 

The next day was another Rotex event, this time in Glarus for the Landesgemeinde. This is one of the last examples of truly direct democracy in Switzerland. There are only two cantons who still hold a Landesgemeinde anymore, Glaurs and Appenzell Innerhoden. This event dates back hundreds of years and allows all citizens of the canton to come out and vote on the local issues and elect representatives for the cantonal government. The event was very interesting for me, being able to watch up-close Swiss politics in action. The citizens vote with bright orange papers by holding them up in the air. There is one person in the middle who determines the majority, and in a very close vote he has six people who tell him the majority in they're section. It was fascinating for me to experience something so Swiss. 

 In school here I am in the art class, as a main topic in school. It wouldn't be what I would pick for myself, but I couldn't choose. Over the year we spent a lot of time visiting museums and mid-month we took a train to Basel and studied art at two huge museums. We also stopped by the cathedral and went shopping for a bit before heading home. 

I also visited Chateaux de Chillion in the French part of Switzerland with a good friend of mine from Seattle. We started our day with a four hour train ride to Montreux very far from where both of us live. After arriving at the castle we spent hours wandering through the castle and reading up on its history. We both love history and I had a great time hearing about Switzerland's medieval past. The castle was absolutely beautiful, we could walk into almost every room! 

So that brings us to my week in Paris! Over the last full week in May I spent an awesome four days with Rotary. The week started very early on a Monday morning, meaning I had to be out of my house at 5 am. After a 5 hour journey to Paris I arrived with 24 other awesome exchange students in Paris, in the pouring rain. After un-packing at our two star hotel we set off to the metro and ride a tour bus through Paris. Thankfully the bus was covered, but we couldn't see anything and ended up opening the roof and standing in the rain. Tuesday started with a typical French breakfast of fresh bread and terrible coffee.  And with a trip up to the top of the Eiffel Tower! We walked to the second story and then took the elevator to the very top. It was a cloudy day, but you could still see the roofs of Paris. We then had free time until dinner to do what ever we wanted, and I set off with three other friends to go shopping. The three of us spent the entire day until dinner wandering into stores and spending way too much money. After eating dinner with everyone we set off on a walk through Paris in the night. I really think that Paris is the prettiest in the night and watching the Eiffel Tower sparkle is magical. On the way back to the hotel my friends and I got lost by walking on the wrong side of the street, but eventually found our way back a little before midnight. The next day we set off to the Louvre but really only spent enough time to quickly see the Mona Lisa, take the necessary picture and leave. The Museum was totally packed so I had no desire to spend any more than a few minutes inside. Our last day in Paris was spent in the castle of Versailles and even though it was my second time seeing the castle it was incredibly beautiful. I love Paris and getting to go back this year with my friends and having complete freedom was awesome. 

Time is going by so much faster the past few months and in very little time Ill be back home trying to adjust with being home. But for now, I try my best not to think about leaving and enjoy the time I have left. 

In Gruyere, with Madi, Carly, and Mark.

 

Chateaux de Chillon

With Noelle on the way to Basel

 

Paris at night! 

In the Louvre with; Laura, Sienna, and Kate

April

   So this is the last day of the month and of course I procrastinated until today to finish this blog post. This April has been absolutely crazy and not just because of the weather. I switched host families for the last time, which means I have less than three months of exchange left. It has been a crazy month here; we had a two week break for Easter, I spent my birthday in Italy, traveled to three new cantons, visited Europa Park in Germany, and celebrated my eight months in Switzerland.

   One of the two new cantons I visited this month was canton Jura, a french-speaking canton in the Northwest of Switzerland. It's the newest canton to be added to the Swiss Confederation. It was beautiful place to visit with my Canadian friend. We started in Delemont, the capitol of canton Jura where we walked through the town taking tons of pictures of the beautiful french buildings. We then set off to a small town called St. Ursanne, which caught both of us by surprise. It was like something out of a fairy tale. The town is secluded in a valley in the middle of the Swiss hills, to get into town we had to walk down from the train station. It was absolutely magical and we spent the time wandering the town and taking tons of pictures.

St. Ursanne, some pictures of the beautiful buildings.

In St. Ursanne, one of the many random doors we found. 

     During the second week of Easter Break, my host family took me to Lake Garda in the Northern section of Italy. We woke up extremely early on Wednesday to drive around four hours to Verona, a beautiful typical Italian city. Thankfully the weather held out as we explored the city and historic Roman Colosseum. We grabbed a quick bite of delicious Italian pizza and of course gelato. We then headed off to Bardolino, on Lake Garda where we found our bed and breakfast and took a nice long break before running through a rainstorm to find some pasta for dinner.

   On my birthday, we were in Bardolino and spent the entire morning on the goods market shopping and looking at all the items on sale. I bought myself five pairs of shoes, a wallet, two dresses, a few necklaces, and lots of postcards. We had perfect weather as we were shopping through the market and after we got back to the bed and breakfast it started raining again. For dinner we sent off to Garda, another small town on Lake Garda, for more Italian pasta.

  The last day of our Italian vacation was spent in Sermione, a half island on Lake Garda complete with a beautiful castle. We spent a few hours exploring the town and seeing the castle, before grabbing lunch and driving home.

My host mom and I on Lake Garda.

Five pairs of shoes, I love Italy. 

Me and my host brother in Verona, on top of the Colosseum.

   Last weekend, I set off to Shaffhausen, a small canton wedged between Austria and Germany to see the Rhine Falls with my friend Ana. The Rhine Falls is the biggest waterfall in Europe and thankfully we had perfect weather to watch the falls. It was beautiful, but from what I have heard from Niagara Falls this was in no comparison. We then headed off to Luzern to enjoy dinner outside in the great weather on the lake shore.

   I had great April and its so hard to believe that I have less than three months left here. Time seems to be flying by so much faster than I would like. I can't believe its almost over, I have so many more things that I have to do before I go home.

At the Rhine Falls, in Shaffhausen.

Found Subway in Zurich! 

  

March

   As the end of March comes to a close, it is now time again to write the monthly blog post. Its been a crazy month. After a long and snowy winter Spring has finally arrived to Switzerland. Like every month there have been adventures and plenty of new experiences. March has been a good month, but the slowest of the seven months I have been here. With only three new cantons I have seen to I have a lot more adventuring to do in the last three months of my exchange.

  So lets start with the last Rotex weekend of the year in Engleberg, during the last weekend of February. I started the weekend sick, I had been sick the week before but I wasn't going to miss out on the weekend just because I had a bad cold. I met all the other exchange students in Luzern, where we then over crowded a train to Engelberg. Once we arrived in Engelberg, which was covered in snow we had to walk with all our winter gear to the house we were going to spend the night at. After settling in we headed up to the mountain, with gondolas to go tubing and sledding. We played in the snow all afternoon, ate pasta for dinner, and stayed up all night talking and partying. In the morning after far too little sleep we went ice skating before taking the long train ride home.

Jess, Me, and Kim on the rink. 

Ice Skating! 

    My friend Emma and I love to adventure to new cantons in Switzerland, and a few weeks ago we ventured to canton Glarus, one of the neighbor canton of Uri. Even though, Galrus is one of my neighboring cantons it still took us over two hours to reach the small mountain town. We had to take a big circle around the alps and change trains five times. Once we got there, we realized that there really isnt very much to do in Glarus or much open, as it was Sunday. We found the beautiful old church, ate paprika chips in the park, and found a little cafe for some coffee and bought a postcard before setting off for home.

In Canton Glarus, with Emma. 

   In early January new Rotary Exchange students came to Switzerland, we call them newbies and most of them are from Australia. I spent a day in Zurich with some of the newbies and some other friends exploring the city and eating ice cream in a park. It was a beautiful day, once of the first warm ones this year.

Just playing on the swings in Zurich. 

Charlie's Angels. 

    Last weekend, I ventured to Frauenfeld canton Thurgau with two friends of mine. We spent our day walking through town and enjoying the nice Spring weather. We stumbled upon a castle tower that is now a museum that had no entrance fee! It was a great day a new canton, a new town, and another castle. 

   Its hard to believe that its already April, and that I don't have much more time in Switzerland. I've made a bucket list of the things I want to see before I go home and I am really trying to make the best of the time I have left. The next few months are going to fly by, my birthday is coming up, I'm going to Paris and Milan in May, and school is out in June. There are a lot of major events coming up and I plan to enjoy every minute of it. 

Sitting in a castle tower with Madi <3 

 

February...

   As February is coming to a close and I have been extremely good at neglecting my blog. It has been a very eventful month, with so much to write about. We have had snow, skiing adventures, and Fastnacht- a crazy five days of celebration, but well get back to that.

  Lets start with the snow, which has now come and gone a few times this month. I love the snow and the magical feeling it brings. I stopped riding my bike to and from school after slipping on ice in front of my school, which left me with a wonderful bruise on my knee. It has not only snowed a few times, but has been far too cold for my liking. The frozen Europe hit Switzerland a few weeks ago, which meant temperatures that reached -15 degrees. I wore a lot of scarves and started walking to school, as I am not Swiss and cannot ride a bike on icy roads.

My orchids in full bloom,
with the outdoors covered in a layer of snow.

   I have been skiing four times this year, which for me is far too little. But the times I have been skiing were absolutely wonderful and exhausting. I have a season pass for Andermatt from Rotary and a train pass, which allows me to go skiing when ever I want. Skiing in the Swiss Alps is breathtaking and I love every minute of it. No matter how wonderful skiing is, it is still very different than how we ski at home. First of all, we don't wake up at the crack of dawn to drive to Timberline, we leisurely get out of the house by 9 am and drive the 45 minutes to Andermatt. Like most ski areas in Europe, to reach the lifts and lodge, you ride a very large gondola to the top.

   The gondola ride itself is quite something different, for one thing on a beautiful day you are packed into it like sardines. If you are lucky enough to get to the edges of the gondola you get a wonderful view of your surroundings, but if you are stuck in the middle you don't get much of a view other than the ski equipment of the other people riding up the mountain. Once you reach the top, you can ski down to the lifts and rope pulls. The ski lifts themselves are not big or as comfortable as they are home, almost all of them are two riders and there are even rope pulls! The first time I rode one it took my about three times to figure out how to get on. Because you are skiing on the top half of the mountain, there aren't as many trees around which for me means less tree skiing and more wind. Even though skiing here is so much different than it is at home, I still love it and if I could I would ski every day if I could, but unfortunately I have to go to school... 
   

Skiing on the Gemstock, in Andermatt. 

 

Andermatt covered in snow. 

   The last two weeks I was on break, for Fastnacht, but again Ill get back to that later. I spent the first few days around Switzerland, and on one specific day I traveled to Zug to see a friend of mine from Seattle. I had been to Zug maybe five times, but I had never walked through the old town which is one of my favorite things to do when I visit a city. Zug has a very small old town, but it is also the richest canton in Switzerland and has highest population of English speakers. There is a beautiful clock tower, which is open to climb in the summer, and a few streets lined with little shops along the lake. We even stumbled upon an adorable old chaple tucked between the shops on the shore. 

The Zug clock tower, with eight cantons shields;
Zurich,  Bern, Luzern, Uri, Schwyz, Unterwalden, Glarus, Zug

   After a little exploring of Zug, we headed to Baar to find an American and British foods store. I have been missing quite a few American food items that I cant seem to find in Switzerland, so I was overly excited. We finally found it and discovered that not only do they have a wonderful collection of real American food, but a restaurant and lots of delicious sounding meals. Unfortunately we had already had lunch, so we drooled over all the food items they had in stock. There was marshmallow fluff, canned frosting, REAL brown sugar, pop tarts, cake mixes, and fake cheese. They had Tillamook cheddar, cream cheese, and rootbeer. I looked through everything but eventually decided that it would be better to just buy a rootbeer, because otherwise I would end up coming home with canned frosting and marshmallow fluff. 

Luxemburgerli, a 100 year old Swiss confection which
originated in Zurich and are absolutely my favorite. 

ROOTBEER!!

    We have finally arrived to Fastnacht! It's a celebration that lasts for six days and ends with Ash Wednesday, as Lent begins. It it the same idea as Mardi Gras or Carnival, but Switzerland has its own special way to celebrate. And central Switzerland even more, Luzern Fastnacht is one of the most famous and craziest in the country. I met some friends there on Thursday (Smutzigen Donnerstag) for the start of the festivities with a giant parade. This was something completely incomparable, for one thing the floats were not as big or as extravagant as American parades, but it it is the costumes and the Gurken music that you must experience. Everyone is dressed up in the most creative and ridiculous costumes I have ever seen and the detail and effort that is put into the festivities in mind boggling. There is confetti everywhere and all over you and your clothes and the whole city was shut down. I was completely in awe of the crazy traditions and I loved every single minute of it. Fastnacht is the one time of year when its ok to be crazy and dress up as something insane, because everyone else is dressed up crazy too! 

   What a February, of course there is so much more that has happened, but I have to post this by the end of the night or it will be posted in March. What? Its already March, I really don't know where all the time has gone or how I feel about having booked my ticket home. It's almost Spring which brings the birds back and the flowers in full bloom making Switzerland smell wonderful. 

A drum player in Luzern, with an extremely realistic mask!

I don't know how to explain this. 

Some creepy looking pumpkin people.

We were eight snow whites for Fastnacht! 

So It's January...

   So Its the 18th of January and I have been neglecting my blog for quite a long time. As I have school until three on Wednesdays I had a little time to catch everyone back home up on the last few weeks. I haven't written a blog since just after Christmas, and so much has happened since then!

   After Christmas, I spent 3 days on the Haldi (its one of the mountains around Altdorf) with my host family. They have a vacation home, built in the 1970's and still has the same decorations of the era. With no internet, and only cable television we spent a lot of time playing board games and sleeping till noon. Being on a mountain, there was deep snow everywhere, which naturally made everything magical. We went wandering, but for me it was basically hiking up a hill in the snow. Swiss people don't consider it hiking every time you walk up a mountain. We walked around the gorgeous landscape for about an hour until we reached a little restaurant on top of the mountain for something to drink and enjoyed the breathtaking scenery. We didn't carry sleds up the mountain with us, and because I was tired of walking, my host sister and I simply rolled down the hill.

   Most of my break was spent sleeping and watching movies at home, which was extremely relaxing. I traveled a little bit, in the rain, it rained the entire week all over the country. I went skiing for the first time in Switzerland!! Which was not a complete disaster, but unfortunately not my favorite day of skiing due to the fact that my skis were 5 times to large. Skiing in the Swiss alps  was absolutely beautiful, I don't think I have seen more beautiful mountains in my entire life. The weather was absolutely perfect, and after picking up skiis that arent 5 sizes too big I cannot wait to hit the slopes again!

 The day after New Years I traveled to Delemont, the capitol of canton Jura in the north of Switzerland. In the pouring rain, thankfully I dont melt. But when we arrived everything was closed, we had forgoten that the day after New Years Day is also a holiday. There was no-one out, which made Delemont so much more magical. Walking through the city, we might have seen 5 people the whole day, but to me that was the best part. Ana and I had the town to ourselves and explored the big church and all the old town. We ahd a great day, even though Ana's shoes were soaking wet and it was extremely cold. I woudl lvoe to see the town when its not puring down rain, were planning to go back in the spring.

  Geneva: The only 'big city' in Switzerland I have not visisted was Geneva, or Genf in German. Because of my geographical location, getting to Geneva takes a rediculous amount of time. And I wanted to make a trip there during break with some friends of mine. I woke up far too early on the last thursday of Christmas break to meet my friends in Bern at noon, which meant already 2 and a half hours in a train, and that was just to the halfway point. By the time we reached Geneva, I had been on a train for 4 and a half hours. It was pouring down rain and cold, but we set out to the United Nations building to get a tour. Unfortunately when we arrived, we were informed that the UN building is closed for vacation. We also learned that we will not be able to visit the Red Cross Museum for the length of our exchange, its closed for repairs until 2013. I personally was not happy, but we went shopping and grabbed somethign to eat before taking the very long trip home. Next time we go to Geneva, I am making sure we have good weather and the UN is open.

  Well that pretty much catches up to last week, the first week of school after break. And thankfully, we only have 4 more weeks after this week before another two week break for Fasnacht! Next weekend I'll be going to Germany with my host family. I will try to write another post sometime in January, but you never know!

Me and my host sister, Isabelle on the Haldi.



Delemont, in the rain..



Geneva, with Caroline, Me, Madi, and Veronica.

Christmas Day

  Waking up on Christmas morning to find that nothing had changed over night, was a very strange experience for me. No new presents under the tree or stocking filled by Santa Claus in the night. Actually, I got to sleep in until around 11, which I have to say was very nice, to shower before leaving for lunch at noon. Without the anticipation of 'Santa Clause' and the decorations around the house it really did not feel like at all like Christmas.

  I think the fact that even though it was the 25th of December and it did not at all feel like Christmas, I was not very homesick. After sleeping until 10:30 am, the longest I have ever slept on Christmas morning, we all got ready to leave for Christmas lunch at noon. One of the strangest things that day was the meal, it was a completely delicious 5 course lunch, but the fact we went out for lunch and no one cooked was very  strange. At home, the food is a huge part of the Christmas tradition, something that doesn't change with the passing years. I can always count on Swedish meatballs (which are almost always turkey) for Christmas eve and my grandmothers delicious cinnamon rolls on Christmas morning. I guess in Switzerland, the food is not as important as the people you celebrate with.

  When we arrived at the castle, which also happens to have a restaurant, I met about 17 different people from my host dad's side of the family. His parents, sibling with their children and girlfriends. I can't remember everyone's name, but they were all very nice to me and welcomed me as a part of the family. We then sat down for the huge meal; starting with salad, a wonderful soup, the main course of beef and potatoes, and lastly my absolute favorite dessert.

  When lunch was over, everyone said their goodbyes and went home. To me, it did not feel at all like Christmas. While it was an absolutely wonderful lunch, it wasn't really Christmas without my family and the traditions I miss from home.

The castle where we ate for Christmas lunch, complete with a moat. 

Christmas Eve

  Christmas Eve in Switzerland... was a new experience, being away from home on Christmas for the first time in sixteen years. It wasn't at all the same, but a wonderful new memory and I had a wonderful day. I am so thankful that I was able to celebrate it how I did, but it wasn't the same holiday without being at home.

 I started the day by sleeping until 11, ate a quick breakfast, and then met my host sister in town. We then set off to her father's jewelry store so that she could pick out a few pieces of jewelry from her godfather, who makes some of the jewelry sold in her fathers shop. She spent just about two hours deciding which earrings, necklace, and ring she would want. I was perfectly happy trying on the various rings, made from mountain crystal. She eventually decided what she liked better, and we set off for home.

  My host mom's parents arrived around 3pm, they are from Germany but have lived in Switzerland for almost 30 years and only speak High German. Which for me is absolutely wonderful. I talked with them about their travels around the world, I am completely amazed of how many places they have been. It was so nice to understand almost everything that people are saying. They left for church around 4:30, and I skyped my family. It was wonderful to talk to them and hear about the preparations for Christmas eve which I missed very much.

  When everyone was back from church we started dinner with an apero (basically oer d'ovres) of foie gras, fresh bread and champagne. If anyone doesn't know, foie gras is duck liver, and it truthfully did not taste as bad as I thought. Apparently we ate the expensive stuff which to me tasted like chicken, with a very strange texture. The apero was quite entertaining, because my host parents had another one earlier, where they drank a few glasses of champagne with the employees of their jewelry store. So my host dad was singing, absolutely horribly, around the house.

  For dinner; we ate roasted duck, brussel sprouts, potatoes, red cabbage, and pears. It was a wonderful dinner, and afterwords we opened presents! I think I received more presents this year than I ever have at home. I received so many wonderful gifts and I was so happy to have had such a happy Christmas eve.