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!
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| Me and my host sister, Isabelle on the Haldi. |
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| Delemont, in the rain.. |
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| Geneva, with Caroline, Me, Madi, and Veronica. |
