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.
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| In Gruyere, with Madi, Carly, and Mark. |
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| Chateaux de Chillon |
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| With Noelle on the way to Basel |
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| Paris at night! |
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| In the Louvre with; Laura, Sienna, and Kate |
