Old MacDonald had a farm, EE-I-EE-I-O

Fall is definitely on its way here because it is foggy and freezing every morning. Sometimes the freezing part sticks around all day too.

So I am currently on my last week of my three-week break from school. I spent the last two weeks on a farm in Germany which turned out to be a lot of fun. And the time just flew by. I worked a little on the farm (but not too much, it is vacation after all. And plus I didn't come to Europe expecting to be working on a farm so I didn't have mud-boots or any other clothes suitable to working on a farm), rode a horse, explored some 700 year old churches, toured my first castle and a few more, fed some monkeys, roasted a pig, journeyed to Stuttgart, and climbed some towers. All-in-all a successful vacation, yea? And a good introduction to Germany I think.

Ferry to Meersburg

One of the three farm kittens

The barn

The cows

Dinner

In Meersburg

A view from the top of the Meersburg castle

My first castle

Cranes. Had enormous nests on these roofs. I believe it's a wildlife preserve.

Feeding Barbary Macques

In Stuttgart

The "New Castle" in Stuttgart

In Stuttgart

Gorgeous castle in Ludwigsburg

Pumpkin festival on the castle's grounds

Kürbis Kuh
(Pumpkin Cow)

Just the hunting castle. No big deal.

The King and Queen who used this castle were both very fat and very mean.
(All I got from the German tour)

"Boyfriend" Lino

Middle of Ravensburg

Top of that tower

I approve of this graffiti 

Paintings inside the tower

The farmer, Gustel

Before

After

Random church

Classy

Oh - a good, quick sidenote. My very very very first impression of Germany was this:  Britta, Anja, and I crossed the border and stopped to go grocery shopping because it is so much cheaper in Germany than in Switzerland. The store was small and completely packed. One could barely move a cart through there, and the carts here are four-wheel drive. When we finally got through the cashier and had packed our groceries into bags, the cashier gave us three roses. Why? I have absolutely no idea.

Next week when I go back to school I will be in a different class. I am moving up a year and will be in the Spanish class rather than the Math and Physics class. I'm nervous but excited and I hope being in Spanish will not mess up my German too badly. First though, I'm off to a really nice hotel in Germany for a family reunion. Should be fun :)

Some September Photos

Rotex hike to Meglisalp

Emily (Canada) and I after the follow-up meeting in St. Gallen

And one thing i forgot to tell about.
One day after school I went with Jade, a student from the US, to a cow show in Herisau, where she lives now.We were a little late so we didn't see much but the cows parade through the streets on their way back home. That was still cool though. Sometimes the cows didn't want to cooperate so we'd have to run out of the way to avoid being trampled down. There were yodelers and bells and it was all very Swiss and very fun to watch. The street was a nightmare to walk through afterwards though.

So Much to Say, So Little German

It's been a while. Sorry about that. It seems like every time I sit down to write, something else comes up. So prepare yourselves for a nice long blog.

School is pretty much all I know now. I am in the second class (equivalent to a sophomore class I believe) and have chosen the "mathematics and physics" major. That means that the majority of my classes are math or math-related. Math is definitely one of my favorite classes because it's (almost) a universal language and besides a couple different symbols here and there, it's identical to my 8th and 9th grade math. Of course, there lies a problem as well. I don't remember everything. The basic ideas I've got. But the special cases and the minute details have left me. The same goes for Biology, Physics, and Chemistry. I don't understand much in those classes.

I have twelve classes: Biology, Math, German, History, Chemistry, Physics, English, Economics, Religion, Geography, Music, and P.E. I just found out that I don't have to attend my English class though! Woohoo! This means that on Wednesdays I don't have to go to school until 10:20. Awesome. And it means that on Tuesdays I am only at school from 7:30 until 11. Again, awesome. Overall I have a pretty good schedule. I definitely have less classes than the others in my class, which is great.

My German is coming along slowly. Unlike the other exchange students at my school, all of my classes are conducted in German (the other three students are in the bilingual classes). So by the end of the day I am usually wiped out from trying to listen and understand the teachers and the students and the lessons. It'll be the best for me in the end though because I am sure it will help vastly improve my language skills. I can already understand a good deal if it is directed at me and can pick out key words in a lecture. I'm just not so hot at responding to people in German if it's anything more than a "ja oder nein" question. I'll get better. Just can't wait to dream in German. I'm starting with a beginner's German course at school one day a week though so that should help too.

Two Sundays ago the exchange students in the St. Gallen area were invited on a hike with some of the local Rotaract (college-aged Rotary) to Meglisalp in Appenzell. Apenzell is the postcard, typical Switzerland and is absolutely gorgeous. The hike was hard, but beautiful, and a lot of fun. Hiking is pretty much the Swiss national pastime so the trails were actually fairly crowded. Not Target on a Saturday crowded, but crowded for trails in a mountain. I really hope to go hiking in that area a lot more.

The next Saturday I helped out my Rotary club with their "Hands-on Project". I am not positive if the El Dorado Hills club calls it "Hands-on" but it was a volunteer project that the rotary and local Rotaract where working on. We drove about 10 minutes into Abtwil and built a garden for a special-needs home. Seeing the disabled kids and adults really made me miss Capernaum though so that was a little hard. The work was fun though. I can now build a wall and a stone path. With mortar and all.

Then the next day was our Follow-Up meeting here in St. Gallen. It was nice because this time I didn't have to travel for three hours. Only five minutes. We talked about the same things again- do this, don't do this. Important stuff, don't get me wrong. It just felt like it went on forever. We had Olma bratwurst for lunch though (it's amazing) and then walked around St. Gallen a bit in the rain after the meeting. It was Sunday though so nothing but McDonald's was open and even that was fairly deserted. It was a really fun day and it was so nice to see everyone again after our Zurich German school ended weeks ago.

Tomorrow is Bern! I can't wait. I hear that city is absolutely gorgeous and it's Switzerland's capital city so of course I have to go see it. Once again it will be great to see the other exchangies again. We have to bring a dessert from our home country so I made some brownies tonight at another US exchange student's house. They ended up tasting a lot like German chocolate cake mix, which makes sense because I used German (probably Swiss) chocolate. I don't know. I just know they're pretty darn good. On the way home I met and talked to the cutest old lady on the bus. She told me she liked my headband (in Swiss German) so I had to tell her "Entschuldigung, ich spreche nicht gut Deutsch." so she began talking to me in English a little and I'd answer in German. It was good and my first experience speaking German to a nice stranger on the bus. Now that I read that sentence it sounds terrible, but don't worry, there was nothing sketchy about it and it put me in the best mood ever. I pretty much skipped home. So THANK YOU TINA for making me the gray flowered headband thing because without it I never would have spoken with that nice lady.

Only one more week of school and then we have a three week break. Pretty cool. I will be spending the first two weeks of the break on a farm in Germany and half of the last week at a super nice hotel, also in Germany. I've looked at both of them online and they look great. Lots of pictures will come of that :) And maybe some more German too. That would be great! Then after the break I get to meet my second host family! I'm really excited for that because we have only emailed once and I haven't met any of my other families yet. I'm sure they'll be awesome though.

Man, I have done so much, and I have so much coming up that I am sure I have forgotten something. Look out for another blog post next week with a lot of pictures and the things I have forgotten.

Three Weeks In

This past week has been full of indecisive weather. First it's hot, then it's freezing and raining. And I can never seem to dress according to the weather. Until today. Personal accomplishment. I think we have moved into the rainy autumn season now though, so no more shorts and sandals. I'm going to have to go buy some boots soon!

Language school ended on Friday. It's a very bittersweet milestone because while getting up early and traveling for an hour to an hour and a half was beginning to get a little old, I'm not going to have the chance to see the other exchange students every day. We all made friends and memories but now we're forced to move on to Swiss school and make new friends. It was weird because it almost felt like the exchange was over, but really, we hadn't begun yet! Luckily everyone has to come to St. Gallen for our follow-up orientation meeting in a couple weeks.

Exchange students and the "Door to Hell" in Zurich.
On a language school assignment.

Guess where I went on Saturday. Highland Games! It wasn't nearly as cool as the one my family went to a couple months ago, but it was still a lot of fun. There were a lot of odd medieval-dressed people walking around though. We (me, Alejo, Jade, and Anja) didn't stay there for long so we walked around St. Gallen for a bit before Alejo and Jade had to leave. We sat on the grass by the cathedral while the bells were going off. It was so loud but so nice and old and European feeling as well.

Highland Cattle! My favorite.

Bagpipes! Or in German, Dudelsack!

Yesterday I went to church with Britta. She goes to an Evangelical church so it was a lot more like a Catholic service than I am used to. There were hymn books and stained glass windows and pews and the priest wore robes. It made me miss Lakehills a lot. I didn't understand a single thing in case you were wondering.

Later my family went to an event in Wil. It was an event celebrating the forest because I guess 2011 is the  year of the forest? I think someone said that the UN decided that. I really don't know. But it was fun. There were a lot of trails and stations with things to do. There was this hanging bridge over a huge gully that we walked on and we did a barefoot walk where you walk through all these different kinds of terrain and finally end up walking down a stream. Those were both a lot of fun. The weather was nice so we didn't take umbrellas or coats or anything. Bad decision. Not long after we got there it began drizzling, then raining, then pouring. Luckily we were normally sheltered by the trees, but towards the end we were getting soaked. We finally decided to go home because we were drenched. My shoes are still wet.

This morning Britta and I went to the Kantonsschule in order to meet with a school official and pick out my classes. I am "majoring" in mathematics and physics, meaning that the majority of my classes will be math-related. In fact, I believe he said that seven of my classes are. Some of my other classes will most likely be French, Spanish, Religion, Music, German, and History. I just hope I don't have to sing in Music class. I'm going to be put in the second year at the school, so I guess I'm a sophomore. They never put exchange students in the fourth year because that is when the students have to take exam after exam after exam. I do wish I was in the third year though because then maybe the other students would be closer to my age but it makes sense that I am in the second. I mean, I can barely communicate with people. We'll see how it all goes later though. I start on Wednesday.

Two Weeks...

Sorry for the lack of update but time goes by so fast when you're in Switzerland! It's already been almost two weeks but it feels like just two days. I've been doing something every day whether it's going to explore in Luzern or just German class in Zurich.

Last Friday I went with my host family and another family to Lake Constance (or in German, the Bodensee). It was absolutely gorgeous there and you can see both Austria and Germany from it which is pretty incredible. And there were swans swimming around! I never really realized that there are no swans in California. Apparently they are pretty dangerous though because the kids would swim away from them screaming "Achtung! Achtung!!" I guess they attack people a lot. I've stayed away.

Lake Constance

So Montag bis Freitag I go to German school in Zurich. This means an hour train ride in the morning and an hour and a half in the afternoon (it seems to like to take its time getting us home...). But my schedule is this. Wake up at 6:30. Catch the 7:15 bus to the train station. Meet up with 3 other students and get on the 7:48 train to the Zurich Flughafen (Airport). Meet up with 2 students on the train. Meet up with 2 more at our stop in Wil. Get off the train at the Flughafen and wait 5 minutes for our second train to come. Stand in the doorway for five minutes trying not to fall over until we pull into Zurich Oerlikon where we walk across the street to the Migros Klubschule and go to school. School. School. School. And go home the same way. I saw a real live fox while I was on the train. That made my day. It was really cute.

At school we learn how to conjugate verbs, form sentences, and speak. It's a pretty good program and it's a great way to get to know the other exchange students in this area of Switzerland. We have about an hour for lunch and so we usually go to this plaza where there are a bunch of huge chessboards on the ground. Anyone can come and play - it's pretty cool.

Everyone speaks English here. Seriously. Everyone. So I can communicate with pretty much anyone. As soon as I learn how to speak to people though, I'm going to have to ask them to stop speaking English to me because if they don't, I'll never learn. It's not so bad not understanding people when they speak German, and especially Swiss German. I've become used to just tuning them out. That sounds bad but it's not. I don't get Swiss German at all! It's almost a completely different language compared to the High German that I'm learning. I have watched some TV and a couple movies with my host siblings and I never have any idea what is going on.. Obviously I don't have a hold on the language yet.

I start real school here in St. Gallen next Monday, as far as I know. I don't know my classes or anything yet though. I do know that 3 other exchange students that live either in St. Gallen, like me, or close by, will be attending the Kantonsschule am Burggraben as well. I can't wait to meet Swiss people though!

My School

 Last weekend my YEO took me with her family to a Bavarian celebration in Appenzell. There was really good Bavarian sausages (where you are supposed to peel the skin off it before eating.. never done that before), a sweet band with lots of horns, and of course, Appenzell yodelers. It was so much fun! Half of the people were wearing the traditional dress or lederhosen but it looked so natural. I honestly wouldn't look twice if I saw someone dressed like that wandering down the street here. In El Dorado Hills though, it just wouldn't happen.
P.S. I didn't just sit down on that boy's lap. I was pushed down. Not my choice.

Part of the Bavarian band

Appenzell Yodelers

Here are two videos, one of the yodelers and one of the band.

I went to St. Gallerfest last weekend as well. St. Gallerfest is St. Gallen's town festival sort of thing. Every major city seems to have something of this sort, like Zurich's street parade. It was cool walking through the old city center with two other exchange students from the area, Conor and Jade. It was pretty much just bar after beer garden after bar after beer garden though. There were so many people, it was almost impossible to walk. There was this one band on the main stage almost all night that was fun to listen to though. They were all older and played all English songs like Johnny B. Good. It was interesting.

Last week, after language school, a group of the exchange students went swimming in Lake Zurich. It's been so crazy hot and humid lately that it felt amazing to swim in the cold lake. There is a large fountain in the lake that we all swam to and around. When the water from the fountain is falling on you, it's as if you are in a huge rainstorm.

Lake Zurich

Yesterday morning I went to Gais for a family brunch. It was gorgeous there too but it was very foggy because it FINALLY RAINED! I'm so glad it's not crazy hot and humid anymore. I even have my window open today! After Gais I got on a train to go to Luzern and meet up with a bunch of exchange students and oldies that I hadn't met yet. It was a long train ride there but so much fun once I got there. I wasn't expecting so many people.. There were about 20 of us just wandering through the streets of Luzern. We visited the dying lion monument that tourists love and took a group picture.Then we almost took a boat ride but didn't feel like figuring it out so instead we hung out in a park and just talked like old friends. It really is amazing how exchange students can do that. We sat in that park for hours. I left around 9:30 though since I had a 2 and a half train ride home. Luzern is gorgeous and I can't wait to go back and explore some more!

Gais

In Luzern

Unfortunately there is no women's lacrosse team in St. Gallen - only men's. So I am most likely going to play rugby instead. I can't wait to try that because I have wanted to play for so long!

So I have one more week of language camp and then school!! I'll fill you all in in about a week.

Special shout out to Jennifer <3

A Full Day

At 2 o'clock the Rotary Exchange Officer, Karin Vilseimer, picked me up and we went to 1) get my GA pass (which I am SO EXCITED about! It allows me to use almost any mode of transportation in Switzerland for absolutely free.), 2) get my residence permit from the city hall, and 3) open a Swiss bank account. Apparently it is very hard for Americans to open accounts now but Rotary knows how to pull a few strings. So I officially have a Swiss bank account.

On our way back to her house we stopped at a little bakery that also had chocolates, cakes, pies, and other sweets. I couldn’t tell you what half of the things were but they all looked delicious! Karin bought a loaf of bread and a small, plum cake to bring home. There I met her two sons and we all had some of the cake. It was amazing. Her house is amazing as well. I am in awe. There is a possibility that they may be my third host family, but we’ll see. I hope so though because they were a lot of fun. Her oldest son and I became lost on our way back home. I felt so helpless because I couldn’t recognize a thing. He’d ask me if the street looked familiar and all I could say was that I didn’t know. We found it eventually though.

On Saturday Karin is most likely going to take me to some event that a friend of hers puts on. They are from Bavaria (in Germany) and do folk music. So that should be interesting. Also on Saturday is the St. Gallerfest. That, I believe, is like a big town party, or festival. I think there is music and food and events and shopping. But I could be making that all up. Either way, I’ll be going to that with my host family. Should be a packed week with language school and all those events but I’m looking forward to it.

Ich bin in der Schweiz!

I’M IN SWITZERLAND!

I was successfully picked up at the airport when we arrived about 14:30. Britta and Andreas’s father met me there. And of course Quarri too. I already love that dog. He’s a lot different than Stewart but he’s adorable. He sat on me the whole hour drive to St. Gall.

We first dropped Grandpa off at home and then went home ourselves, lugged my suitcases upstairs, and I went to bed. I had slept maybe an hour on the plane ride to Dublin but couldn’t make myself sleep anymore. So naturally I was out as soon as I got in bed. I woke up later, met Anja and Andi, had dinner, met Nino when he came home from soccer, and went to bed again.

Today I woke up at 7 which was really strange considering I hadn’t slept while traveling. Since I was up so early I went on a walk with Britta and some other women. They all brought their dogs and they just roamed around while we walked. They are all surprisingly well-behaved! Once again, nothing like Stewart. We walked through the Peter and Paul Wild Animal Park where they have deer and mountain goats and other animals and it was just gorgeous. There are so many trees around here, forests but not like Tahoe forests. And the cows! They are everywhere! They watch the dogs as we walk by.

At the end of the trail we were walking on Britta bought some marmalade from a farm. There was also produce, eggs, honey, and other things for sale. The whole thing was really cute and reminded me a lot of Apple Hill back home.

The view from part of the trail

Afterwards we went into the city and explored a bit. I saw the train station where I am to meet some exchange students tomorrow morning and travel to Zurich to the language school with them. They already know the way because they went today. I stayed home in order to recover from yesterday and get some paperwork and stuff out of the way. I saw the cathedral that’s a World Heritage Site I didn’t get to go in or to look around much or even take pictures because we weren’t there for long. I walked down the main street of St. Gallen and visited Andi’s office. The old town is so cool. They have crazy decorated windows that jut out from the buildings and are just gorgeous. And there are flowers all over the buildings, spilling over the ledges. It really does look like something out of a fairytale. We came home and not much later Nino, Anja, and one of Anja’s friends came home for lunch. I guess they get about a 2 hour break for lunch, and so will I when I go to the Kantonsschule in three weeks.

I wish my pictures did this area justice. But they don’t.

The train station. 

St. Gallen's main street.

Next to Andi and Britta's office.

The view from my window.