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.

My First Adventure

--Wrote this on the plane from Dublin to Switzerland but didn't have the chance to post it until now--

I don’t think I have ever had a crazier time with flights. First off, our flight from Sacramento to Philadelphia was delayed an hour and a half because of weather in Philly. And I only had an hour and a half layover before my flight to Zurich. Not good. Jason, my plane pal, and I sprinted to the next terminal and our gate (which, of course, was located at the very very very end) just to find out that we just missed it. Great. So next we went to Special Services who got us, after a very long time of watching “Rosa” press f5 over and over and over and over and over and over again, a flight to Dublin and then to Zurich.

Alright, sure, sounds good right? Wrong. The flight to Dublin was fine. It was long and dark and loud but it was fine. But then we find out after we land that “Rosa” obviously didn’t know what she was doing and put the two of us on different flights to Zurich. Go “Rosa”! Jason’s flight left at 11:15am and mine left at 5pm (Dublin time). Well that was no good so we ran around the airport trying to find the US Airways ticket desk, and eventually fixed everything. Luckily our bags are supposedly with us but I guess we’ll find that out when we land in Zurich at 2pm (Zurich time).

Jason and I are so pro.

I’ve emailed my host family so hopefully they get it in time and will be at the airport to pick me up. But if they don’t, oh well, more adventure.

Somewhere over Ireland.

Swiss Air :)

And We're Off...

Almost.
My flight was scheduled to leave about an hour ago now but I am still sitting on the airplane in the Sacramento airport waiting for Philly to give us the ok to take off. I guess there is some crazy weather going on there? I don't know. All I know is we're delayed at least an hour and a half and if my other flight is on time, I'm going to miss it. Fortunately it probably won't be on time because it's doing the same thing as us - waiting for Philly to give the thumbs up. But I thought, as long as I'm stuck here with free wifi, why not make blog post number two?

I honestly don't feel like I am leaving. It hasnt hit me yet. It almost did but then we got delayed and.. I'm still in Sac rather than over Utah or Nebraska or something awesome. I do have a window seat though so that is pretty cool. There is also nobody sitting next to me which is doubly cool. I can spread out and be as large as I want. Score! And I have met some pretty sweet Air Force guys who are trying to convince me that Air Force is definitely the way to go. So far it has been fun.

Update time! We're only here for about 10 more minutes. 9:53 is the time we're supposed to take off and we're due to arrive in Philly about 5:40 so that gives us about a half an hour to get to our second flight. If it is on time that is... Better than it was looking before. So that should be all for now unless we have a crazy layover in Philly due to the delays. Next post will most likely be from Switzerland!

9 More Days!

This has been an amazing summer - camping in Pismo, Lost Canyon Capernaum camp, road trip to SoCal, Disneyland, Markleeville, Cal state fair. I couldn't have asked for a better time. But now I am ready to start my adventures in SWITZERLAND!

I will be boarding a plane at 8:30 AM on Sunday, August 14th and landing in Zurich where my first host family will meet me at 8:25 AM on Sunday, August 15th. Man am I going to be disoriented! The very next day I will be attending language camp in Zurich that goes on for about three weeks.

For those of you that don't know what I am doing or why I am doing it, starting in 9 days I will officially be a Rotary International Exchange Student. I've got my man blazer already and I will be picking up my business cards and my visa in the next couple of days. I applied for this program last fall, when everyone else was applying to colleges. I interviewed in January and was notified of my selection in March. Orientation in April and June, flight in August, and then I am on my own in grand ol' Switzerland. I'll be living in Switzerland and attending high school there until late June 2012.

I will be staying with at least two, most likely three, host families over the course of my stay in Switzerland. And I will be living in St. Gallen, a town in the northeast corner of the country, about 20 miles from the Austrian border and an hour south of Germany. It's got an amazing old cathedral that I can't wait to see for myself and is also home to St. Gallen University. The University has a boys lacrosse team which will be awesome to watch because I will definitely miss being able to play.

And why I am doing it? Just because I can. :)

I'll attempt to keep this blog updated while I am living the dream in Switzerland but I can't make any promises. It could become my new favorite thing though, so make sure to follow it if you want updates.

Love!