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.