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.