Bonne Année 2011!!

December 31, 2010… Last blog post of the year:

Salut!

Well here we are at the end of 2010, and it has been quite a year, one I will never forget. Looking back at this year, I never would have been able to anticipate what would happen. This year probably held some of the biggest changes of my life; graduating from high school, getting my braces off (not quite so life changing haha), moving to Switzerland, learning a foreign language… yeah the list just goes on and on. But it's been a great year, and I can't wait to find out what's in store for 2011!

Next year I'll post all the photos from my trip to St. Moritz and the Glacier Express.

Au revoir,

Becky

Joyeux Noël tout le monde de La Suisse!

Joyeux Noël, MERRY CHRISTMAS!!

I hope you all had a wonderful Christmas! Here's a little update and video about what I've been up to this December.

Right now there's a flurry of snowflakes falling outside my window, and I can't help singing "Let it Snow, Let it Snow, Let it Snow" over and over again. But anyway, back to December, and what Christmas season is like over here.

The first weekend in December we celebrated the "Fete de St. Nicholas." This is basically a festival where (at least in my village) one person dresses up as St. Nick (robe and all) and then a bunch of other people are "barefautares" (sp?), dressed all in black (they even painted our faces black), who are supposed to "scare" the bad children. I got to be a barefautare with the Jeuness in Sorens, and we went from house to house giving children bags of peanuts and oranges. When we got to the house, usually the parents had presents set out on the porch that St. Nicholas would them give the children, and then a barefautare would give the parents a switch, just in case the children mis-behaved. :) It was a really neat experience!

I also went to the Fete de St. Nicholas in Fribourg with Laura and her family. At this festival they carried St. Nick around the town on a chair and sang, so strange, but fun. :) The pictures do a much better job of explaining.

In Switzerland they have a lot of "Christmas Markets" in the different towns, and I got to visit a couple of different ones. They're basically a bunch of little wooden booths set up selling all sorts of different things (a lot like a craft fair). They're really fun to walk thru, and it's always fun to see all the different little Swiss things.

During second week of December I went to St. Gallen to see Vanessa and take the ACT. Yeah, I couldn't get away from that test even in Switzerland. But on the plus side I got to see Vanessa and we had a lot of fun doing things in St. Gallen. I took the ACT at this boarding school that cost around $70,000 a year, so yeah let's just say there was more Gucci there then in Milan. It was a really pretty school, and the room I took the test in overlooked the city of St. Gallen, so who knows how good I did, but it was definitely a pretty view! Afterwards, I got to eat lunch at Vanessa's school and meet her friends, and then she and I walked around St. Gallen.

 On December 12, my Rotary YEO here took me and the other exchange student in my Rotary club to Geneva with his family for the Fete de l'Escalde. It was so fun! Everywhere there were people dressed in period costumes, and marching around playing the drums and fife. I also got to see the Swiss President, who was speaking at a sort of assembly type thing in a park. It's so crazy how different the security is here! In the U.S. you would never be able to just walk into a tent and here the President speak. We walked up to the top of the bell tower in the cathedral, and had a magnificent view of the city. After all that we watched the parade, and broke this cauldron made out of chocolate (apparently it's a tradition). Ah how I love Swiss traditions! :)

For Christmas my family celebrates on the 24 and the 25. On the 24 we got all dressed up, and Sophie did my hair and make-up (it's so fun to have a big sis :) ),  and then went to Jacques brother's house to have supper with all of his family. We had a big multi-course meal, and on the wall was a list of the course and who was supposed to help serve it, and I felt so special when they even remembered to put me on there. :) After dinner everyone started singing Christmas carols and then Swiss songs, and then someone got the bright idea to ask me to sing. I, of course, tried my best to get out of it, but to no avail, so I had the express privilege of singing the national anthem a cappella. Yeah, easily one of the most mortifying moments of my life. However, even with my awful rendition of "The Star Spangled Banner," it was still a great night. After that we went to mid-night mass, and then off to bed!

On the 25 Sophie and I prepared Christmas lunch because Francine had had to work the night before. I love how pretty the Swiss make there food, every plate was like a little piece of artwork. A bunch of family came over, and we opened Christmas presents with everyone. Sophie, Julien, and Simon gave me a really pretty pearl drop necklace, and a really sweet card, and Jacques and Francine gave me 2 private ski lessons (SO excited to start!!). Then we ate lunch, and chatted as the snow fell outside the window. All in all a VERY Merry Swiss Christmas!! :)

Here's a video from what I've been up this December:

Click on this link to view my Christmas Movie!

Au revoir,

Becky

Lots to be Thankful for!

So I had this post all written out, but somehow forgot to post it. So while you're munching on Christmas cookies, here's a little story about Swiss Thanksgiving. :)

HAPPY THANKSGIVING!!!

Here in Switzerland they of course don't celebrate Thanksgiving, so I decided to spread the turkey love to Europe. :)
Yesterday I cooked Thanksgiving dinner for my family, and I think they actually liked it. :)  It was a bit of a challenge because no one eats turkey here, so I ended up just making turkey breasts instead of a giant gobbler, and I had to make the stuffing from scratch, but all in all it was definitely a success. My mom sent me some decorations, canned sweet potatoes for the casserole, and the surprise favorite,  cranberry sauce (what can I say? They know whats good.) I was scrambling around like a mad women trying to get everything ready, but fortunately Francine helped me, and my mom was nice enough to skype with me like 20 times, while I was trying to figure out if the turkey was finished. Here are some pics from the evening:

Bonne Appetite!

Today was a little tough because of course I had to go to school, but in English class I told everyone what Thanksgiving was and for the rest of the day my class kept saying "Appy Tanksgiving Becky!" or my personal favorite "Appy Turkey Day!", they are all so sweet! :) I got to skype with everyone back home before they all chowed down, which was really great-not quite the same as being there, but it was nice to say hi to everyone. So all in all not to shabby of a day. And to keep up the tradition I'm going to list a few of the things I'm thankful for this Thanksgiving.
First of all, I'm so thankful for my familys, both at home and at my Swiss home. I am so blessed to have such amazing parents that would let me go on this adventure, and that the've been there for me when things have gotten tough. Thank you so much for sending me care packages, you have no idea how much I love (and use) all the things you send me! Thank you also for taking the time to talk with me when I have problems, even when you're swamped. I'm also very thankful for the friends I've made here, both Swiss and the other exchange students, I've had so much fun going on all these different adventures with you guys! Also, I'm so thankful for my friends back home, thanks for the cards and skype dates :) I love getting to hear about what's going on over there, miss you guys lots!
And last, but most definitely not least; thank you God for giving me this opportunity to grow, learn, and have one of the most challenging and amazing years of my life!

Hope you all had a wonderful Thanksgiving!

Au revoir,

Becky

Fall Vacanes 2010-Belgium Voyage

 

Here's a video from my trip to Belgium. I'll post the story soon, promise! :)

Fall Weekend in Bern Video

Part 8: Rotary Weekend in Bern

October 16-17:
The first weekend of Fall Vacanes the Swiss Rotex hosted a weekend in Bern for all the exchange students. Zion and I decided to go to Bern early and walk around for a bit, because neither of us had ever been past the train station. Unfortunately, it was raining pretty hard, so rather than trudge thru the downpour, we stopped to get coffee. We found this really cute little café (quick vocab lesson, "café" means coffee in French), and sat and talked until it was just drizzling outside. Then we braved the weather and walked around the outdoor market set up in the middle of the city. While we were browsing, we found these little Edelweiss hats, and so of course Zion and I had to get matching ones. :) Around noon we met up with the other exchange students at the train station, and headed out to visit a cookie factory. The best part about this factory was that there were free samples of every cookie there. So Zion and I embarked on a "no cookie left behind" feeding frenzy. The cookies were delicious, but by the end we were beginning to question wether eating our way thru six plus aisles of chocolatey goodness was such a great idea. After all that sugar, we heaved our way back to the train, and then walked for a good 30 min to this camping chalet thing that was out in the country a little outside of Bern. Once we got there, we played some games, and got to know each other. (Because there are only 11 out of the 100-something exchange students in the French speaking area, I didn't know very many of them.) Later in the evening, we did this activity where we had to act out a movie; without talking. My group choose the Wizard of OZ which in theory shouldn't been very difficult, however, only Zion and I had seen the movie. But we made it work, and after the skipping down the road, nobody had any trouble guessing the title. Everybody had brought desserts representing their home country, so we had a super tasty smorgasbord of treats (not that we needed anything after all those cookies) to end the evening. The next day, because it was still raining, rather than go hiking, we went bowling. Pretty American, but hey, it was fun. :) Then it was back to Sorens. Next post has a video from the weekend

Part 7: Marche de Automne

October 15:

The Friday before Fall Vacanes the entire school, yes all 2,000 high school students, went on a hike in the mountains. Yes, I think the school administrators are a tad insane. But, it ended up being really neat, and a great way to get to know my class better. My English teacher was the chaperon for our class, and I helped her teach my class some chants, and attempted to instill a bit of American high school spirit in them. (My English teacher is Canadian, but she grew up in the US.) At the beginning of the day it was really foggy, but once we got up into the mountains, and above the fog, it was bright and sunny. The view was absolutely breathtaking! Because of all the fog below, it felt like you were flying up in the clouds. When we stopped for lunch, my class taught me this card game, that at first I was a total failure at, but after a couple games I finally understood the instructions, and surprise, surprise, it started making sense! :) On the way down the mountain my class taught me the French words to "In the Jungle" (the whem-a-wap wasn't too hard ;) ), and I taught them the English words. All in all it was an awesome day, and a great way to kick off the two weeks of fall vacation! :) Here are some pics from the hike:

My class

Marina, Lou, Claudia

Claudia and I

Lou and I

Marina and I

My crazy English teacher

Insane fog

Just in case you were wondering how to get back to the US of As

Yes, I fell in a hole lol

Headed Down

Class 1-07!!

Part 6: Swiss Thanksgiving- otherwise know as Bénichon

October 10:
With Thanksgiving fast approaching, and all the little gobblers going into hiding, I thought I'd tell you a bit about my Swiss version of Thanksgiving experience. Yes, this did happen over a month ago, but I'm slow, and hey now it fits the season. :)

In Switzerland of course they don't celebrate American Thanksgiving , but they do have a holiday that is quite similar. (Mainly in the way that you do nothing but eat all day. :) ) From Mid-September to Mid-October they celebrate Bénichon, which is a holiday that signalizes the end of the harvest, and gives everyone a reason to get together and eat "tout le jour" (all day). Unlike American Thanksgiving, there isn't a set date, more each family or village decides when they will celebrate. My Swiss family had Bénichon on October 10. We all went over to my host mom's parents' house, and basically ate the farmyard (minus the horses :) ). First we had these little cakes with Moutard de Bénichon (special mustard that's very sweet, and kind of has a carmel like texture, that is made just for the Bénichon). They were amazing of course. Then we all went into the dining room to begin what everyone warned me would be the never ending meal. And it pretty much was. We had ham, sausage, lamb, potatoes- mashed and whole, green beans, beet salad (very popular here), these special candied nuts, and more. It made me think of eating at Grandma Bailey's or really any Bailey family get-together. It was all quite delicious, but my favorite part was definitely dessert. I believe I've mentioned before just how much I adore the double cream with meringue, and for dessert I think I had the best version yet. Get ready for some over the top usage of adjectives. :) The puffy little clouds of meringue were covered with thick double cream, drizzled with a thin ribbon of carmel, and then sprinkled with raspberries and blackberries. Needless to say I was in heaven. They also had a bunch of other special baked treats, that were all amazing as well. I definitely wasn't hungry for a while! To try and work all that deliciousness off; in between courses Simon and I played some soccer. So maybe that helped even out the 20 lbs I'm sure I gained that day. :)

Later that evening I went with Sophie and Julien to the little village party with the other "jeuness" (youth) from my village. We danced and had a great time; then it was back to school the next day!

And that my friends is how the Swiss celebrate Thanksgiving! :)

 

Laura's really amazing Switzerland movie

Ok here is a video Laura made about her exchange, and it has some stuff from our sleepover, and it's really cool, and I'm just not nearly as talented as her at the whole video thing, so I thought I would post it here, if you want to check it out. :)

Part 5: American Sleepover

October 9:
Today Zion, Laura, and I got together for an American style sleepover, and to tour some more of Switzerland. We all met at Laura's house, and kind of like the Luzern trip, we just took the first train going somewhere we hadn't been; and that is how we ended up bound for Brig. It was a bit further than we thought, so we spent most of our time on the train, but it was a really pretty ride. Little insider tip if you're ever traveling to Switerland- trains are probably the best way to see the country, because the best part of Switzerland is definetly it's georgeous natural beauty. Anyway, we got to Brig a little after five, and most of the town was already closed for the day. That is something I've noticed here, most normal places of business are closed by 5:00, even in the bigger cities like Zurich. It's pretty crazy. So yes, back to Brig- it's this adorable little town nestled in the Alps. We walked around for a bit, went to look for a grocery store to buy some snacks for our sleepover; and of course the only store we could find was closed, but we thought (being the Wal-Mart-ized American's that we are) that there must be something open after 5. So we saw these two guys next to the store and tried to ask them if they knew of another store we could try. Our conversation went something like this (P.S. Brig is in the German speaking part):

Laura: Do you know where a Coop is?

Guy #1: Coobe? (Making a square with his hands) a coobe? (meaning cube)

Laura: Nooo. I mean Coop. Like a grocery store.

Guy #1: (blank look)

Me: It sells food? A coop?

Guy #2: Laughing at his friend while smoking. Typical of Swiss teenagers. Lol.

Laura: You know? Like where we can buy food?

Guy #1: Ah. You want to find eat!

Laura, Zion and I in unison: Yes! You know where the store is?

Guy #1: (pointing towards the Migros right next to us) Migros!

Laura: It's closed.

Guy #1: (Blank look)

Zion: Closed, Fermer, Fermer, Closed? Not open?

Guy #1: Ah. Coop! No. No Coop. In the station (train station).

Laura, Zion and I: (Laughing) haha. Okay. Thank you.

Yup, gotta love language differences lol. So, obviously we didn't ever find a grocery store in Brig. :) But we found one back in Laura's town. When we got back to Laura's house we made popcorn (sent from the states), and had pizza, and tons of other junk food, from our collective care packages. It was really fun to just hang out and talk about all the crazy stuff that happens on exchange. Here are some pics from the evening:

Trains, Trains, and More Trains...

Yes, Zion carries a can opener around with her

Zion and I in Brig

Laura and I in Brig

Brig! P.S. this is the street with the closed, fermer, etc. Migros 

Yum!

Making snacks

My first popcorn since leaving the states-soooo good!

Swiss/American Junk food :)

Part 4: Sleepover in Charmey

October 2:
One of my friends from school Lisa invited me to spend the night at her house and go to youth group and church with her. She lives in Charmey, which is this really cute little ski town about 20min away from Sorens. Well, I was going to meet her Saturday afternoon in Bulle and then her mom was going to take us to her house. So I'm riding in the car with Francine, Simon, and Sophie on our way to Bulle, and all of a sudden here come all these cows with fancy headdress things made out of flowers and people in traditional costumes coming down the middle of the road, and I'm thinking "what on earth is going on?" Well, apparently every fall there is what's called the "Des Alps" where traditionally all the cows come down from the alps to the lower pastures for winter, and to mark the occasion they make a big parade out of it. It was pretty neat to see these cows, I must say. :) Here are some pics I took from the car:

Traditional dress from Gruyere Region

Crazy Cow Headdress

Well anyway after all that cow crazyness was over, Francine went to re-start the car, and nothing happened. Yup, so Sophie, Simon, me, and some random stranger who stopped to help, pushed the car to this gas station that was right there. And I'm thinking uh-ooo this is not good, I have to meet Lisa in about 15 min, and the car's not going to take me there, and I don't have a cell phone number for her; so I just started walking, hoping they would still be at the train station by the time I got there (which would probably be in about 30 min.).  But, miracle of miracles, they happened to drive by the road I was walking and were able to just pick me up there, so yeah pretty amazing. :) Then we went to her house, which has a magnificent view of the mountains, and the weather was absolutely perfect, so we took a little hike around, and yeah I'll just let the pictures do the talking....

View from Lisa's front yard

Parasailor

Lisa and I

Trail we were hiking 

Window box in village of Charmey

Village of Charmey

After we walked around, we went to youth group at her church. We watched a movie and had a little Bible study, and everyone was really nice, it was lots of fun. Made me miss my youth group back at Trinity, and all the crazy fun times we had. And then the next day we went to church, which I partially understood, and then back to school the next day.

Part 3: Spontaneous train rides with exchange students

September 27:

Today for some reason unbeknownst to me, we didn't have school (teacher conference?), yeah I was quite broken up about it. :) Sooo of course a bunch of the exchange students from the Fribourg Canton decided to go somewhere; we weren't really sure where we wanted to go, so we just all met at the train station in Fribourg. Now, unfortunately for me they all wanted to meet at 8:00am, and since I live in a tiny village that has like six buses a day, I got to wake-up way before the sun, and leave at 6:30 in the morning with my host brother (he attends the University in Fribourg). However, on the bright-side I had plenty of time to down a couple of much needed cups of coffee before all the other exchange students arrived. :) When everyone arrived, we checked out the schedule, and the next train to depart was headed for Bern, so we hopped on, and decided to pick a destination once we got there. We ended up taking the train bound for Luzern. Once we got there we had a great time walking around, and seeing the sights. After lunch we got back on a train headed for Interlocken, and it ended up being a train that wound thru the mountains. It was probably the most beauitful train ride I've taken to date, I literally felt like I had stepped into a painting. We walked around Interlocken for a bit, and then it was back to Sorens. Here is a little slide show from the trip....    

Part 2: "Football" and Expo in Lausanne

September 26:
Today I went to a "football" game with my family, which of course was nothing like a Sooners game. Speaking of which: BOOMER SOONER! Just felt the need to say er type that, makes me feel closer to home. :) Anyway, I have to say I am definitely more of an American football than a soccer fan. Although, considering where I'm from, I'm pretty sure I've been indoctrinated since birth. :) But, it was lots of fun, and after, we all went for a pizza, or 5 as it turned out. Here, apparently, when you go for pizza everyone gets their own, (like normal sized, would feed a family of four) and I got the local speciality, which had Gruyere cheese, bacon, and ham. It was quite a tasty end to the day. :)

September 27:
 On Sunday I went with Sophie and some friends to Lausanne. There was this huge "expo" type thing going on, and we walked around sampling the food and looking at all the crazy stuff they had for sale. It was lots of fun, a great end to a great week. :) Here are some pics:

This was made out of fruits, veggies, and flowers- made me think of the rose bowl trip :)

M*A*S*H*-esque helicopter 

Grounds where the expo was

Yes I'm still alive over here :) Part 1 Becoming Sorensoise

Helllllloooooo!

As the title states, yes I am in fact still alive over here, and have yet to fall off an Alp or anything like that; I just happen to fail miserably at blog updates lol. Sooo since it's been quite some time since I last updated, I'm going to just do a series of posts by event, in (hopefully) sequential order. :) I've had a really awesome, super busy month and a half (where did the time go??), and a lot has happened, so I'll just get started.....

September 25, 2010:
Well it's official, I'm now Sorensoise (and no, that's not a type of cat :) ). On Friday night I went with Julien and Sophie to the meeting of the "Jeunesse de Sorens" (Youth of Sorens). When we got there I  just followed them into the room, but they were like "no you can't come in here right now, you have to wait in the other room with the other new kids," and I'm thinking "ok, sure, no idea what exactly I'm supposed to do, but whatever" :) So I'm standing there waiting, no clue what's going on (quite normal for me), and some other girls come up to me and start talking really fast in French about having to sing a song to join. Fortunately they were really nice and instead of giving me a solo (maybe they just valued there hearing ;) ), I just had to sing a duet. We practiced for a bit, and then they called us in. I was the last to enter, and when I came in my host sibs, and some other people I've met started cheering "Becky!" and clapping, and my next host brother was yelling "Bekamaze!!" So yeah that made me feel pretty special. :) After that I had to introduce myself (and of course I ended up going first) in French, but everyone was really nice and patient with my terrible French, so it was all good. Then came the song.... And while I don't think I'll be nominated for a Grammy anytime soon, it wasn't too bad, and now I know a new 80s French pop song lol. After that we had our "initiation" which consisted of trying to take a bite out of an apple that was swinging from a string while kneeling. You would be proud of me America, I represented you well, I was the only one to bite the apple lol. After, we had to eat a spoonful of "hot sauce"; HA. More like super mild picante lol. My host brother was like "yeah, I didn't think this was going to be spicy enough for you." Then I got my t-shirt, and now I'm all offical. :)

P.S. Sorry I don't have any pics..... :(

Climb Every Mountain....

Salut!

Well a lot has happened since I last wrote, but I'll try and remember everything. These last two weeks have definetly been the hardest of my exchange to date, but they have also been filled with some of the neatest things I've ever gotten to do. I'm now about half way thru my second week of Swiss school and let's just say my mantra right now is "living for the weekend." But I'll get to all that in a bit.... 

So I'll just pick up where I left off.....

August 31:

Today was FREEZING!! It was like 50 degrees F and raining; I kept thinking I should be getting ready to eat turkey and pumpkin pie, not starting school lol. So yeah, I think I'm going through season confusion..... But from what I hear it's been insanely hot in Oklahoma, so maybe the freezing cold is better? :) Other than the weather making me want to celebrate Thanksgiving, and going to a restaurant that took 40 min to cook a "fast" Kabop (yes, I'm almost positive it's spelled with a "p" here). Yeah it was insane, the guy told us (in Franglish) that we needed to order the Kabop because they would be ready the fastest, so we did. Big mistake. 40 minutes later we still didn't have our food, and Laura and Zion (my friends from language camp) had to catch a train in about 10 min., but they still had to walk (or run as it turned out) to the train station. But we did eventually get them, and in the interim I got to take some pics.... So you can now see what a forty minute Kabop looks like. :)

Zion and I with Laura creeping in the mirror

Laura and the Kabop

September 1-3

My last days at language camp.... :( While I may not have learned that much at the camp, I did make a lot of really good friends, and we all had a great time comparing embarrassing stories about our French faux pas or crazy things we never thought we'd have to do. On my last day of language camp I decided to explore the city of Fribourg beyond the downtown area, where we'd been for the past 2 weeks. It's a really cool city; there's a river that runs thru the city that's really pretty, and an old cathedral that's amazing. Fribourg is also interesting because it's right on the edge of German speaking territory, so you hear and see both French and German everywhere you go. Historically it was the major dividing point between the Catholics and Protestants; and there were a lot of conflicts stemming from the different beliefs. So there's you Swiss history lesson.... :)  And here are my pics:

Ecole Club Migros aka the place I was supposed to learn French

My class with all the other exchangees 

My super tasty breakfast on one of the days, be jealous :)

We ate Chinese food one day; and no,
mom, I didn't hear any Spanish :)

I passed Lac Gruyere everyday on my bus ride to Fribourg

Just had to take a picture with my new best friend

Last Day, j'ai finis!! P.S. thanks for the sign Laura

My super tasty quiche I had for lunch. I think I was hungry that day lol....

Yeah I think our brains were a little fried after all that French,
we look a little nuts here. The gelato was great though! :)

Fribourg!

The cathedral in Fribourg

La porte. I was impressed :)

Inside

Hal-le-lujah! Hallelujah!   :)

The stained glass windows throughout
the church were incredible

The streets of Fribourg (and most places in Switzerland).
Not so great on the footsies....

In the heart of the medieval part of Fribourg

They have these fountains all over the place

The city of Fribourg

September 4:

Saw a fellow Oklahoman today! Switzerland was the host for the Rotary EEMA convention, so all the exchange students in Switzerland were invited to do a parade of flags and short presentation. The convention was held in Pfaffikon which is close to Zurich; so some of the exchange students and I decided to go early and walk around Zurich before the convention. Zion and I walked around togather and stumbled upon a market set up in the middle of town with all these vendors, it was so Europe lol. While we were looking around we found this food stand and had the best Swiss sasuage hotdogs ever, so good! Than we went for a boat ride around Lac Zurich, which was amazing! I am such a fan of the boats here! :) The weather was perfect, and we had a great time chilling and eating chocolate on the boat. After that we all took the train to Pfaffikon and got ready for the convention. The Swiss Rotary had decided that the inbounds should sing a traditional Swiss song; but of course since Switzerland has 4 official languages everyone had to learn the German song, and than all the French kids (all 10 of us) had to sing the French song by ourselves. Epic fail. Haha, after the first try, they decided it might be best if we just sing the chorus, and have the German kids join in. :) In our defense it the song was like this opera yodeling song, that was insanely difficult to sing, plus it was in archaic French, so the fact that we could sort of hum it was kind of a miracle. So after the great fun of trying to get 100 teenagers to stand and sing songs in a foreign language together (I'm pretty sure the people in charge have less hair now) we all ate dinner and then paraded down the street to the hotel where the convention was being held. Because there were so many of us, they literally had to stop traffic for like 10 minutes so we could all get there. It was pretty hilorious, because here are all these kids from all over the world in their Rotary blazers, waving flags, and all the US kids (we were in the back) were chanting U-S-A the whole time. The passers by just kind of stopped and stared. It was pretty funny. :) Then as I was marching into the banquet hall, there's Jaci Williams! So after the conference (the song wasn't a total failure), I went back in and got to talk with Jaci for a few minutes before I had to catch my train back home. She gave me one of my first hugs since I had arrived (people don't really hug at all here, they just kiss you an insane amount of times :) ), and I told her to tell all my Okies hello for me! :)  

The amazing Swiss hotdog and the market in Zurich

Zion and I on the boat. The wind made me think of home haha

From the boat ride...

Zurich!

USA, plus a Canadian :)

Stars and Strips baby

Okies in Switzerland! :)

September 5:

Unfortunately I don't have any pictures for today.... So I'll just have to use 1,000 words. jk :) Today we went to this really cool horse race in one of the villages nearby; but since I thought that we were going to go eat lunch (gotta love never understanding anything lol) I didn't bring my camera. Every year they have this big horse race/festival with lots of traditional Swiss events. They had people playing the big Alp Horns and St. Bernard's with carts, and horse and buggy-ish (I'm not sure of the correct name) races. It was really neat to see. While I was there, I learned that American sarcasm doesn't really translate well into French lol. I was walking around and Julien asked me if I wanted to help with the food stand he and a bunch of the other kids from my village were working at (why they were all working there is still a mystery to me lol), and I said sure. So here I am flipping burgers, and one of the guys asks me if I like flipping burgers. Well, I answered (in French) that yes, I adore flipping burgers. I was just teasing, but I think he thought I was serious, because then he asked me if I cook burgers all the time, and do I work at McDonald's lol. I was like "no, I was just kidding, I really don't cook burgers very much at all." Ahhh language differences :) But I am now an expert Swiss burger cooker, and I have learned that until I am much, much better at French I will quit trying to make jokes in a foreign language (or I may end up with a job at the local Mc Donald's ;) )

September 6:

Ahhhh a day I will not soon forget- My first day of Swiss school. Ooo where to begin.... Usually I have to take the bus to school at 7:40 (yeah it's just peachy), but for my first day Julien took me, which was great because I was so lost as to where to go, what to do, etc. So, we went in to meet with the guy at the school who's in charge of all the exchange students (there are 14 at my school, but only 4 including me are with Rotary) in the "1st year" of school, which was pretty disappointing, because the kids in my class are like 15, but they have all been pretty nice to me. Flash cards are definitely my best friend when it comes to making friends. The girls in my class have all been quizzing me on my vocab, and they are all really nice about making sure I kind of understand what's going on lol. Ah yes, which brings me to what class is like... O my, well that first day was not so great in the understanding department. I kind of understood Geography, mainly because I've had it before, same with chemistry, biology and a little of the history. The math was literally a foreign language, and not just because it was in French. I would have thought that math would be the one thing I understood a little, but no haha. They use all these Greek letters and weird symbols instead of numbers, and I was just completely lost. English class was great, duh, since language courses here are taught entirely in that language. Most of my teachers are really nice, or at least indifferent to me, which is great. However, I have one, I've nick-named him Mr. Cranky Pants, who is awful. He yells at everyone, including me, and speaks super fast, and mumbles, so I don't ever understand anything he says. And of course I have his class first thing on Monday, which makes that day even better lol. But really for the most part school is really, really, really hard, as far as the French goes; but I do know it's helping my French a ton, and I am beginning to make some friends. :)

College Du Sud

September 7-9:

I took this right after a rainstorm outside my window,
look closely at the clouds. It made my day better :)

Pretty much just more of what I just described... I also found out that gym class here is no joke. On Thursday's I have gym for 3 hours, and that alone is pretty hard core, but wait until you here what those three hours consist of... Ok for starters, I have to bring a bike, yes bring a bike with me to school. I take the bus. And the bus I take is so packed with school kids and people going to work that everyone is literally pressed up against the glass. When I found out I had to figure out how to bring a bike to school, I just about cried. So I asked one of the other exchange students who lives in Bulle (where my school is) if I could borrow a bike from here family, and they have been nice enough to let me use one of their bikes. Now we don't just go biking around the town, oooo no. We go mountain biking; something I'm pretty sure would never be allowed in the US because the lawsuits that would ensue would shut down all the schools lol. So I'm not such a fan of biking, I mean I enjoy a nice ride, but downhill trails in the Swiss woods are not something I usually test out for fun. But yes, I survived, I even made it thru the game we played where everyone had to try and knock each other off their bikes. (No, I'm not kidding, just imagine 15 and 16 year old boys who have just been given permission to ride around and crash into each other lol) 

September 10:

Today after school I got to go visit Vanessa! Since my lab group didn't meet today I was able to leave at 11:45 which was great, because it takes about 3.5 hours by train to get to St. Gallen where Vanessa lives. When I finally made it to St. Gallen (and yes, I did manage to take all the correct trains :) ), Vanessa showed me around her town. St. Gallen is probably one of my most favorite cities in Switzerland (I know I keep saying that about everyone I visit lol); it is a pretty big town about 100,000 people, and it is so beauitful. It has a great mixture of the old world charm of Europe along with more modern areas as well. Vanessa showed me her school and all these other places in St. Gallen that I had seen pictures of when she lived with us, so that was really cool. It was almost surreal to think that I was actually seeing up-close all these places that she showed us. After we toured St. Gallen, we took the train to her village, Rorschach, which is about 20 min outside of St. Gallen. She lives right by the lake, and it is absolutely beautiful. I think I'm pretty much convinced that there isn't a part of Switzerland that isn't calendar worthy. We walked around by the lake (it was sunset and there were swans everywhere :) ), and then went to her house. Her mom made a really tasty German dinner, since they are really Germans, so I could experience some more culture. 

Vanessa's supper cool school

Random classroom in Vanessa's school.
(It's similar to what some of my classroom's look like)

St. Gallen is famous for these windows,
they have them all over the place

The cathedral in St. Gallen

Swiss trashcan-you had to be there :)

Awesome fountain in St. Gallen

Random red rubber car and fountains and couches in the
middle of the city.  Don't ask me why lol

At the Lake by Vanessa's house, note the swans :)

September 11:

Today I visited three, yes three countries in one day!! At dinner the night before when they told me we were going to Germany and Austria I just about bounced out of my seat lol. So, yeah, I was a wee bit excited about the whole thing. We drove to Lindau, Germany by way of Austria. Lindau is this picturesque resort island right in in the middle of where Switzerland, Austria, and Germany meet. It is so beautiful, I'll have to just let the pictures do the talking. After walking around and taking lots of pictures (I've taken over 500 since I got to Switzerland, I think I'm about People magazine worthy lol), we drove up into the mountains in Austria and I had apple strudel on the terrace of a restaurant that overlooked the lake. Probably one of the best days of my exchange. :) The weather was perfect, the sun was shining, and I had fresh Austrian apple strudel in front of me; if that's not bliss I'm not sure what is. :) After that, we went back to St. Gallen, had dinner, and then Vanessa and I went out to meet her friends. It was really cool for me to finally meet all of her friends that I'd heard all these stories about when Vanessa lived with us. They were all super nice, and I was even able to understand like four sentences of the German lol. Das es gut! :)

Country number 1, Austria!

The German side of Vanessa's Lake
(my new name for it, since I can't
remember it's official name lol)

Host Sistahs

Lindau, Germany

More Lindau

Stopping to smell the really cool weird German flowers :)

Ahh I'm in love with the little village streets in Europe,
they just make me happy lol

Ok there is nothing special about this sign other than,
I thought it was just really awesome, so I took a picture
in keeping with my "no landmark left un captured" mantra

The super vibrant gardens in Lindau

Hotel along the Lake in Lindau

All the ornamentation on this building is hand painted,
and it was built in the 1200s, pretty crazy if ya ask me :)

Bavarian Blue; yes I will name a paint color after that some day

Vanessa and her mom at the restaurant in Austria

Austrian Apple Strudel!! 

With Vanessa's Parents

In the tunnel that lasted for at least 5 min,
we'll never know for sure because I forgot to stop my watch lol

Out with Vanessa's friends

September 12:

Today Vanessa's mom took us thru the Apenzel part of Switzerland, which basically looks like the cover of Heidi, or heaven, whichever you prefer. :) Then we went to this zoo that had all native animals of Switzerland in it, which was really neat to walk around. And after we were finished there, Vanessa and I walked to the Cathedral in St. Gallen, because I really wanted to be able to see the inside. (Mass was going on when I was in St. Gallen on Friday.) We also ended up being able to see the library, which has to be one of the most beautiful buildings I have ever been in. Both the library and the cathedral are considered to be some of the best preserved examples of Baroque architecture in western Europe; in other words, they make your jaw drop the second you push open the super ornately carved doors. You'll just have to look at the pictures. After all that amazing sight-seeing it was time for me to head back.... It was really nice to see Vanessa and her family; thank you so much for inviting me!

Why hello there postcard

The mountains, the cows,  the green, it was just so Swiss :)

Vanessa's bud

Inside the cathedral in St. Gallen

You can't really see it in this photo,
but one of the guys feet is actually 3D

The Library

We had to wear these funky little slippers over our shoes inside the  Library

Most of the books were hand written by monks from the 800s on

September 13-17:

School, school, and more school; which brings me to why I picked such a corny cliche for my status... :) Ok first off I'm in Switzerland, which is basically like living in the opening scene of "Sound of Music," but more than that, these past two weeks I feel like I have really begun my climb. Don't barf yet, I'll try and keep my cheesy expressions to a minimum... For me, I think one of my hardest challenges is not learning to be independent, but to be dependent. I'm not really that great at asking for help in my own language, and trying to ask in one I barely know is quite a challenge for me, but starting school forced me to begin to learn how. I probably should have picked that up when I was about 2, but I never have been really great about doing things the easy way lol. So, while I'm definitely not a pro at it, I am learning, which I believe is what I'm supposed to be doing here anyways :). On Wednesday I made cherry cobbler for my family, which was interesting. I thought that it wouldn't be too difficult because most of the ingredients are pretty universal, flour, sugar etc. But again, hello culture differences. What I thought was cherry pie filling, turned out to just be canned cherries.... So I tried to make this syrup to supplement the lack of fillingish stuff and, yeah that didn't turn out so well, haha. But yeah, all in all, it wasn't the prettiest one ever, but it still tasted pretty good, and my family is really sweet and they all said it was great. On Friday, I actually understood math class. I even raised my hand to answer a question (probably not the best idea, because the teacher probably now thinks I understand all of it, but o well....), I was pretty excited lol. And to top it off, I didn't kill anyone in my first chem lab in French or in bio lab. Fortunately we all have to wear lab coats, googles, and gloves, so I think my class should be safe from me no matter what we're doing later on, which could be anything, knowing these Swiss schools. ;) But yeah, school's getting a little better every time, so that's good; maybe by Christmas I'll understand more than art and English class. :) 

September 18:

Today I went with Sophie and a bunch of other kids from Sorens on this town-wide scavenger hunt all over Sorens and the surrounding villages. It was pretty awesome; definetly not something I would get to do in Norman. :) Apparently it's an annual event put on by whoever wins the year before, and everyone in the town participates. You get maps and have to find all these stations and do all these different crazy things. One of them was getting dressed up in random costume pieces and lip-syncing to some old German pop song, which they recorded, and than played in front of the whole town at the dinner afterward. So I have been captured for posterity dancing and jumping around in a big green hat reminiscent of the Mad Hatter. If that's not leaving a legacy, I don't know what is. lol, yeah I'm pretty sure they think I'm nuts. Most of the time I had no idea what the challenge we were doing was, but I had a great time laughing and trying to figure out what the heck we were doing. :)

My lovely group

Yet another reason for them to think I'm nuts :)

Over the river and thru the woods... :)

I'm a sucker for babbling brooks

Sophie and I

One of the scavenger hunt activities with Bob my next host brother.
And no, I still have no clue why he picked me up lol. 
I fell like this photo kind of sums up my life:
backwards-upside-down and totally clueless to why, but smiling lol

And there ya have it, the last couple weeks of my life in Switzerland. Thanks for sticking with me to the end of this mammoth post lol, I'm really going to try and work on that whole posting a regular basis idea. :)

Au revoir,

Becky