Sunday, September 19, 2010

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