Pictures, Pictures and more Pictures!

What I've been up to

Well it has almost been a month. It's crazy how fast time flies by.... I'm about to start my last week of german class and I'm happy to say that my german is coming along very, very  well. My host family and I are talking more in german and I can put together sentences as well (with the words I know haha). Volleyball is also going very well, it is helping me keep in shape. You hear about people going on their exchanges and gaining like 30 pounds, but that's not going to happen to me! I have volleyball twice a week and the practices go from 2 hours to 2 and a half hours. Each training we also do 30-45 minutes of intense conditioning. I have also learned how to jump float serve, and have began developing it to be a very, very good jump floater. (Sorry for all these volleyball terms). I have also recently gone on a Bern excursion with my german class. We got a tour of the inside of the Zytglogge, which is the main clock/clock tower in Bern, and separates the old city form the "new" city. Then we went and saw the bears (all three of them were out, so we got lucky!) and then we walked back into Bern and had some gelato. It was a great day! This coming Saturday (so in a week) I will be going to a music festival called Energy Air, which is put on by one of the most popular radio stations here in Switzerland. Some artists that will be preforming are Kodaline, Family of the Year, and Bastian Baker. The best thing is that the ticket was free!!!! Also I will be taking a trip to Italy in September with my host family. We will be going to a couple different cities, one of them being Milan! I'm so so so so so so excited and can't wait! Tschüss!

Fun In Switzerland

Switzerland continues to amaze me. Everything from the public transportation to the scenery to how amazing the chocolate is. It is so, so, so good. I haven't been homesick, although I probably will be down the road. I think it is a combination of Switzerland looking like California's spring and the fact that I'm aways pretty busy. German classes are 5 days a week and on top of that I usually stay after class and walk around Bern with the other exchange students. I have also been to Interlaken already and on Monday a bunch of us exchange students are planning a day trip to Thun. I have also already been to one of my host club's Rotary meeting, which was really fancy. And when I say really fact I mean really fancy. Like three-course-meal-with-coffe-at-the-end fancy. I start school on September 8th, and since I am in the language part of my school, I will most likely be taking a trip to Spain this year! (This is awesome because Spain was my first choice for the countries I wanted to go to). I have been fortunate enough to already know who my second and third host families are and to have met them as well. Overall I am loving it here in Switzerland and I can't wait for the rest of the year!

First Week In Switzerland

It has now been a week since I have arrived in Switzerland. My fist reaction as I saw the country though the window of the airplane was "Wow it's so green". And it is. Everything is green. Green and beautiful and fresh. The expected exhaustion was not as bad as I thought it was going to be, allowing me to go to a swiss music festival my second day here. It was located in Bern, right in the heart of the city. Musicians and performers from all over the world came to be a part of the festival. In typical swiss fashion I have been taking the train and tram everywhere I go; to school, to the city (Bern), to other cities, and it is just amazing. I love how I can just hop on a train and go to Zürich or Interlaken or Geneva (not that I have..... yet haha) My host family is very nice and was very welcoming. I have two host brothers who are 18 and 15. I had a host sister, but she left for New Mexico for her Rotary exchange. I have been at German class (Deutchkurs) for 5 days now as well. I am learning a lot and can communicate with my host family in a combination of english with german words scattered throughout. Each morning I walk about 10 minutes down to the train station to go to my class. The walk is breathtaking, literally. When I come back home I have to walk up about four hills, and this takes 15 minutes. I am so lucky to have this opportunity to live in such a beautiful place. Every day I am in awe of the scenery and the views. The rolling hills and the snow-capped Alps in the background, the flowers lining the windows in every house, the cows with their cute little bells and all the gardens. One thing that surprised me was the abundance and availability of fresh fruit. Each morning consists of granola, yogurt and fruit, which is a breakfast I would expect back in California. The weather is all over the place, with one day being windy and rainy and the next humid and sunny. I absolutely love it. The other day I wandered around Bern with two other girls in my class and we found a sand volleyball tournament happening right in front of the Parliament building!!! Naturally, I had to stay and watch at least 2 matches, and it was a good thing that I did because I was able to see the swiss national men's sand volleyball team play! I had met my "oldie" (an exchange student who has been here since January) there at the game, and after he took me to see the bears and the rose garden. My host sister also showed me around the school I will be going to, Gymnasium Kirchenfeld. The school is beautiful, with 4 levels and an entrance that is a Parthenon-look-alike. I will begin attending school in the beginning of September. I have also found a club to play volleyball at! It is called Volley Muri-Bern and the girls who I am playing with are at the same high level that I am used to. I have since learned how to jump-float serve, and it has gotten very good. Today I went over to another exchange student's house (her name is Amanda and she is from Brasil) and played some fuzball and hung out with a group of other exchange students. The funny thing is that intend of yelling "no" just a couple of times like I would normally do, I yelled "nein!". From the way this week has turned out I am looking forward to the rest of my exchange and everything that will come with it.

First contact

I have finally heard from the Swiss Rotary Youth Exchange!!! Nothing about where I will be staying or which club will be hosting me, but its better than nothing! One thing that is great to know is that I will be staying in the German part of Switzerland, so at least I know which language I'll be speaking. Im secretly crossing my fingers to be somewhere near Zürich or Bern (well I guess it's not that secret anymore, haha)! Waiting isn't as hard as I thought it would be, but this is probably due to the emails I have been receiving from them recently. I still can't wait to hear from the club that will be hosting me and my host parents!

I've been trying to look up as many blogs as I can that are written by exchange students currently in Switzerland right now, so I can get a feel of what it could possibly be like. From what I've gathered there will be TONS of skiing, wandering around beautiful cities and lots of new people as well as trying new foods. All of this I am looking foreword to, especially the food, 'cause boy do I love food. 

One of the things that I've been worried about is not knowing the language enough to be able to communicate, but that was out to rest as I have recently heard that they provide a Rosetta Stone program before you leave and then put you through a 2-3 week language school. 

One last thing before I  go is that I am soooooo looking foreword to meeting all the other exchange students from around the world that will be in Switzerland as well! Like so freaking excited! 

And you're going to........

Thinking back, time has really flown by. So much has happened in these past 5 months that words cannot describe these feelings and experiences.

In September I was invited to go to the inbound orientation, which was centered around a rafting trip, and it was amazing! The stars shone so brightly during those couple of nights while I stayed up making new friends and hearing of homes from around the world. Italy, Belgium, Russia, Brazil, Thailand are just a few countries that have students here in District 5130.

During that weekend I had a sense of where I wanted to go, where I wanted to chose for my district application. Just like choosing a core for WHS, I went back and forth on which countries to chose. In the end, I wrote down Spain, Switzerland and Argentina. I loved the idea of just going anywhere really, just being able to travel and see another little slice of the world that didn't go around saying "'Murica!" everyday. I wanted to learn a new language, experience a new culture, try new food (yes, I am foodie). Already being fluent in Spanish, I didn't exactly go out of my comfort zone, picking 2 countries with Spanish as their main language.

The months and holidays flew by. I turned 16, passed my driver's permit test and started my sophomore year in high school. Soon enough it was January and the end of the month couldn't come soon enough. Deciding whether I wanted to ride up with other students or travel with my parents was tough, but I am glad i went in the van. Music cranked up loud, cracking jokes with both inbounds and outbounds, seeing old friends and making new ones was just the beginning of my weekend.

After being on the road for 7 hours, we finally reached Samoa, CA. A beautiful sunset greeted us as well as a bone-chilling wind, which me being in a skirt, was not exactly taken very well. Located along the Northern California coastline we had the opportunity to watch the waves crash along the shore. Since Mavericks was happening down in Santa Cruz, the waves reached an astounding height of 15 feet. As Friday night progressed all the outbounds grew increasingly nervous. Finally the time had come. With shaking legs and a brain turned to mush, my counselor handed me and envelope. That envelope contained my life for a year. My hopes, my dreams, my goals. The whole room grew quiet as I undid the ribbon and as I opened the flap, there it was. The Swiss flag. I immediately started crying with joy. Surprisingly all I could think in that moment was "Wow" and "Chocolate". Every teenage girl's dream right? That weekend was chock full of raw emotions yet it still felt unreal. Like I was living in a dream.

It still hasn't sunk in. From time to time I'll get that feeling that doesn't even creep up, it just hits you full force. A feeling of sadness and happiness at the same time. Excitement and at the same time not wanting to leave my home, my family, everything that is familiar to me. Everyone has told me that it never sinks in until you're actually on the plane, leaving everything behind.

These seven months cannot go by faster and yet they need to go slower.