My Swiss Day

Today I got to sleep in an extra hour because I had first hour free! Woohoo! I got ready and some breakfast then walked down the 114 steps to the bus stop. My house in Zeiningen where I am staying for the fall Holidays is on top of a hill. So in the morning I have to walk down the stairs and at night back up. That is not fun. I usually stop and take many breaks. I actually don't know for sure if it is 114 steps, that is what my host mother said. I always get too winded and have to stop counting.
I rode the bus to the Train Station, then I took the train to school.
For the first 2 hours I had Englisch. Easy, right? They're reading a book about a Native American boy (The Absolutely True Diary of a Part Time Indian). It was a pretty good book. They're also watching a documentary that was made by a Swiss director about the Lakota tribe. Most of it take place in Rapid City, South Dakota, but some people from the tribe had to go to St. Louis for a trial and when they showed the city I got excited. I told them that that was my State. Then the people in the movie started joking about how there were gangsters in St. Louis and they should have brought some protection. Then my class was like "oh my gosh! There are gangsters where you live?" I had to clarify that I lived far away from there.
The next 2 hours I had music class! We ended up playing djembe drums for the last hour. It was awesome!
Then after lunch I was so tired! I had Chemistry. I just sat there and watched while she was doing experiment.  I understood what she was teaching us because I already learned it in Englisch, but science in German is hard! The next 2 hours I had Deutsch and we had a test! Herr Pagotta gave it to me to try. I think I may have got some answers right. In one passage, you had o put the commas where they go, and I don't know if they have the same comma rules as in Englisch. I should probably figure that out. I just skipped that section.
My lovely mother had said she sent me some money, so after I got off the bus in Zeiningen I went to find a bank. I saw one bank, but I wasn't familiar with it, so I began to walk around the town. Finally, I walked past a lady watering her plants and she said a Swiss greeting to me, so I asked her if there was another bank in Zeiningen or only the one I saw (All in German of course! I'm proud of myself!) She told me that it was the only one.
After the bank and walking up the 114 step (taking many breaks along the way) I came home to find that my host mother had made me a bowl of popcorn!

The note says Für Faith Leibe Elisabeth <3 It was really good. The night before I had told her that I popcorn was my favorite food.
The weather has been nice, so for dinner we ate outside on the balcony. We had Raclette (a very Swiss food with cheese and potatoes) Since they live on a hill we could look down on the town and hear cow bells in the distance. It was extremely Swiss. I that moment I realized "Wow, I'm in Switzerland."

Owwwww

I'm sore... Semu, Christi, and I went hiking on Saturday. The day started out with us trying to decide where to go (we are three very indecisive people.) We finally made a decision. We decided to take a Gondola part way up the Stanserhorn (In Luzern), walk the rest of the way to the top, then take the open air Gondola back down. The map showed a nice easy hike. It looked pretty much flat. THE MAP LIED!!!! It was a STEEP UPHILL HIKE!! ALL THE WAY! FOR ALMOST 3 HOURS! And the trail we were hiking on looked like a cow trail. In fact, here is a picture of a cow blocking the trail.

Despite how out of shape I was, It was an awesome hike! It's been the most beautiful view I've seen so far.

                                                            I can't wait to do it again!!!!!!!!!

Swiss schools are teaching me a lot. Not only am I learning German, but yesterday I learned how to Juggle in Sports class. I'm not very good though. 

On Friday, I am moving in with a different family for three weeks because my current host parents are going on vacation. Then on Saturday morning I am going on a small trip with the other Switzerland Rotary Exchange students. I'm really excited for that! We're suppose to bring a dessert from our home country. I decided that I was going to make puppy chow. I went to the Migros after school today to get the Chex cereal I needed, but I was heart broken to find they didn't have it. They didn't even have anything similar. I saw that they had rice crispies so I thought I could make rice crispie treats.... THEY DIDN'T HAVE MARSHMALLOWS!! I was getting so disappointed. My host mom had marshmallows before, so I knew there must be some somewhere. I walked over to the Coop hoping they would have Marshmallows or Chex cereal. If not I was going to have to rethink this whole dessert issue. They didn't have Marshmallows. However, they did have a cereal that slightly resembled Chex. They're little puff squares, and they're called Jamadu. I started at them for 10 minutes trying to decide if I wanted to get them and try to make puppy chow. I decided to go for it. Thursday night I'll see how my Jamadu puppy chow turns out. If it is totally terrible then I still have a bag of Reese's Pieces I can bring. Fingers crossed!!!!!!

School!!!

I love my school! Too bad I can't understand what the teacher are saying most of the time.

My class is really nice. We have a class teacher who we meet with once a week in a class that's name literally translates into "class hour". There we talk about pretty much anything that has to do with school, the class, or problems we're having. In June, we are taking a class trip for a week. I'm really excited! My class teacher is awesome! He is also the teacher for my German class that I have with the other exchange students. He also teaches regular German and History. I also have a "godmother" in my class who is suppose to help me out if I have any problems. She is great! Everyone in the class is so willing to help me with homework and understanding things. I'm very lucky!

Today I got to sleep in till 8 because every other week on Wednesday I don't have class till 9:40! Woo Hoo!!

I broke a plate at lunch today. I was leaning forward to hear what one of my classmates was saying, and my tray was hanging off the table some. The tray flipped forward onto my lap and the plate fell onto the floor and broke in half! Luckily, I had eaten everything already, so I didn't get anything on my new sweater (which I got because the weather is already cold).

After school, I went across the bridge to Germany because I wanted to get some boot and things are cheaper in Germany. After shopping, I was very hungry, and my mom had told me this morning that she wasn't cooking dinner tonight because she had to go to parent night at Jonathan's and my school. I walked by a restaurant that sells döners and pizzas (these are very common in Switzerland), and it smelled really good. I saw that I could buy a pizza for 4 Euros and how could I pass that up!? I took my pizza back across the bridge, sat on a bench and ate half of it, then went home, and ate the rest. It was a good day.


Here are some photos of me playing an alp horn a week ago.

My First Day of School!

Today I woke up at six o'clock, and my bed was the most comfortable it had been since I've been here. But I got up and got ready for my first day of school! I rode the train with my brother Jonathan. It was crowded. I had to stand the whole way. On the train was a girl who was in the same class as I was, so I followed her to the first class. (In Switzerland, the students who are in the same class stay together the whole day and go to the same classes.) My first class was P.E. First, we played this game that was a variation of Dodgeball. Then, we ran and did some stretches. We then went outside and did long jump. It's been a few years, but I wasn't too shabby.
The next class was Math. And guess what!!?? I already know everything they're doing! Yay!!!! Even though I don't understand everything the teacher is saying, I can still work an equation!
Then came Biology. And even though I have taken biology before, I didn't exactly retain the information. My classmates were so nice though. They tried to explain to me what the assignment was about, but they even had trouble figuring it out in German. My dictionary doesn't help either because it doesn't have scientific words.
After biology, I went with my class to the Cantina to get some food. Much better than normal Cafeteria food! After lunch my class has Choir, but I unfortunately cannot go because at that time I have my German Class with the other exchange students from my school and from surrounding schools. It was really fun. We played charades in German and gave each other interviews.
I had an overall great first day!

Random thoughts, feelings, and facts about Switzerland and living here.

I've been here a little more that three weeks. Here are some of my impressions and thoughts about life so far.

1. It's okay to eat chocolate every day. In fact, it's preferred!

2. It's okay to spend the extra Frank! Switzerland's cheap chocolate is still better than the United States chocolate, but it still doesn't compare to there best chocolate!  (This works with other things besides chocolate, like toothpaste and conditioner)

3. The smellier the cheese, the better!

4. It's hard to find a bathroom in a city that you don't have to pay to use. For this, I am upset with you Switzerland!

5. You will never go hungry! There is always a Migros, Coop, or Kiosk within walking distance.

6. You will never get lost! There are signs everywhere, and Switzerland is small anyway.

7. My fellow classmates and I decided that the Migros is like a tiny classy Wal-mart.

8. I find the boys who try to dress like gangsters even more ridiculous than the boys who did it back home. (You're from Switzerland, I'm pretty sure you're not living a "Thug Life")

9. I am from Missouri, and I know it can be a little southern and country at times, but I was never the southern country girl. Here I am. And it's weird. I've even been told that I sometimes have a southern accent.

10. Leather man jackets are becoming popular here (of course they're not real) I guess I should have brought mine after all.


I think I might do these little thoughts more often.

More Adventures!

 Last Saturday, I went to My host mothers family farm. When we got there we  took a walk around the countryside. I ended up finding a bunch of four leaf clovers, and even some five leaf clovers! My host parents and brother Matthias were impressed and they started to look for clovers too. They did end up finding a couple!

 Peter and Matthias playing with the electric fence.

 Some of the clovers I found!

 My host parents. Aren't they cute!!

 The beautiful farm house! The yard was also perfect! They had yard art everywhere, but it was stuff they had made using old things.

 This girl, Sara, showed me around the farm. She is twelve, and it was easier for me to understand her German than most of the adults. This is the milking station, and it is actually inside that beautiful house. Part of the house is a barn with stalls and the other part they live in.

 This claw is used to pick up the hay. I though it was pretty cool!

 Trying to make a fire.


On Sunday, I went to Basel with Hannah and Ryan. Ryan is from Canada.

 We wanted to go to a castle that was near by, and well, to me it just looks like a big house. But thats probably because everything in Switzerland is like a castle.

 Ryan and me. We didn't really have a plan for the day. Ryan lives in the French part of Switzerland and he wanted to come see Basel. It was Sunday so a lot of things we closed, but we had fun riding the trams, sight seeing, and eating in the park.


This morning I got up and went on a bike ride. I started out on the road, then I made my way to a gravel trail by the Rhine. Then, I ended up in a forest. There were so many different paths. Every time I came to a fork in the road I would just take the path that looked less traveled. I started on a path that was about a meter across and I ended up on a path that was less than a foot wide.

 I think there was some sort of kids nature walk in the forest. I kept finding things like this.

 I fixed it.




The Bike ride was nice, I came home and finished up homework. Before I went to school, I stopped at the Coop for a snack and these Raspberries just called to me! They were delicious!!!