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Musical:
Well to say the least it was strenuous but loads and loads of fun. Right after the Christmas holidays we picked up rehearsals to everyday from 4 till 8 and night then the following week 4 from 12 everyday. After these two weeks of intense practise we started the shows. So great! It was called "Tanz der Vampire" or in english, Dance of the Vampires. It took me a while to totally understand everything but in the end it was great. The show ran Thursday, Friday, and Saturday nights for three weeks!
Choir:
At the same time as the show, I was preparing for my final choir concert. This choir was very challenging for me because first, we were doing Braums in German, and that to the high difficultly level of it, then times it by 9 pieces plus another 4 from a different composer. All together though it was great! This choir really preformed well in our final concert and POWER! The room was shaking when we sang some pieces! It was great too to be in something else rather than school with other people from my school.
A Canadian:
For those of you who don't know, my dad came here for a week last week! It was great to see him again! As soon as he got off the airplane it was as if we just picked up where we left off 6 months ago! I thought he would want the whole Swiss experience so I showed him my city first,then we went on the top of Mount Pilatus, went to the capital of Switzerland Bern, the southern part of Switzerland, and finally skiing on the Alps for a day. I am pretty sure he was tired after but I think he liked Switzerland a lot.
So now everything is pretty much wrapped up for me with musical and choir, so now I have this week of school then I have a two week holiday so I will be going to the Fasnacht (Carnival) here in Luzern, then skiing for a week with my host family! Sorry to cut this short but I got some swiss cheese calling my name!
January 10, 2007
HAPPY NEW YEAR!!!
Haha and it looks like I haven't written in a while again, somethings just never change. SO I'll start from where I left off.
NEW HOST FAMILY!!!
One word. AWESOME! As equally as great as the last. My host mom is a great lady, an awesome cook (makes the best Lebkuchen on the earth), and is just one of the nice persons in the world that will always have a smile for everyone. My host dad is the same in the male form except add bike, ski, and tennis freak to that. I have one younger host brother (15) and is really big on sports like his dad. He likes playing tenis alot. The first day I was with my new host family my host dad took me for a bicycle ride. He said that we were going in a half hour so I finished unpacking on bag and was getting ready to go when he asks me if I have a good shirt. Just t-shirts I said. So he goes into his closet and pulls out a old racing bikewear shirt he had and then I knew I was in trouble. So we start with the mountain bikes and we go down one hill then up a bigger hill then down that hill then up a bigger hill and then down that hill and, oh yes three times a charm, up one more hill. By then my host dad politely points out that we have taken our bikes directly overtop of where I used to live, 30 minutes by bus away. grrreeeaaattt... haha Actually it was quiet fun and I would do it again soon.
CHRISTMAS!!!
Swiss schools ran until the friday before Christmas, on the 22nd so that night my host family and I went up to their Chaleux on a ski hill close by called Klewenalp. Christmas in Switzerland was pretty close to home. They had a Christmas tree, presents underneath it, went to mass on Christmas eve. A couple differences was that instead of electric lights in the christmas tree, they were real candles. And we opened christmas presents on the 24th rather than the morning of the 25th. AND IT WAS WHITE!!!!
On the 25th I went to my hostgrandmas house and had christmas dinner (GREAT) then had to come home because on the 26th I had to go to a practise week camp for the musical I am currently in. It was long and a little bit stressful but we got a lot of stuff figured out and it is coming together piece by piece. I had a serious lesson in swiss german this week because that is all that was spoken during the whole week (besides people who wanted to talk to me and the american, then high german). I feel like I now can understand half of what is said in swiss german. Its quiet an accomplishment I think because before this week I understood only a few words in swiss german, amazing what you pick up in these situations.
NEW YEARS!!
So I got back from my practise week on the 31st, and spent New Years with swiss friends. It was great! We had supper and ate then watched the fireworks on the lake from the balcony. It was cool seeing them because there were the ones from the city and then all along the lake were other people just shooting off random fireworks!
And now I am getting back into the swing of things, the play is picking up now that opening show is on the 19th of January! It should be a good run. ALL IN GERMAN! My choir also has a concert coming up as well and the music we are doing is great! Other than that just skiing on the weekends and learning more german... and starting french here. I feel like I did way back in August again every Tuesday and Wednesday in french class. My class has been studying english and french for 6 years already. I'm only a LITTLE bit behind haha. Hope everything was good for everyone over the holidays. Happy New Year! Hope its a good one for you!
December 6, 2006
Life, Mountains, and Cow Bells.
Wow haven't written on here for a while. So the month of November was pretty normal with school, muscial and everything else in between. I feel like I am submerged into the swiss culture. A big part of that feeling is that the language has come so far. I am now able to hold conversations and participate more in the class. I am beginning to understand more of what is said on T.V. and the radio and what people are generally saying around me. It is like a whole new world is opening up in a world that I just got used to.
Anyways the most exciting things have just happened in the past week. First this past weekend I was in Zermatt, town below the MATTERHORN, with 120 other exchange students all in Switzerland and all with Rotary! Wow, you can only imagine what 120 exchange students on the same train are capable of. No just kidding we were good. It was an amazing time! We left Saturday morning and got their in the late afternoon. We toured around the town and saw all the neat little shops and restaurants and then for supper Rotary took us to a restaurant for Fondue! Well little did I know that fondue had an alcohol in it much like schnapps! I didnt like it too well so it was pretty smart of me that I ate Mcdonalds before hand (cheapest thing in town, first time I ate Mcdonalds in Switzerland. Won't do it again haha). So after that we just had a blast. All of the girls got put up in nice 4 and 5 star hotels and all of the guys were put in the youth hostel. Something wrong with this picture? Jokes Jokes.
Sunday was a whole new ball game. First time snowboarding on a Swiss Alp!!! Even though it was December, we still had to take a gondola and a cable car to the BASE of where we could ski. It was windy and foggy but it was still an amazing time! You could go on the other side of the mountain and ski in Italy! I skiied in two counties in the same day. Pretty Awesome!
The next exciting thing that happened was last night. In Switzerland, St. Nikolas day is celebrated. There is Weinnachtsman (Our Santa Claus) and then there is St. Nikolas. My host Mom, Dad, Aunt, and me went down to this little town and watched this parade. Now this was no normal street parade. First off it was a night. When the parade started all the lights were turned off. First thing that happened was the guys with the giant whips. These guys had these huge whips and would crack them for about 2 minutes and then 10 minutes later do it again. I didnt really see the point but it was cool. Then after the smaller whips came and went, came what I am officially labeling them as the 'Lamp Hats' since I have no idea what they are called in German. (please refer to the picture page for what they look like). It was so strange though seeing these Lamp Hats that were at least another 3 or 4 feet high ontop of some guys head with candles in it. They were unbelievably beautiful though. Most of the designs were like stainglass windows in churches or of St. Nikolas. They just lit up the street and where bright with so many colors. It is something I will not forget and will probably never see again. After that came St. Nikolas with the marching band behind him. Then after him came a huge group of men with these huge bells strapped around their waists or held their with handles. They formed 4 or 5 lines down the street and all rang the bells in unison. I think it went on for 10 minutes as they marched past there was so many men with them. Finally the last of it was the men with the blowhorns. These were particularly loud and out of tune because each horn had its own shape and produced its own sound.
So now I am actually packing up everything in my room and getting ready to leave again to go to my next family. I change in two days. Tomorrow I will have been here for exactly 4 months. Es ist so Verrückt! Its so crazy! One third of my exchange is already gone! Time literally passed me by and I was just along for the ride on this one. I am just happy I picked up a few things along the way.
November 12, 2006
Time flys...
I have already been here for 3 months. THREE MONTHS!!!! It is really crazy, I feel like I just got here a couple weeks ago, there is no way that I can be 1/4 done my exchange already. Unbelievable. Unglaublich! Also, kann ich der ganz tag jetzt nur Deutsch mit leute sprechen. Es ist mega geil wenn ich mit andere menschen in Deutsch spreche. I won't write too much German on here because this is my little break from German.
So life after the Herbstfereien has picked right back up into overdrive. I have musical practise on Mondays and Wednesdays after school and on Thursday I have my school choir practise. So usually I dont get home till 8 o'clock at night. My host mom just shakes her head as she sees me running from place to place. It is really great though because I have so many friends in the school and the musical now that I have been submerged into Swiss life.
One thing that I have found the pleasure of discovering here is how easy it is to go skating or play shinny hockey! There is always an arena in the bigger cities with a skating rink on the side. My friends from South America and U.S.A have grown to love it but after I had to teach them for a couple hours. Lots of people in the cities too will go skating or go play hockey on a saturday which is great!
Life just keeps on going around here. I change to my next host family on December 8th. I am really excited for this host family because they are super nice, live in the city, and go skiing every weekend (lol had to throw that in there). It will be nice not to have to wake up earlier to catch the bus too because its only a 10 minute walk. I will miss living with my host family here though. They have been awesome. My host mom, dad and brother have been so nice and supported me with whatever I am doing. I will also miss the rest of the family too like my host uncles and aunts and host grandma. I have been literally submerged in this family and I wouldn't have a problem if I had to live with them the entire year. Anyways there is things to do so I'll write again another day! Bis dann!
October 18, 2006
2 WOCHE HERBSTFERIEN!!!! (2 week fall holiday)
It was amazing! At first I had no idea what I was going to do with my holiday because both of my host parents and my host brother were working, but I had a blast!
For the first week I went for 2 days with a future host family to Southern Switzerland in a holiday house. It was so beautiful! I took the night train there because I have a pass for free night train all over Switzerland. When I got there I realized that their house was right by the lake and a beautiful view. The exchange student staying with them now, and good friend of mine here, was there and we had a blast! The following day we all went to this place called 'Swissminiatur' where it was switzerland three feet high. it was amazing it had all of the famous buildings, mountains, monuments and everything! We went then and had lunch by the lake since it was 24 degrees in OCTOBER! pretty awsome I must say. Then the following Sunday I went with two other exchange students hiking up the famous mountain beside my city, Pilatus. We took a gondola ride up the mountain and still had to hike 2 1/2 hours up! The view was amazing (as you can see in the pictures). It was unreal being about to sit on top of this mountain, MOUNTAIN, and literally see all of Switzerland.
The following week I went to St. Gallen which is right beside Austria. In this city they have a beautiful cathedral. I was huge but not as huge as the ones in italy or anything but equally as nice or even nicer. We could go to the church next door and go up the tallest bell tower. It was an impressive view. Then we wandered around the abby and we walked across a really famous library in the abby. The whole library was made out of this dark wood and the whole room was so beautiful. Also, every book in the library was at least 400 years old, some dating back to 900 A.D. There was also a mummy in the library which was donated from some royal family. The mummy dated back to 600 B.C. and you could still see its skull. it was awsome!
The following day I went with two other exchange students to Geneva. It was so much fun! As soon as we got there we went to the United Nations. It was really big and really nice. I was able to sit in the room where 2000 people can sit. In that room they have huge UN meetings! It was amazing! Geneva also has a very beautiful old town were the roads are all cobblestone and the bäckereis let out aromas of Coffee, chocolate, and all those delicious pastries. We went up the tower in St. Peters Cathedral and got some awsome pictures. On the lake in Geneva, there is a man made jetstream that shoots 140 m into the air! One can almost see the top of it from anywhere in Geneva! So awsome!
Now I am back in school and a little bit of a downer but it is really great to see all my school friends again.
October 3, 2006
General Update
So basically everything is still going amazing here in Switzerland. The first thing you all are wondering is why was I in France? Haha well I went to Basel (which is really close to the France/Germany/Switzerland border) and we decided that we really wanted to go to France, just to be like 'We were in France!!!' yeah we're cool. Anyways when we got to Basel we took in the Rhine which is MASSIVE and then headed to France. I think that the people personally have fun seeing tourist trying to find their way to France because it took us nearly all day. Then we got there and we spent a whole 20 minutes in France, oh yeah it was awsome.
Then this past week in school I had what was called 'Projektwoche' which is project week. Our year did some of the songs from the musical Hair. Everyone had to be in the major group and sing three songs and dance (not cool for me haha mr. two left feet here) and then you could decide to be in the singing group, dancing group, band, or tech work. I was put in the singing group and it was really fun. Everyday that week all we did was sing and a little bit of dancing. At the end we preformed 2 times for 2 younger classes. It went pretty well.
This past Sunday I went to the Berner Alps and they were so beautiful! Even though it was raining it was still amazing. The lakes were so clean that they were a greenish blue color. We hiked up behind this waterfall and had an amazing view of the valley below. I went with two fellow canadians that live by me. It is great to relate to them because even though they are from Ontario, they still act alot like me and feel the same way I do on things. Canadian pride!
Anyways right now I am on my two weeks fall holiday. I am going to Southern Schweiz for a couple days and doing things with my Swiss friends.
September 16, 2006
Italian Switzerland.
Ok so I had to get up early because the train left at 8:21. I met two of my friends there that were also rotary exchange students; Leah from Oregon and Luis from Venezualia. So we started out on the train and basically were just chilling and having a good time. By the last hour of our train ride we were getting antzy so we were putting out heads out the window and taking in the warm southern air. We packed for rain because that is what the forcast was but stepped out into a warm sunny day. Almost immediatly we look at eachother and are like 'oh crap' because everything is in italian, but we managed. The first thing that was different was, beside the language, the atmosphere of the people. Everyone was laid back, having a drink, and taking in the day. We stopped and had pizza (best pizza I've had) and then just spent the rest of the day swimming and relaxing under the big trees. The biggest surprize though was when I saw this marathon going on. I was interested so I went towards the start and I saw that it was the Terry Fox Run! In Switzerland! Wow, that was really impressive I thought. Terry Fox not only made an impression in Canada but now all over the world. It was really great to see the Canadian flag on all of the runners t-shirts as well.
September 4, 2006
FIRST DAY OF SCHOOL!
Whenever I thought of my first day of school in Switzerland, I never thought it would end up like this.
I left my house here with plenty of time to get to the bus and I arrived early to school. When I got there however, there was no one in the classroom. Actually the door was locked and no one answered my knocks. So I was a little intimidated by this and I ask someone where my class is.
'Oh ist Sporttag heute'
'Its sports day?!? What does that mean?'
And then she went off in German so I had no idea what she said. Next I went to the office and they told me where I had to go for the sport day. I went on a bus from Luzern to Kriens which is a town just on the outskirts. After I get off at my stop though, I realize that I have no idea where to go now! No sooner did this thought come into my head did I notice that there was yellow chalk arrows on the sidewalk. One of them was labeled 'Sporttag'! YES! So I followed the yellow brick road, I mean the arrows to this complex. This place was awsome! It had two pools, waterslides, 2 soccer fields, 4 beach volleyball courts and a huge park. So once I figured out which team I was on and where I had to go the day was amazing! They had all these activities planned out for us. I also met most of the people in my class and they all were really nice.
Its not very often that your first day of school happened in a pool or on a soccer field, but I guess I was just lucky. By the way, there is only one sporttag during the whole year.
August 19, 2006
Next bit of excitment I have had would have to be what is called the 'Knüsel Kaffee'.
Now with my host family you get the rest of the family. I'm talking like aunts, uncles, great uncles, cousins, and people that have been imersed into the family. What is special about this family is that they meet every saturday to drink coffee and have been doing it for the past 30 years. My first Knüsel Kaffee was only the usual group of people, which ended up being about 15 of us. So I am all ready to listen and pick out the words I know and try and join in the conversation. Not. a. chance.
First of all they are speaking Swiss german which is like old irish to modern day english. So basically a German speaking person wouldn't have a clue as to what a Swiss German speaking person is saying. Next there is not just one conversation going, oh no that would be too easy, there is at least 3 conversations going at the same time and everyone understands eachother.
There are a very happy people though, don't get me wrong. Basically though after an hour I understood that if I ever have a hope at understanding these people, I had better start learning German as fast as I can. Easier said than done.
August 7, 2006
Well my very first experience on my exchange has to be the flight over. At first it was very emotional to say goodbye to my family, but then I realized that I was finally on my way! It was so surreal! Going through customs was embarrasing though because i had to go back when I got to the officer because I didn't fill out a claim card. My bad. but other than that it was good. First flight was delayed so I ended up having to run to my transfer flight in Minneapolis (not a small feat). The eight hour flight over was alright too. At first I thought that it was definitly going to be painful when I saw the chair I was supposed to sit in and the person I was going to sit beside; a grumpy old indian man who couldn't seem to put 3 words of english together. After the plane started going though I started talking to him and we was actually very nice. I also saw the Northern lights for the first time in my life. They were amazing! They moved and were a really bright green. Anyways after I got off that plane I wandered into another exchange student. This is how our conversation went:
Hey are you on rotary exchange?
Yeah!
Sweet where too?
Switzerland.
Me too! Where in?
Lucerne.
Me too! Where in?
Luzern.
Ahh this is crazy!
So yes Dave was really cool and then I met 9 other exchange students going to Switzerland! It was awsome because we all bonded right away. We talked during the long wait for our plane, and it seemed we all had the same worries or troubles. When we arrived in Zürich, we were all nervous to meet our new host families so we stuck together. I didn't think that it would happen like that but I am really glad it did.
