Busy is Better

This past week was a crazy week for me, and I found that it helped me to focus on the positive things going on and enjoy every minute of my events here.  I had something going on every single night/day and I remembered how much I love a packed schedule.  Going back to my school week:

The Weird and Wonderful of Swiss School

Weird: On last Wednesday, I was required to stay at school until ten o’clock at night to participate in a special series of lectures on modern advancements in science and technology.  This may sound like it’d be cool- but it wasn’t.  Not even the Swiss people paid attention! In my first lecture,  our teacher spoke in Swiss German.  I felt so bad that no one was attentive so I tried my very best to nod at appropriate times, look interested, and appear to comprehend all of the information.  It seems my acting skills are more developed than my Swiss German. 

Weird: Gymnastics.  I still haven’t quite understood the concept of gymnastics in sports class. I never feel like I have exercised, and I always feel sore and achy afterwards.  However, we had our first test.  Mini trampolines, high jump mats and big wooden boxes we had to jump over.  With much help from the more graceful girls in my class, I managed to pull off a 5.75/6 for my final grade.  I was so happy! My report card will look hilarious with zeros across the board and then an awesome gym mark. 

Wonderful: In my German class for exchange students, we are all here on different schedules for different periods of time.  The boy from Italy is leaving soon, and so the teacher from our class invited us all over for dinner.  We all enjoyed Raclette, which was, as always, delicious.  I was able to keep control of myself this time and not eat half my weight in cheese before soccer practice. 

Wonderful:  I do not fully understand the concept of what happened Friday to my school schedule, but I had the entire afternoon off! I think it had something to do with the fact that the kids in my class went to school on Saturday, which I politely opted out of.  I had so much time out of school last week, it one hundred percent made up for the TechNight. 

The Love of my Life: My GA

My GA is the pass that takes me anywhere, by bus, train, or tram, in Switzerland for free.  It has saved my bank account (which would be fully and totally emptied) and allowed me to see so many things. 

On Thursday I went straight from my last class to a city a half hour away to go ice skating.  It was the first day the sun was shining, and I was quite comfortable wearing a warm sweater and a skirt.  I got a lot of funny looks from the Swiss people skating.  One man was dressing in so many layers of fur it was hard to decipher whether he was a man at all.  When the sun shines here, I am automatically in such a good mood.  Everything is so much more beautiful when you can see it without a white cloud of fog blocking the way. 

On Friday I planned to meet another Canadian friend in her town an hour and a half away.  The city was called Thun, and it was so beautiful.  Old city, right on the river, lots of things to see and do.  We saw the castle, and took some hilarious pictures.  Carly comes from Victoria Island, but as it is with so many other Canadians I’ve met- I feel like I’ve known her for a long time.  We laughed so loud we got dirty looks, took the touristy-est photos ever, and spent all of our money on food throughout the night.  After seeing Thun, I asked her if she`d ever been to Interlaken.  She hadn’t, and there was a train leaving in five minutes, so we hopped on it to see something new.  Neither of us realized how long we`d been talking in Thun, because almost immediately after we got in the train the sun went down and it was pitch black outside.  I can`t tell you the first thing about Interlaken, except for the fact that there are pretty lights on the hotels, that there is a Hooters bar, and that there is nothing to do there on a Friday night.  I think I’ll have to return with some sunshine, or a flashlight.  We went back to Thun and found something that made us both extremely excited- a Canadian Pub! We marveled at the hockey jerseys, wood cabin style decorating, and various Canadian souvenirs hung around the room.  A man came up to us (who had clearly been drinking there a while) and told us we spoke beautiful English.  “We should,” I said, “we are from Canada.” He didn’t speak English, but immediately pulled up a chair and the three of us talked for the rest of the evening.  He was able to tell that I didn’t come from the city because of my “Aargau Kanton Accent” which I thought was cool (we were in Bern).  Getting home was a bit of a nightmare, (the first problems I’ve had with Swiss transportation that weren’t my fault) and it took me a few extra hours than expected.  I was home really late, but it was well worth my awesome evening. 

Castle of Thun

City of Thun

Who knew Casper'd be there?

We thought this sign was the funniest thing to see on the castle.

My Canadian Carly! <3

On Saturday, my GA once again came in handy when I met up with more exchange students and went to Konstanz (Germany).  It is right on the border, but it is awesome for shopping (wayyyy cheaper!).  We spent the day enjoying the ability to afford the clothes we wanted and stocking up on cosmetics that were less than half the cost of the same products in Switzerland.  On my way home, without realizing, I took a very bad choice of route.  I fell asleep (go figure) and when I woke up, I thought something felt a little strange.  I tried to seem casual as I asked the girl beside me what country we were in.  Germany.  My Swiss GA does not cover travel within Germany.  I was extremely lucky that no one as checking tickets, because I didn’t have a cent left after my day of shopping to pay a ticket price- or a fine. 

Ethiopian Culture

On Saturday night I went next door for a big dinner to celebrate the Ethiopian culture (where Lidya and Luca come from).  The entire living room and dining room was full of tables and other families with children from Ethiopia were also there.  Wimi and Natalia know a woman from Ethiopia who came to the house and cooked all of the traditional food.  There were beets, chickpeas, spicy meat, chopped potatoes, carrots, beans, and a kind of gravy.  It was all served on top of large crepe-like bread.  Using another crepe, you rip off pieces and pick up the food with your hands.  The crepe is supposed to keep your fingers relatively clean, which only worked for about the first thirty seconds in my case.  I was completely stuffed afterwards with delicious, fabulous food. 

Wimi serving up!

To Keep the Hands "Clean"

Final (Incredible) Product

I was also exhausted- the dinner table took more concentration that I would have thought.  At the far end were people speaking Swiss German, in the middle there was High German (for me) and at the other end was all English for a woman from Hawaii who speaks no German.  It was unbelievable how hard I had to focus on the middle conversation to try to block out the English.  By the end of the night it became impossible and I sort of just zoned out altogether, unable to separate the babble of multi languages.  After dinner, I was reminded by Wimi that I have less than two weeks left in Untersiggenthal, and I felt my eyes automatically well up with tears.  One might say exchange makes you stronger- more immune to difficult emotions.  It doesn’t.  When I’m sad, nervous, embarrassed, or overwhelmed I still feel the tears coming- no matter how I try to stop them.  It’s just who I am- and my family right now knows that, so I don’t try to hide it.  They pretty much know everything about me now- all my strengths, all of my faults.  Maybe they should send a warning to my second family about my crazy ways…

Planning the Future

Being here, in a totally new place has got me thinking about what I want to do in life- who I want to be.  Trust me- when you don’t understand what’s going on around you- one has a lot of time on their hands to think.  I see so many new ways of life, new styles, new activities, and I have come to a conclusion about my future: I have no idea what to do.  I want to learn more languages and travel the world.  I want to become a doctor and do mission work.  I want to have a fancy car, designer clothes, learn to walk in high heels, wear red lipstick and drink from fancy over-priced coffee shops.  I want to wear second hand unique clothes, live simply, drink green tea, throw my makeup away, start riding my bike and learn yoga (or at least how to cross my legs). I want to have a great big fancy house on the water, where I can have the most amazing parties, spend free time in my boat, and smile as people take pictures of my mansion from the bay.  I want to have a little log cabin with a wood fire in a remote place where only my closest friends and family can come. I want to shave my head bald for cancer, I want to let it grow past my bum.   I want to go to school for years and learn everything there is to know.  I want to skip school all together and just work, and live in a million different places.  I learn how much I love to be Canadian, and I realize how much more I want to learn more about new cultures.  I said something to my mom on Skype the other day that even surprised me.  I said “I am sorry mom, but I hope that you know when I come back to Midland, I’m not staying there.” So I guess I have figured out only one thing absolutely and certainly- there is far too much I haven’t seen yet to make any decisions. 

Thanks for reading everyone, 'till next week!

xo