Berne Photos

Noël, etc.

Hello everyone

My last week was pretty busy, but relaxing too. I celebrated Christmas in Switzerland, which I enjoyed a lot, though it definitely wasn't the same as being at home.

Okay to start, I honestly can't really remember what I did on Monday and Tuesday last week, so I guess it wasn't that interesting!

Wednesday was Christmas Eve.. I woke up and helped Béatrice prepare a bit for that evening by making these smoked salmon and fresh cheese things. Andréanne and Nicolas went to José and Tata's house (brother of Bernard, and his wife- so my host aunt and uncle) who live in the same village as us. They took down chairs from the rafters and set up tables for the event there the next day. After they came home we all ate lunch together. Then, we visited Béatrice's parents who are in a nursing home. It was quite surreal because everyone there spoke German (it's in a different part of the canton) and so it felt a bit like my first day here, when I understood absolutely nothing. Béatrice's sister Denise also came on the train to visit at the nursing home, and so when we were all done she came home with us. Around seven, Tata (that isn't her real name, by the way) and José came over, and the eight of us ate dinner together. Afterward we opened presents and then watched the movie Bienvenue Chez les Ch'tis, which I have now seen three times here..

On Thursday, Christmas, we went to José and Tata's house for a giant family gathering for the people on Bernard's side of the family. There were around 30 people including us. I had already met nearly everyone at the birthday party of another host uncle. I recieved chocolate from at least 5 people, which is nice but now I have such an insane amount of chocolate that I am overwhelmed by it. I would share it with my host family but they have the same problem, so I guess I will just (sigh) have to deal with it. With these 30 or so people we ate fondue bourguignonne, which I hadn't yet tried. It's like fondue chinois, with the raw meet that you cook in the fondue pot, except instead of using a bouillon to cook the meat you use oil. I think they taste nearly the same but the bourguignonne definitely smells more. After eating we ate dessert (ice cream, raspberries with cream, spice bread, and meringues) and then played card games. When everyone else had left my host family and I helped clean up and then went home.

On Friday, because there was quite a bit of raw meat and other food left over from Christmas, my host family and I went back to Tata and José's to eat.. again.. fondue bourguignonne. It was good the second time too, and just as smelly! We ate pretty fast because in the afternoon Andréanne had to work and I had plans with Sakshi in Fribourg. After lunch my host family dropped me off at the station in Romont where I bought a ticket and caught the train for Fribourg, and then met up with Sakshi around two. We shopped for a coat for her because her other one is too short and not warm enough (I'm suprised she even has one since she's from Chennai- formerly Madras-where it's rarely less than 70°.) For me we found ski socks and long underwear. After we ate crèpes and then parted ways.

On Saturday, I woke up fairly early to get ready to go skiing with Nicolas. Andréanne couldn't come because she had to work so it was just us. We left around ten to drive up to Charmey, which is that village in the mountains where I went to les Bains de la Gruyère with Alicia and Claudine. There we parked and took this ski lift up to this station higher up the mountain where the snow hasn't yet melted. There weren't that many runs but they were longer than those at home, and Nicolas told me that it was the smallest ski station around.. so obviously skiing somewhere where there are actually mountains is different than skiing in Minnesota. It was weird to ski from way high up on the mountain to a little less high on it, instead of going from the top of a hill to the bottom. It is also different because it's much sunnier and warmer since you're looking down on all of the clouds. More pictures of Charmey can be found here.

Today Andréanne wanted to go snowboarding and Nicolas skiing. I would have gone again too but the girl who owns my ski boots needed them for two days (though that's the only time all winter) so I decided to go snowshoeing with Bernard and Béatrice. We went to a different ski station called La Berra where we parked and the ski pistes were immediately there, instead of taking a lift. The snowshoe path we took was pretty but so much work. We basically climbed up the mountain as far as the ski lifts went, and then a bunch farther. It took around 2 hours for the ascent and then an hour for the descent, and I was (am) ridiculously tired. After getting back home Nicolas, Andréanne and I watched Pan's Labyrinth which we had taped last night.

Tomorrow I am going to Berne for the first time with Béatrice, her friend, and Andréanne. It isn't far; about 40 minutes by car. Andréanne is going to go shopping and I think Béatrice and her friend I haven't yet met are going to show me some sights. Berne is the political capital of Switzerland where the federal government is based, however it's not as big as Geneva, the most international city of the country where lots of organizations are based, or Zürich, the most commercial city. I am glad to be going there though since I haven't really seen much of Switzerland outside of canton Fribourg.

And after that I unfortunately have homework to get started on. Next Saturday night Andréanne and I have our Souper de Classe, which should be interesting (it's a party where everyone in our class gets together and probably most of them get drunk.) Sunday is la Fête des Rois for which AFS is holding a get-together in the afternoon, and I think my whole host family is going with. And then after that.. unfortunately.. school. Two weeks go fast.

I hope all of you had excellent holidays and, if you have congé, I hope you're enjoying it.

Funeral and Christmas Vacations

Hello everyone

First and foremost, something really sad happened for my host family. Friday my host mom Béatrice's brother Marcel died; Andréanne and I found out when we came home for lunch. He had a sort of developmental disability, and couldn't talk but seemed to understand a bit when Béatrice spoke in German to him. He lived in a care home but once every month he would come here during an afternoon to have dinner with us- other weeks he would go to the house of Béatrice's siblings (I met him twice.) It is really sad for my host family, especially because it's the holiday season, the start of vacations, and it came totally unexpectedly (apparently the doctors think he had an epileptic attack while sleeping.) Anyway, now my host family is quite sad as one would expect and I am sad for them too. At this moment they are at the mass for him, and there is the funeral tomorrow. My host family and I agree that it is better if I don't go to either. If I thought that would give them emotional support, I would go, but I don't think it would. It would be putting myself in a sad atmosphere, and they know that, and so they too think it better if I don't go.

Okay so off that subject.. I will just describe a bit my week as usual. It was busy. Monday I had that geography test I wrote about before; I earned a 6 (which is 100% - it's a scale where 1 is zero and 6 is 100%) I guess all of that studying paid off. In Chemistry I got 4.9 which is also pretty good- my teacher wrote 'bien!' on the top so I'm happy. Thursday and Friday my classmates each presented in English a short review on a film or book. I corrected my host sister's text and helped her prepare a little bit, and she did really well. I myself prepared a small presentation about high school in the US but there wasn't enough time for me to present so I will probably do it after the vacations. In Math on Friday we had a test that was super hard, but at least everyone thinks they failed so I am not the only one. Thursday afternoon we went snowshoeing for gym, because there is an insane amount of snow. Andréanne and I brought her parent's raquettes from home. It was hard work but fun too; the whole class ended up throwing lots of snow at each other.

For the next vacations, which is of one week in February (after la semaine thematique), I am planning on going skiing with Nicolas and Andréanne for one week up in the mountains. Their family friends have a chalet there that they won't be using during that week so we are free to go. My host mom Béatrice has been asking everyone she knows if they have any old or unused ski boots in my size.. the skis wouldn't be a problem because I could use Nicolas's old ones. However if we hadn't found boots I would have had to rent them which is really expensive. Luckily one of their friends in our village said that they had some that might be my size.

Thursday night we went to their house and I tried on a few different pairs, and found some that fit (from what I know of my ski boots from last year they are a good fit.) And not only that, they happened to have a pair of skis and poles (quite good ones too, just a little beat up), both my size, that no one uses. I guess this is common here, because nearly everyone in every family has their own skis or snowboard, and they get replaced at least every 5 years. Anyway, we had amazing luck to find everything in my size, and the husband of this family who is on a ski team brought them to a sports shop to get adjusted for me. Obviously I will have to ski on them first to make sure everything works together.. we are probably going to go somewhere nearby sometime during the vacations. I am really thankful to this family to just let me use their equipment. From what I've seen, the Swiss are a prudent frugal bunch, but they also posses unrivaled generosity.

This weekend has been really relaxing, especially so because there is so much more free time in front of me. It's nice. Yesterday Andréanne and I made three types of Christmas cookies in the afternoon, and then in the evening we went to her friend Lauren's house. Angelique came too (these are the two friends we go to the gym with) and we watched two movies, one really bad not scary killer movie called Untracable and also Ratatouille. It was not quite the same in French, as the over-Frenchness of it all and the silly French accents are lost, but it was still good. We walked home around midnight and I went straight to bed.

Today I started wrapping my host family's Christmas presents, and I wrote a long entry in my journal for the first time in a while (less to get out now that I am with a normal family, and I can better express myself in French.) For lunch we ate cheese fondue, it was good as usual. In the afternoon we went to Bernard's brother José's house where Thomas, Emilie, and Vincent were too (those are Nicolas and Andréanne's cousins) and we played cards like the last time I saw them.

Ahh, right, so before I go I have to write about something that I forgot to write about before. In the spirit of going to a Madonna concert in Switzerland, I will be going in April to.......... WWE WRESTLING in Switzerland! I don't know if I've mentioned this before but my host sister and brother watch WWE wrestling once a week, and my host sister is an especially big fan. She loves this wrestler that comes from Chicago, it's really quite funny. Anyway, they have already been to a WWE thing a few years ago, and there is another in April in Geneva. Andréanne's aunt agreed to go with her, and she asked me if I wanted to buy a ticket too.. and I just figured, why not? Perhaps I am crazy, but it should be entertaining even if I do think it's a bit (really really) ridiculous.

Okay and now it's getting late so I should get going. Joyeux Noël to everyone!

À La Prochaine..

Hello everyone

I don't have much time to write an update today because it's Monday night of the most demanding school week I've had so far this year.. so I will have to make this relatively short! I promise to write again after vacations start, and hopefully in a more detailed manner.

Last week in school not much important happened. I say that every week, but it's sadly a bit true.. Yes I learn things but they aren't very interesting to write about. But actually I dissected a fish Friday afternoon, and that was interesting, though un peu degeulasse. Otherwise, what happened.. oh yeah, Thursday evening my family's AFS contact came over for maybe an hour or so to make the routine visit that usually they make before the exchange student is in the country. That was nice, she just asked some questions about their jobs, how I get to school, what a normal day in the family is like, etc. Also last week it snowed for two and a half days almost sans arrêt, and by the end there was probably more than a foot. I felt fortunate because everyone tells me that in the last few years the winters haven't been snowy.

On Saturday Nico, Andréanne, Béatrice, and I left the house at 8h00 to go shopping in Fribourg (it was necessary to leave early to get a parking space at this time of year.) We split up and I bought some nice chocolate for my host family for Christmas(Villars brand, made in Fribourg, which my host mom has said many times is the best. Which it is. It's really good.) And I bought a toothbrush, and some paper to make those Swedish paper hearts that I am going to hang on a string as a decoration to give them also (see here.)

After that we picked up Bernard from the bank where he works in the village, because the other car was getting fixed from when my host mom backed into a pillar in a parking ramp. We went to Romont where we ate at a restaurant and afterward rented movies and went home.

At home Andréanne and I made Christmas cookies and then in the evening watched some movie about Unaccompanied Minors (I think that was the title. It was pretty bad.)

Sunday I studied for many hours to prepare for my geography test today on the Swiss cantons and their major cities, European countries and capitals, and African countries.. In the evening we watched the movie 23. It was better than the other movie.

This week is crazy busy, with a total of 7 tests for my class (although luckily I only have to do two or three.. but still, it's stressful.) The profs aren't giving us a nice break before the holidays.. au contraire. And so, I must malheureusement go faire mes devoirs d'informatique.

Grandma and Jim, if you are reading, I got your card. Thank you so much! It was nice, and a little strange too, to get a letter from Arizona (for some reason, maybe it's the climate difference, it seems like Arizona is super exotic in relation to Switzerland.) I have been thinking about you and the rest of the family too, as the holidays are when I normally see all of you the most.

I will write more soon!

St-Nicolas.. and more!

Last Monday I went to school in the morning but I felt really quite sick, and I was almost falling asleep, so in the afternoon I stayed home from school. I stayed home Tuesday too, and by the end of the day I felt much much better.

Wednesday, Thursday, and Friday I went to school but not much happened that I can remember.. My week really wasn't that interesting!

Friday evening was the St-Nicolas celebration in my village, but because it was rainy we decided not to go. The whole point is that all the village kids walk in a little parade carrying lanterns they made, with a donkey I think, but in bad weather the celebration is moved inside and apparently not really worth going to.

So, we decided to go to the St-Nicolas celebration in Fribourg the next day instead, and Andréanne and I met up with her friend Angelique. Taken from French Wikipedia and translated by me (the article in English is missing this part), this describes what it's about a bit:

The St-Nicolas is celebrated December 6th in the Catholic cantons of Switzerland of French and German language. The festival is especially a big festival in Fribourg, because St. Nicolas is the paton saint of the city.

Fribourg:
The procession crosses the center of the city, starting at the Collège St-Michel and ending at the Cathédrale St-Nicolas. Normally, the procession startes at sunset (around 5:00) and ends at 6:30. At this moment, the St. Nicolas leaves his donkey and climbs to the balcony of the cathedral. Traditionally, he gives a speech containing satyrical passages on the events in the city in the past year. The St-Nicolas festival in Fribourg attracts many people; It's estimated that 30 000 (50 000on the centennial) people go each year to listen to St. Nicolas (citation needed.) The St. Nicolas is chosen each year from among the bilingual students at the Collège St-Michel.

We watched the procession at the beginning of the path, just next to the collège. At first there were some people dressed in black robes with their faces painted black, carrying bunches of twigs, then some people dressed in simple costume with torches. There was a band that played, then a flute/piccolo group, then a little choir, and afterward the St. Nicolas on his donkey, throwing out spice bread to the crowd. After the procession passed we went down to the cathedral to try to get a view of the balcony where he would give his speech. The procession passed us again as the St. Nicolas made his way to the cathedral. Afterward he gave his speech in French and German, which I heard but couldn't really see because there were so many people. The student that was chosen to be the St. Nicolas this year is actually the older brother of the boy I sit next to at school.

I didn't bring my camera because it was drizzly out, but to see pictures or the St-Nicolas festival from other years, look here and here.

Sunday was the birthday of one of my host dad's brothers. We went to have dîner at this restaurant in a little village maybe 20 minutes by car, where there was a room reserved for us. There was tons of family and I definitely don't remember everyones' names or how they are all related, but everyone was really nice. After eating fried chicken and french fries (it felt oddly American) I played cards with Andréanne, Nicolas, and their two cousins until evening. It was quite fun.

Today there is no school in my canton and I believe two others, to celebrate L'Immaculée Conception de Marie (Immaculate Conception, in case you didn't get that, haha.) But really it's not to celebrate, it's just a reason to have a day off, which is nice.

After.. more school. And then vacations. Like I said last week, except now it's closer!

Sadie, if indeed you're reading this, I've finished writing you a nice letter and plan on posting it tomorrow.

Christmas Market, etc.

Hello all

It's Sunday afternoon and I am quite tired.. My whole host family has sore throats and coughs, including me.

In school last week nothing too special happened, as usual. My class teacher found for me a French grammar book and French vocabulary exercices. She requested them from another teacher at school who teaches French for new students who don't know the language. Before I was working out of a verb workbook or reading kids' books in French in my freetime at school but the new materials are better. On Tuesday we had our last day of swimming in gym, so I am happy about that.

Thursday was Thanksgiving in the US, but the only recognition of it here was a piece in the journal that made fun of the Sarah Palin interview with the turkeys being slaughtered in the background (Switzerland is completely pro-Obama and pro-democrat, and they love making fun of Bush & Co. nearly as much as we do!) Luckily I didn't feel too homesick but I'm not too sure why because I thought I would be. Sometimes it's easy to not be homesick because I'm so busy and wrapped-up in my life here.. But then other times I will have a few days when I can't stop thinking about home. It just depends, I guess.

The last class on Friday I had an interesting biology lab where I dissected a mussel.. It was pretty tame compared to the perch, frog, and two sheeps' eyes dissections I've already done, even though not all of the mussels were dead. ('If your mussel closes up and you can't stick the scalpel in, put it in hot water' was basically what my teacher said, but in French.) I think later in the year we are going to do more dissections, and this was just a sort of introduction. After school Béatrice came to pick us up and we went to Bulle where Andréanne had a dentist appointment and Béatrice and I went grocery shopping in the meantime.

On Saturday, Andréanne, Béatrice, and I got up early to go the Christmas market in Bâle (more commonly known by its German name, Basel- I didn't realize they were the same place until Saturday.) Towards 8 we met up with Andréanne's aunt, grown cousin, and other aunt (I think..) at the parking lot of the Migros in Romont where we boarded this tour bus. I was kind of strange. We were unfortunately the first stop for the bus so we had to make a round of Bulle, Fribourg, and another town, which took a good hour or two. After the bus was full of people we started the trip to Bâle, which lasted until around noon, with a break where the bus-driver stopped to serve everyone coffee and cookies. Bâle is to the north and a bit east of here, right up next to the border of Germany.. and the area is German-speaking.

The market was quite nice, with lots of stands set up selling various things, like scarves, gloves, carved angels, cookies, figures for a manger scene, cheese, christmas ornaments, etc. We looked at all the stalls and then went shopping at the stores nearby, with a dinner and 3 coffee breaks in-between, of course. They really drink quite a lot of coffee here. At 6 we got back on the bus to come home.. In the front of the bus there was this Swiss-German singing group that started singing various songs including some English ones (Hark! The Herald Angels Sing and Let it Shine, which was funny with their accents.) We got home not too late, and then I watched TV with Andréanne and Nicolas until I went to bed.

Today I woke up with a sore throat.. for lunch we had cheese fondue and it was good. And now we're just hanging out.

You know, I've been finding since coming here that time seems inconsistent. I feel like time drags until I view things in retrospect- I've already been here more than three months, and looking back, I feel it passed quickly. The fact that I have only three more weeks of school until Christmas vacation seems impossible too. When I look at how long I have to go of exchange it seems like forever but I think it will be the same as the time that's already past, that it will feel long in the process but after it will feel way shorter.

Next weekend is a 3 day weekend and also the Fête de la St-Nicolas where I think there is a parade of kids in the village at nighttime. I'm not exactly sure what it is but I will fill everyone in afterward. The day is very important here, like an extra Christmas sort of. And then after, 2 weeks of school, and then vacation!

Fotos

Hello all

I don't really have the time to write a detailed blog post today about my last week (homework, ugh.) In school it was pretty standard. But I can describe my weekend a bit, and also I am putting up a few photos.

Friday night it snowed a bit, which was nice. It snows here a few times in the winter, but never much like in Minneapolis. Yesterday was Saturday.. I took the bus and train to Fribourg to see Sakshi. It is much more convenient to take the bus from my new village than my old village because they run almost every hour, even on Saturdays. On the train I saw my friend Berenice from school with her mom, and then we ended up taking the same train back too. In Fribourg I bought a few clothes and then Sakshi and I ates crêpes and talked. I returned to the house and ate dinner.. Afterward I skyped with mom and dad. I am definitely forgetting English...

Saturday around 10 Andréanne and I went to a fête in the village. It was called 'The Beach Party' and there were lots of people.. the drinking age here is technically 16 but there were some kids as young as 13 who were drinking (however the majority of people there were probably 16-20.) The floor was covered with sand and there was loud music and a bunch of people were drunk. I probably inhaled more smoke yesterday night than in the rest of my life together. Andréanne and I didn't drink but we danced. It was.. interesting. It is weird that people here drink and smoke so much younger, and it's not usually discouraged. I mean, in general parents let their kids go party like that on Saturday nights, no problem. At the fête I saw tons of people in my class, which was fun. We went home early.. at one.. because Andréanne had to get up this morning and work at the village nursing home. I am glad I went (because I was considering not going) but I'm not sure if I would go again. But in all it was a nice cultural experience.

This morning I slept in until 11, and then ate lunch with my host family, and then worked on my painting for art class. After this I have to go do homework for tomorrow. Next weekend we are going to a Christmas market in Bâle and I am excited for that. Only 4 more weeks until Christmas vacation!

Nothing Too Drastic

The last week was pretty standard...

Last Sunday I went with Bernard and Béatrice to this little village in the mountains where there was a gallery opening. It was animal themed, with paintings, drawings, prints, sculptures, and even some nice fuzzy works of taxidermy. Five artists were displayed and while they were all talented, I only liked two- the others were too precise, like photographs. After that we went to this cafe that was also a Swiss antique store, and got coffee and looked around.

Monday I had school, and can’t remember anything special happening. Tuesday night I went with Andréanne to the Salle de Gym where we met up with two of her good friends and did group aerobics.. It was exercise, and thus a bit of a drag for me, but I will probably continue going with her on Tuesdays because I know it’s good for my body. And I felt good after I was done, haha..

Wednesday, Thursday, and Friday were average days of school. Luckily the week didn’t drag by like the week before. I got to see my grades.. right now I only have grades in three classes because the other teachers don’t give me notes. The grading system is a bit odd here and I don’t exactly know what the equivalents are in the US. The worst is 1 and the best is 6.. I have 3.5 in géographie, 4.5 in math, and 5.5 in gym. In biologie I got a test back and did better than the boy that sits by me (he got 2.2) which is funny because it was a test on everything from the year up until vacations, and I was gone for the first half...

Saturday afternoon Andréanne and I took the bus to Romont to rent a DVD.. I bought some school supplies (stabilos markers and a compass) and then we rented two films, Zodiac and another, I think called Keeping Secrets, with Rowan Atkinson, Maggie Smith, and Kristin Scott Thomas. Andréanne made cookies in the late afternoon. In the evening Béatrice and Bernard went out.. Nicolas, Andréanne, and I ended up watching both movies.

Today I am working on some homework for school, and typing this, and relaxing before the start of another busy week. I am going to take some photos soon of my house and host family and then put them up. There are only 5 weeks left until winter vacations.. it is crazy for me that we only have 7 weeks of school between two vacations, each of two weeks. In February there is le semaine thematique (themed week) where we can choose what you want to do for a week (options like jewelry-making, sports, massage, drawing, cooking, etc.) at school or you can go to a skiing camp. I think I am going to sign up for ‘cuisine comme un chef’ (cook like a chef) but I’m not sure.

And now I have to go finish some homework for tomorrow... à la prochaine

Settling In..

Hello everyone. Comme d'habitude, here's what's been happening since the last time I wrote...

Last weekend I was stuck staying with PA and Jess. Saturday there was a celebration for Jess's birthday, which had been the weekend before. During the early afternoon I helped them set up tables and get everything ready at this cabin up in the hills. I guess it's common here in Switzerland to have cabins in the woods with a big room and a kitchen to use for parties. It seemed kind of strange to me (who owns it, anyway? and who paid to build it?) but I guess it's practical because there is not enough space at most people's houses to have big gatherings, but they still want to have them.

Around four people started arriving.. it was mostly family and close friends, at a ton of kids (around 35 people in total.) We ate raclette, which was pretty hilarious. To make enough for 35 people they bought two whole wheels of cheese, which were then cut in half.. after, one half was placed in this sort of appliance that has a grip below and a heating element above to melt a layer of cheese. It is hard to explain, and you probably can't buy an appliance like that in many other country in the world, but the raclette was good. For dessert, among other things, there was mille feuille, which is a really good cake (not lakeweed!) Around ten I went home with Jess's dad and his wife who live upstairs because the party was still going and I was very tired.

Sunday, nothing of importance happened. I did my homework for the next day which was the first day back from vacations.

Monday I went to school of course.. It was pretty hard to go back after two weeks off, but that's normal. I talked to Andréanne to see if I could make the family change the next night. After lunch when I saw her again at school she told me that AFS had called her mom that morning and all was approved, so we agreed that I would change Tuesday at 6:30 in the evening.

Tuesday was the longest, most horrid day of school. I had slept terribly the two previous nights so I was dead tired. In French I had to read something (in French!) that I had written in front of the class and that was daunting.. but probably good for me.. The next two hours were chemistry and math, yuck, and then a biology test that I failed miserably. Then it was swimming 800m in gym class, and though it was easier the second time because I already knew I could do it just fine, I still dreaded it. Then informatique, where we took a typing test, and économie, where the middle-aged professeur talks to me sometimes in English to show off to the class (I'm not kidding, everyone talks about it) and asks me questions about sports and corporation in the US that I don't know the answer to. Blargh.

Luckily the horridness of my Tuesday in school was made up for by the facts that: 1. It was finally election day in the US, and 2. I would be changing host families that evening. After returning from school I finished packing the bags I'd started filling on Monday. Jess and PA came home from work for maybe 45 minutes during which we covered the formalities (I returned their house and bike keys, they made a list of places I needed to inform of my address change, etc.) and said goodbye, then they went to a dinner they'd already committed to. After, Beatrice and Andréanne came to get me around 6:30 and I finally, offically, changed host families. I unpacked everything that night as well as went over an AFS 'first night questions' paper with Beatrice just to make sure everything was covered (chores, bathroom schedules, family rules regarding alcohol, and other pratical subjects to ease the transition into a new family.)

Wednesday I woke up in the morning and when I walked into the kitchen Beatrice said, 'Well, you are going to have a new president! Obama!' and that was awesome. Here it was around 7 in the morning, or around midnight in Minneapolis, so probably just after it was called (?) When I got to school everyone was talking about it and asked me if I was happy with the results, it was cool.

Aside from the election, Wednesday, Thursday, and Friday were the same as always, except that I had sinus headaches, fatigue, a runny nose, and sore throat (though not bad enough to stay home from school.) The biggest change was starting to adjust to my new host family. At lunchtime Andréanne and I return to the house everyday and eat dîner with Bernard and Beatrice. Nicolas goes to school in Fribourg so he can't come home for lunch. It is really different for me that here we have a whole hour in the house for lunch and there is usually a full meal, what I would consider supper in the US: salad, meat, vegetables, bread, potatoes/pasta/rice, etc. It is really a nice thing that the family can be together for 2 or 3 meals every day. I appreciate this but it also means that school goes an hour later. It's a trade-off.. I like the style here and in the US both for different reasons.

With my new host family I feel very at ease and welcomed, not afraid to ask questions, etc. Since I got here Tuesday I haven't been alone in the house once, which just goes to show how much they are around. I am no longer alone all the time but if I want to be alone that's not a problem because I can read/write/do homework in my room. I feel so much happier here already, and though I still miss home it's a lot better so far. I love how Beatrice, Bernard, Andréanne, and to some extent Nico (though he is pretty quiet and really busy, so not as much) ask me questions and talk to me a lot. It's very comfortable.. and just a family, and that is what makes it so much better.

Yesterday, in the morning I went shopping with Beatrice, Nico, and Andréanne to look for a winter jacket for Nicolas and also to buy groceries. In the afternoon I made cookies (and they turned out perfectly authentic, woot) and they've already been consumed. Then in the evening I went with Andréanne to the village Salle de Gym where there was some sort of society meeting for 80 people and we helped with the dishes. It wasn't too bad and I got to meet two of Andréanne's good friends as well as eat meringue with double crème at the end.. it was good. Tuesday evening I will go again to the Salle de Gym for fitness or sports or something.. I'm not really sure what it is but Andréanne goes every week and I am going to go see if I like it.

Today I woke up and the family ate a light breakfast together. Then for lunch we had mini crepes that you make at the table and put ham, cheese, onions, etc on. For dessert there were crêpes sucrée (sweet) with maple syrup or caramel or sugar with lemon. In ten minutes I am going with Beatrice and Bernard to some art exhibition so I have to go get ready.. and then after that more school school school.

But things are better. Lots better.

Changing Host Families, In 10 Minutes

Well, I just thought I would quick write that tonight is the last night of my life with my first family, and the beginning of my stay with my new family. Please email me if you need my new address, my email address is r.styles@yahoo.com for those who don't know it.

Today has been a crazy day.. I hardly slept last night, then had to read something in front of the class in French, then had a terrible math test that I failed, then had to swim 800m, and then pack all of my stuff and clean my room, and it's also the election in the US (Go Obama!)

I don't have time to write more now, but I thought you would all be glad to hear that I am finally changing families.

La Fin Des Vacances

Not much has happened since my last post; I've just been hanging out. I won't be able to change my host family today, Friday, because AFS can't contact my new family until Monday due to them being on vacation, and it's necessary that they talk before I change. I spoke with the head of AFS in the French-speaking region on the phone and he said that once they talk on Monday I can change Tuesday or after, when it's good for the new family. So I will be changing sometime next week.

On Monday Claudine and Alicia came to get me to stay at their apartement until Thursday. We went grocery shopping to buy things to make pancakes because last week I told them that if they wanted I would be glad to make them. It was a bit hard to find buttermilk, but they actually do sell it here, as well as sirop d'érable, so they were authentic.

Tuesday we woke up around 7:30 to go to Les Bains de la Gruyère (Google it.) I had no idea what to expect when Claudine told me 'bring your bathing suit because we're going to a spa.' What I found out is that a spa in Switzerland is not necessarily super expensive and luxurious, it's open to the public and affordable for normal people who want to relax. We drove for 30 minutes up into the mountains and were the first people at the doors of the building, which opened at 9. We paid our entrance fees (19 Fr for 3 hours, quel bon marché!) and then changed into our swimsuits and put our clothes into lockers. After that we entered the spa.. there was an indoor heated pool and one outside, both with jets and places to sit or lay in the water, and a huge window with a view of the surrounding mountains. There was also a sauna and le hamman which is like a sauna but Turkish, I think. I found all of this very relaxing and am glad I got to go there.

Wednesday morning I made the pancakes and they were delicious, but they made me a bit homesick. In the afternoon Alicia and I went to Fribourg and I got my haircut. That evening it snowed a bunch, however the temperature is around 40°F so it's been melting since.

Thursday Alicia and I went to Fribourg again to help her Grandmother with her grocery shopping. Around 9:30 I came home but my host parents were already in bed so I haven't seen them.

Today I am going to Fribourg to see High School Musical 3 with Sakshi.. it was not my choice but that's okay, I could use some mindless entertainment today. It's also Halloween but here it's not really celebrated. People buy flowers to put on the graves of their loved ones.. in the grocery stores there are really small displays with Halloween-related items. Alicia told me that sometimes there is trick-or-treating within one's neighborhood or apartment building but it's not common. What's more celebrated is La Toussaint, which is la fête des tous les saints, or All Saints' Day. That's tomorrow, and basically all the stores are closed to recognize it.

Tomorrow and Sunday I have absolutely nothing planned. I have some homework that I have to do before school starts up again, but other than that I don't know what I'll do. And then Monday is school again.. I was afraid that vacation would pass terribly slowly but it actually went pretty fast. I am sort of looking forward to school but I think that's because I associate it with changing host families and not being bored.. as far as the work part goes, I could do without, but then that's life.

And now I have to go get ready to go to Fribourg with Sakshi, so ciao

Hello Hello

I am glad to be able to say that I am feeling amazing right now, because it's like I can see the light at the end of the tunnel of bad family situations.

But let's start at the beginning. Wednesday I was hanging out with Alicia and Claudine but honestly I don't remember what we did. I was feeling pretty scared that I would be stuck with my current host family for weeks, which wouldn't be good. But I was also enjoying my time with my liason and her daughter who are like a second host family to me- in fact they told me that they would gladly host me if they had the space. Claudine's son sleeps in the living room of their apartment every weekend and has to get up at 3 in the morning because he is a pastry chef so they can't make any noise, and plus Alicia and Nastia (her sister) spend the weekends with their dad, so obviously they can't host me. I just feel fortunate that I get to know them and hang out with them and that they are truly there for me if I have a problem.

Anyway, Thursday came and I was having fear for the weekend because I hadn't really seen my host family since Sunday and that was when they told me I had to switch ASAP. But Claudine and I took a really long long walk around the old city of Fribourg and it was absolutely great, she explained to me the buildings and names of the fountains and such. While we were walking my friend Andréanne called (because I had text messaged her before) and we agreed that Saturday I could go over to her house to talk about if I could living with her family. I went home from my liason's apartment after dinner but didn't see my host parents because Jess was in the shower and PA wasn't there.

Yesterday, Friday, I went to Fribourg to hang out with Sakshi; we walked around looking for the perfect purse for her (which ended up being in the first store we looked at, go figure), a fountain pen, film, and facewash for me.. yes, this is the life of an exchange student. We also ate crèpes (well actually, I had a crèpe, she had a gaufre) with nutella. Très bon. And of course we talked, a lot. And she made me try on this hideous dress at H&M. I went home in time for dinner, when my host parents told me that I was rude when I didn't say knock on the door to say hi to Jess the night before when I came home and she was in the bathroom. Of course I said sorry, but in reality I wasn't because I am trying very hard to be as agreeable as possible toward them. Not that I won't keep it in mind for next time, I'm just not going to feel horrible like I've gone and crushed their feelings, which seem to be really fragile anyway.

Today I woke up around 9 after not sleeping very well. I got ready and then my friend Andréanne and her mom, Béatrice, came to get me, though I had to meet them at the bus stop because they couldn't find where the house was. We went to their house, and they showed me around. They have a cat named Hannibal who loves people, including me. It's all figured out that I will move into their house next Friday, Halloween, assuming AFS is okay with everything. I will have my own room with a desk and a computer without internet (which is good because otherwise I would use it all the time.) It's a little small but cozy. Actually, I prefer small because I don't have enough stuff to fill a big bedroom. Andréanne said like 4 times that she's really glad I'm coming to live with them, probably because she's only ever had an older brother (Nicolas, 18.) I am super glad too. I already feel more at ease with this family than I ever have with Jess and PA. It's super cool that I was already friends with Andréanne before, and now she's going to be my host sister. I ate lunch with their family and so I got to meet my soon-to-be host father (Bernard) and soon-to-be host brother, who are both nice. After that Andréanne had to go work at the nursing home in the village where she works a half day each week so I helped Béatrice do the dishes. It is interesting because she is a native German speaker and that's part of the reason Andréanne did an exchange last year to German-speaking Switzerland. And also it's pretty ideal because she works 50% time so she will be around. And also, she explained to me that their house is not always 'tip top' and I almost cried from relief. Because it was just, you know, normal. Clean but not freakishly so like basically all of the other Swiss houses I've been to. How did I get so lucky to find this family?

Anyway, so that basically sums up what I've been doing since last I wrote. Things are looking up up up and I have no doubt that AFS will approve this family because they are always desperate to find families. And honestly, if indeed I move in with them on Friday, I will hardly have time to pack my things from this house because I will be with Claudine and Alicia from Monday to Thursday. I am feeling really really good about life here right now, and might even be sad to see les vacances d'automne come to a close! I am certain that things are only going to get better from now on. There is no cloud without a silver lining, and mine is that while most of my other exchange friends are finding school and life here increasingly difficult, for me things can only improve.

Ahh, I know what I'm forgetting. I must ask you all not to send me any mail, if you were planning to, until I am all situated with my new host family. If it gets sent here after I change families I am not sure if I will ever see it. Which reminds me, Chloe I got your letter (thank you!!!) and am in the process of writing back so be not disappointed by my lack of emailing.

Amy I got your email about cell phones and it was very helpful, thank you! Sorry for being a horrible correspondent through email to everyone but I just don't have enough time on the computer.

Lots of love to everyone

Vacances D'Automne

Right now I am staying at my liason and her daughters' apartment because it is the vacation from school and I really don't have a lot to do. Also things have gotten worse with my host family- it's not terrible but basically they told me that they want me to change families sooner than the second half of November because it's too hard for them hosting me. I think there have been a lot of misunderstandings between us.. they (in so many words) told me that I have acted rude and even mean towards them which is a shame because I never had those intentions or feelings. Mostly I've been frustrated that they've been percieving my actions as such for a really long time. If I had questions for them or just didn't understand anything they always jumped to the conclusion that I thought it was their fault.

Anyway.. I don't really want to write about my host family troubles right now. Just rest assured that, though it's hard for me with them, I'm okay. On the bright side there are two girls in my class (Andréanne and Margaux) who have seperately said that I can live with them if I can't find another family in the area (don't worry, they asked their parents first!) So I have gotten one of their addresses and will get the other to give to AFS who will call and talk with their parents and see if I can live with either of their families.

So.. vacation.. well last weekend I really did next to nothing. My host parents had gone with friends to some chalet in the mountains so I was home alone which was pretty nice. Sunday they came back and that's when they said that they want me to change families sooner... I told that to my liason and so she invited me to stay at her apartment Monday-Thursday this week and Monday-Thursday next week too. Thank god because it is much more comfortable here and now I am not bored out of my mind. Claudine (liason) is a teacher so she has the same vacation as me and Alicia so we can do some things together, it's nice. I am really lucky to have them around to talk to and ask questions of. Also because Alicia went to the US on exchange last year she really understands when it's hard.

Yesterday was Monday.. around two they came to my house to pick me up. They gave me a book called 'Les Vacances du Petit Nicolas' which is written for kids but is really funny and I can understand most of it so far. Yesterday night Alicia and I went to see Mamma Mia at the theatre in Fribourg. I'd already seen it in the US but enjoyed it the second time too because it was so cheerful and such.

Today, Tuesday, Alicia, Claudine, and I went around two to Fribourg where we met Sakshi in la gare. We went bowling together and then to a museum of natural history. It was interesting because there were a lot of dinosaurs and prehistoric life in the Swiss Jura which was explained in the museum. After that we walked a few blocks to the Villars chocolate factory where we drank chocolat chaud in the cafe, and it was très bon, bien sûr! And now it's Tuesday evening and I am going to watch a report on the TV about the election in the US with Claudine and Alicia.

I think later in the vacation I will sleep over at Sakshi's. Also Andréanne and Margaux both said they would call me later in the vacation to hang out.

Okay I think that's all. I would make this more detailed but (sorry sorry sorry!) I really don't feel like writing right now. I miss and love you all!

School, host family, weekends, etc

Well, now I know for sure that I will be changing host families. I will live with my current family until sometime in the second half of November. In the meantime, my family, our contact people, AFS, and I are going to try to find a family in the area. If we can find a family near Romont, I will be able to stay in the same school. I am hoping this is the case because I think my school is pretty good, the people are really nice, and it would be hard to start somewhere new. However it is not guaranteed that we will find a good family willing to host in the area so AFS will also search in the city of Fribourg and the other cantons.

Last Sunday I went to an AFS bowling thing in a town called Morat- my AFS liason and her daughter went to. I got to see a few of my exchange friends as well as meet for the first time some students from New Zealand and Australia who have been here for 7 months. After bowling one game (I won! but I'm not sure how though...) we took a tour of the town. It was interesting because it wasn't really far from the city of Fribourg but everyone was speaking German.. I am still not completely used to that.

What can I say about school....? I have a lot of free time, which is sometimes nice (when I have a lot of homework) and sometimes a drag (when I have nothing to do.) Here in Switzerland, summer vacation is about 6 weeks long, which means that during the school year there are many more long breaks. I have one week of school before two weeks of vacation. I have no idea how I will spend all of that free time and I am actually dreading it because I know I will be bored out of my brain. If I lived in the city I could explore but here there are just a lot of fields and barns.. It is pretty expensive to travel so I will probably do it a bit with my exchange friends (maybe take a trip to Berne) but not a lot. So.. if you want to send me an email, sometime after this week would be a good time to do it because I won't be at all busy.

I can't think of anything really interesting that happened in school last week... Math class has luckily gotten easier as we moved on from binary relations and are now working on square roots, powers, and factorisation, which I have studied extensively in the US. In fact, I think I understand better than most of the class, which is a relief. I thought school here would be really hard because it's in French but so far it's way easier than in the US, due to a combination of not being expected to understand everything, having lots of free time, and having already studied many of the topics. In IT class my teacher asked me to say the words 'Iowa State University' to the class because it was in an article we were reading about the history of computers. In English the class took a writing exam about Friendship.. the teacher asked me if I wanted to take it but I opted out. One funny thing is that my whole class (especially the boys I sit with in chemistry) are absolutely amazed by my graphing calculator. Here they are not used in high school, in fact I think some of my classmates had never even seen one before, so for them it is futuristic technology. I made sure to say 'in the US it's obligatory' because I felt a little silly that I had such a big calculator, haha. Sadie, if you are reading this, the girl that sits next to me definitely admired the Never Again, JK, and Heavenly Andersquid scribbled on the case. In geography we are learning positioning on maps and about topography and such, which I guess makes sense when you live in a hilly country. I learned a bit about the 'Swiss system' (of course the Swiss have their own system of map positioning) which was sort of interesting.

I should tell you a bit about the people at school... In my class I talk to a lot of people. Berenice is a bit lost in the clouds and, from what I can tell, always asks silly questions in class, but she is really nice. Sometimes she speaks to me in English to practice and I don't mind because her English is so terrible that we end up clearing up any confusion in French anyway. Adrienne is a friend in my class who I walk around with (with two others) during the morning break. She did an exchange last year from here to German-speaking Switzerland, so she knows a little bit what it's like. She is really nice and has said that if I have any problems with family or school I can talk to her. Margaux is another girl in my class, she is really outgoing and always says hello and I feel like I can joke a bit around her which is good. And there are others too, who are friendly. Basically everyone is friendly and I wouldn't feel embarrassed to ask for help from anyone.

Other people I know, probably better, are Martine, Agnès, and Renauld, who I sit with on the bus. They are part of a bigger group of friends who I talk with in the morning, and are all really nice. Martine and Agnès are really interested in American culture, and ask me lots of questions, which is cool and good for my French. Martine has said that this winter I can go skiing with her and friends because her family has a châlet in the mountains. She also said that if I change host families and I need help finding a new one I should tell her because she will ask her parents if they know anyone (I am definitely going to to this.) Agnès and Martine are who I went to the festival in Romont with, two weekends ago. Also they have invited me to go to this choir they sing with on Fridays, and I probably will. Obviously this shows why I don't want to switch schools; I've already been welcomed here.

So, that was school for the week... Friday I went with my host mom to a 'souper de classe' for Laura, which was basically a fundraiser. About 15 students are going to Burkina Faso so it was an evening to raise money for that. It was okay but kind of boring and went until 12, so I was dead tired.

Yesterday, Saturday, I went to Fribourg in the early afternoon to meet my exchange friend Sakshi for a movie. Fernando, another exchange friend, also came.. Since the English movie options were slim and no one really felt like watching a Woody Allen film we decided to just go out for coffee and desserts instead. I had only seen Sakshi for a little bit last weekend and we hadn't really had a chance to talk, and I hadn't seen Fernando since the end of language school, so it was a good chance to catch up about how things are going for everyone. Fernando and Sakshi go to the same school in Fribourg, so they see each other sometimes, but they filled me in on their lives and I filled them in on mine. It is nice to be able to talk with people who are going through many of the same adjustments I am.

I went with Sakshi to her host family's house around 5:30 to spend the night there- her host parents and brothers were all going out for the evening. We talked for hours about all sorts of topics (cement houses in India, what Chinese food is like in India, and surviving on a raft in the middle of the ocean, to name a few) and cooked pizzas in the oven. After we watched one of Sakshi's favorite Hindi films ('Jab We Met') which was an amazing intercultural experience because she explained basically all of it to me. She could tell me when the subtitles were completely wrong or translated weirdly and tell me what they weer actually saying. It's really cool because Sakshi speaks English as well me (it's used exclusively in school in India), but she can also speak both Hindi and Tamul with the same fluency.

This morning we woke up and ate brunch with her host family. Around one I took the bus to Fribourg, then the train to Villaz-St-Pierre, then I had to walk for around 45 minutes to my village because there's no bus on Sunday.. but luckily the weather is really warm this weekend, around 70 degrees, so it wasn't a huge problem.

I've uploaded a few photos from September and up until now in October (I've hardly taken anything), they can be seen here:
http://picasaweb.google.com/fuzziepotato/SwitzerlandSeptemberAndOctober#

And now another question to answer! If you have more, please ask!

- 'I continue to be intrigued by your English class - have you noticed any particular aspect or area of our language, that stumps or frustrates your classmates the most?'

I think for most of my classmates the pronounciation is hard. For us, it is second nature to know that 'foot' is pronounced differently than 'boot'... but French is pretty standard in the pronounciation (it's read how it's written) so the differences are hard. Since there are so many irregularities in English it's sort of a nightmare for them to have to read aloud. Verb tenses are also really diffucult for them (when to use 'I ran' versus 'I was running' versus 'I had been running', versus 'I had run' versus 'I have run' etc, etc)

Changing Host Families?

Hello all

I found out last Sunday that I may be changing host families. The reasons for that are varied, the biggest being that my host parents don't act at all like parents to me, and not even really like friends. I talked to my AFS liason's daughter about this (who exchanged last year to the US) and while she said it wasn't like a family for her either and everything turned out fine, she was suprised to hear that there is absolutely no affection for me from my host family. I've never been hugged or anything. I also think that, while my host parents are nice enough people and they always make sure I am taken care of in all the physical ways (make me lunches, wash my clothes, etc.) they really don't have enough time to host a student. I think for them, hosting a student was different than they thought it would be (I don't know what they thought it would be) and they've realized it's not working out great for them or me either.. so yeah, it would be better for everyone if I changed families, I think, and that may happen soon. Or not soon. I'm unsure.

Luckily, while this is obviously a difficult situation, it's not too much for me to deal with. School is pretty hard and yes, at times boring, but it is so demanding that I have almost no time to feel homesick or anything. For instance on Tuesday I swam 800m in gym class (which for me is a lot) as well as had a bunch of other intellectual classes in French. So, it is both a blessing and a curse for me to be ridiculously occupied all the time. Everyone at school is really nice. When they found out I would be switching families and maybe schools too they were all like 'No! You can't switch schools!' Two weeks of school and my French is already improving, a girl in my class said she could tell the difference and I don't think she was just saying that.

Wednesday I went to the house of my AFS liason and her daughter (Claudine and Alicia) for dinner and to talk about how exchange was going (this was just after they found out I wanted to switch families.) They too said my French had improved a ton since the last time they saw me, maybe a month ago. Hearing this from everyone really makes it worthwhile being here. It's hard for me because I can't really see the progress I'm making, but when people point it out to me it feels great. Claudine and Alicia are very friendly and attentive to me, and I feel that I can contact them with any problem and I am lucky that they were assigned to me.

I think that things are going well for me here, in general. Yeah it really sucks that I wasn't just assigned a perfect host family from the beginning, but I am mature enough that I can deal with it and will learn from it. I've been here for 6 weeks and I've only had one emotional breakdown which I think is pretty good! And as far as the AFS 'cycle of cultural adjustment' goes (see: http://www.uazone.net/Adjustment.html ) I think it applies to me but only in little bits. I was realistic enough to not let the honeymoon stage get the best of me and I am not even sure which stage I'm in now because none of that completely applies to me. Sometimes I think negatively about life in Switzerland but then later in the day I will think about how something here really is good.

Since I got some questions in comments on my last post, I'll answer them here. And I encourage everyone that has a question to ask me because then I don't have to worry that I am forgetting to write about something important!

-1. 'What time periods/nations does your history class cover?'
Right now we've just started a unit on the Renaissance, and when I arrived the class was just finishing up the Middle Ages. I am not sure what we'll be working on in the future.. it is possible and probable that my class already studied Swiss history so I probably won't learn that. Maybe we will just continue learning about Europe.. I'll keep you updated.

-2. 'If it covers something you already studied here, I'll be curious to know if the European perspective is different.'
I never really studied the Renaissance much so I couldn't tell you if the viewpoint differs. I think one of the biggest differences is just that all of this history happened in and around the country- when we talk about the Middle Ages it's not as abstract because there are marks of it (the château one can see from my school, for instance) everywhere.

-3. 'I'd also like to hear more about how you participate in your English class.'
Well for the most part I just listen and try not to laugh at my fellow students' mistakes (because I know I sound just as ridiculous in French) but sometimes the professor asks me to read something aloud or asks me if I think something is right or wrong. Also he will question how we say certain things in America. That's about it. I do some of the homework, but not the tests and obviously not the memorization of 20 irregular verbs each week. I can't believe I am going to get credit back home for this class... though I am learning some of the names of the verb tenses I've been using my whole life!

-4. 'And for English class, do they say that you are saying things wrong since you aren't saying them like someone from Britain? And since you don't spell "color" "colour"?'
Luckily my teacher is cool enough to realize the differences between American English and British English, and while he will point out if I pronounce something differently I am never reprimanded for it. And so far I haven't had to write anything, so I'm not sure about the second point.

Le prèmiere semaine d'école

So today is Friday and as of now I have officially completed my first week of school. At school a lot of people are interested in me because I am foreign but it's still really difficult for me to communicate. I can say quite a few things I'm thinking (mostly incorrectly of course) but in a conversation I usually need the other person to repeat what they say very slowly or rephrase.. and obviously that makes talking with people hard. However and I try and smile and once in a while act like I understand when I don't (because it's really obvious to me that people don't enjoy talking to someone who doesn't understand) and things are going, I think, as smoothly as can be expected.

I have met some nice girls, Agnès and Martine, who ride my bus and this Saturday they invited me to go with them to a music festival in Romont, so of course I said yeah. There are a lot of nice people at school, people ask me how I am all the time and if classes are going okay, and in the morning also 'As-tu bien dormi?' ('Did you sleep well?' - a very common thing to demand here.)

So far I have found that my favorite classes are Art and English because I can participate and my lack of French language skills is really not a problem. German is nice because for me it's free time, Economie is suprisingly easy because the professor talks the whole time about sports, IT (Information technology) I can't really judge yet because I only had it one time and there was a fire drill for half the class (I was explained to many times that it was just a practice, there was no danger), and geography seems straightforward enough. I am way behind in math, and even when I understand the notations used here are different than at home. But luckily this is made up for by the fact that I am way ahead in both biology and chemistry, as I took a full year of each already and for my classmates it's brand new. Also scientific writing is surprisingly easier for me to read than, say, a popular culture article in the paper. History is not a problem yet but I get the feeling it will be. For French classes I have no chance of understanding complex French literature so I work independently on language skills. And gym here so far, for the two classes I've had, is great. The first day we did l'escalade en salle (indoor rock climing) and ping pong, the second day was trampoline (doing flips onto a mat) and badminton.

It's hard for me because I still can't understand a lot of French. I keep telling myself that I will get better, that in just a month or so I will understand at least 50% more and probably plus, and that by Christmas I will be speaking and understanding tons of French without even thinking about it, but right now it's hard for be to believe. However on the bright side I have caught myself a few times using words that I didn't even know I knew in the correct sense, so that's good because it means I am slowly adjusting.

And now I have to get going because I am really tired. I'm sorry if this post is very short but I don't really know what to say about my week or about school. If you have specific questions you can write them in a comment and I will answer them soon.

à bientot

Le premier jour de l'école

First and foremost, I have obtained some photos from my friend Sakshi that she uploaded online. There are a lot of odd pictures of me, primarily because I was the only person that would let her take them and then not delete them from her camera... But don't worry, for the most part those facial expressions don't really reflect my feelings about Switzerland.

Walking around Fribourg / The Fribourg tour with school:
http://www.new.facebook.com/album.php?aid=155332&l=276f7&id=557770264

Trip to the Callier factory:
http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=158369&l=3c347&id=557770264

Today was my first day of real school. I was pretty nervous but when I arrived I just went with the flow and everything was cool. The first teacher, who teaches German, showed me my spot in class and introduced me to the everyone when they arrived. I sit next to Annie, who is very friendly even though I am only pretending to understand everything she says... haha. She helped me go get my books, paper, and notebooks, which the school supplies for us. At my school the students change into different shoes (usually like birkenstocks or other sandals) to go into the classroom, and they also stand when the teacher walks into the room and wait for them to sit.. it's pretty different.

My class has German, French, English, geography, history, IT, economics, math, visual arts, biology, chemistry, and gym classes. I will be studying everything except German, which is nice because that gives me 3h15 of extra study hall every week in addition to the 2h30 or 3h20 (depending on the week) already scheduled. The schedule is complicated and changes each day, and also it alternates be the week (there are some periods that are either one class or another.) M, W, Th, and F I can go home for lunch, with a 20 minute bus ride each way and one hour at the house. Tuesday is the day we have a double gym period that interrupts lunch (at least it's only once a week...) so I will eat at school.

I had math today and it was so confusing. Unfortunately it is not just algebra or something, it's that wordy kind of math where you say 'if x is an element or blah blah..' or whatever, and it actually requires a lot of language skill. French is obviously waaaay over my head- today I just worked in my verb workbook. Tomorrow is going to be a horrible day, I have chemistry, math, biology, double gym, IT, and economy in that order.

But overall my first day of school was good. I think the worst part is the 4 bus rides everyday (except Tuesdays) with a bus full of annoying and somewhat intimidating kids.. but whatever, I will deal.

Mom and Dad: Today I received my package from home, and thank you so so so so much! The Obama shirt will stop everyone at school from asking me if I like McCain, and I was very excited to see everything needed to make chocolate chip cookies correctly. Basically, everything in the box is great. Thanks a million

Kylie, if you're reading this, my email is r.styles@yahoo.com so email me because I don't know your email.

Now I have to go attempt to understand my horrid math homework. Bisous pour tout le monde!

4 Weeks

Wow, the last week just flew by. Suddenly I am starting my second month of exchange, which is pretty crazy. I think that this month will be hard, but hopefully easier than the last now that I can at least understand the language a little bit.

Last weekend I had AFS orientation, and it was an okay experience. I brought my camera but I didn't take any pictures (I'm sorry!) but my friends did so when they put them online and give me the link I will post it here. For the camp all of the Fribourg exchange students met in the station in Fribourg and we took the train together to Neuchâtel. There we met up with the exchange students from around the French part of Switzerland and we all took a train together to Travers, this village in a valley with some really huge hills. We walked for like 20 minutes to this chalet thing where the orientation was.

The orientation itself was pretty useless as far as learning AFS rules, but it was a nice chance to just meet people, hang out with friends, and talk about our experiences so far. I think we talked for maybe half an hour in total about rules, even though we had a whole weekend. There were 32 students and maybe 5 counselors and we all took turns cooking meals and cleaning up.. and that's about it. We really didn't do much. I showed some people my high school yearbook and they were so impressed, it was funny. They said that American school looked really interesting (lots of sports, clubs, activities, dances, etc.) and just like in the movies, and I was even asked if I was a cheerleader... huh?

After returning from the AFS weekend I started my final week of language school. It was the same until yesterday (Friday.) In the morning we had classes and then in the afternoon we took a bus to Bulle (a smaller city in the canton.) In Bulle we took a train to Broc, a small village that smells like chocolate.. because there is a chocolate factory there! Yes, indeed we took a tour of the Nestlé factory where they make Callier chocolates- a Nestlé brand only available in Switzerland. We got to try a bunch of free chocolate and see a bit of the facilities, it was pretty cool. I was wondering how they can possibly afford to let us eat all that free chocolate until I walked into the last part of the tour (a quote from the website: 'Appetites whetted, visitors can then visit a specially designed shop which sells the entire range of Cailler of Switzerland chocolates.' That is truly brilliant.)

This weekend is the last before I start school in Romont. Right now I am mostly feeling anxious about that, but a little excited too. I will write about how it goes later. My host parents are going to a wedding today and won't be back until really late so I am just going to hang out and relax and also walk the dog. But right now I have to start replying to the 5 flagged messages in my inbox...

Prelude to Real School and AFS Camp

Let's see.. This weekend I am going to be at my first AFS camp/orientation until who knows when on Sunday, so I thought I had better write a blog post now. Life is good, and basically the same as last week.

At language school we had a new professor on Monday and Friday and she is really nice. This week I learned a lot about l'imparfait, le futur simple, le futur proche, les pronoms personnels, etc.. boring but useful. I think it's funny that I am obviously quite fluent in English yet I don't really know anything about the words I use.. Will it be the same in French once I start to really absorb the language? ..Yesterday (Thursday) we took a tour of Fribourg in the afternoon, walking in the medieval part of the city as well as up 365 steps to the top of the cathedral- a bit of a workout. This week I also bought a French book at the bookstore written for children but it's way way way hard. Maybe I will pick it up again in a month and do better.

My French is... who knows? It's hard for me to gauge my improvement from day to day. It's funny because everyone says that when you dream in French it means you're really fluent.. but I think they mean when you dream in French and understand it. Because I had a dream in French and it was just like listening to people talk here, it's like nonsense with a few words I know thrown in. It would be nice if my mind would give me a break and let me understand at least when I'm asleep..! But I can definitely understand more when people speak to me now, as long as they speak slowly and repeat themselves. I can get my point across on simple topics, though I say things incorrectly. But I am excited to be able to understand when, for instance, I turn on the télé or pick up a newspaper. It's been only 3 weeks here so I'm not really worried- I have a lot of time left.

Okay so in French 'host family' is 'famille d'accuiel' which is a complete pain to say. In fact I say it wrong every time. I sounds a big like 'dacksouyle' .. yeah something like that. I wish they could have a different word for something so necessary for me!

Hurm...ah yes, so I THINK I know what school I will be going to now but it's not set in stone.. I guess it's difficult for AFS to place so many students in the Swiss schools. But anyway, the school is the Cycle d'Orientation de la Glâne in Romont. In Switzerland kids go to obligatory primary school together, then are split into three groups for secondary school (those aiming for University, those aiming for technical and secretarial school, etc, and those who will go into manual jobs and apprenticeships.) CO (cycle d'orientation)is the secondary school where the best students go, and it prepares them for Collège and then University. At first I was worried when I heard that I would be going to a CO because they are generally for younger students (12-15 years of age), and all of my AFS friends are going to Collèges. But I expressed this to my host mom, saying it is really important to me that I am with my age group, and she says that the oldest grade there is ages 16/17- and she would know because both she and Pierre-Antoine went to school there. So if this is my school that is great. It is nearby and I will even be able to come home for lunch every day.

I am frightened to start school but also excited. I know it will be hard and frustrating and I won't understand much. And I am also scared to meet my classmates. But starting school is really the start of Swiss life- language school is like a buffer. I don't think I'm ready to start but I will never be more ready, so.. I guess I'm ready. Haha that really made no sense...

The AFS camp this weekend will probably be draining (I have to wake up at 7 tomorrow and probably early on Sunday too) but I am pretty excited. It is only for the students in French-speaking Switzerland, not the German speakers, and I hear the group is only about 40 people. I haven't seen the other Americans since we were on the plane coming here and I want to know how their first 3 weeks went. I am also excited to meet more students from all over the world. The autres étudiants fribourgeois (other students that I go to language school with) and myself will take the train to Travers (where the camp is) together, so that will be fun. I will be sure to bring my camera!

And, as a parting note, I think you will all be proud to know that I am forgetting english. I proof-read this and found 'there' instead of 'their', 'know' instead of 'now', 'give me a brake' instead of 'give me a break' and 'commencing school' instead of 'starting school.'

Give me a brake!

I have fully adjusted to the Swiss keyboard

The last week went really incredibly fast for me, because I was so busy. I feel like only one day passed between being here one week and being here two weeks.

On Monday and Tuesday I went to language school and it was just like always. All of the students agree that it is very boring, but at least we're learning. I do like being around the other exchange students, they are very friendly people, and it's nice to know that they are all in the same boat as me. We've been working on various subjects in school, but for me the hardest are the verb conjugations and tenses. I just drink coffee before class and take good notes and hope that I am where I should be with the language. The trains have been more crowded lately because on Monday school started for everyone in Switzerland. There are teenagers everywhere in Fribourg because they come from all around to go to the high schools.

On Wednesday I took a 'tour' of Fribourg with Marianna (from Latvia) and Sakshi (from India.) It wasn't really a tour though, because we only walked around a little part of the city. We visited the church, the University's library, and the Museum of Art and History (I think it was called), as well as Sakshi and Marianna's collège. We had been told that the library had English books but the only ones we found were anthropology studies so we may go back another day and ask a librarian. The Collège St Michael is amazing, though I can't believe it's a public school because it looks a bit like Hogwarts:





I still don't know what collège I am going to but I guess I will find out within the next few weeks.

Thursday and Friday I went to language school again, and I wish I could remember what happened but all of the hours of school are one big blur in retrospect..

This morning I made chocolate chip cookies, and they aren't horrible but they aren't exactly great either. I had to use a lot of substitutions, for instance I chopped up chocolate instead of using chips, used poudre à lever (baking powder) instead of baking soda (though I did the conversion), dry brown sugar instead of moist, a vanilla pod instead of vanilla extract.. you get the idea. I think the biggest problem is that they need more salt- I didn't realize that the butter here is unsalted.. whoops. Luckily I made only a half batch as I was doubting that they would turn out. I looked for brown sugar as we think of it in the store but they just don't have it, they only have the dry kind. Also there are no chocolate chips here, just chocolate 'pieces' that are ridiculously overpriced.

However I did discover that a person can buy a store brand 100g chocolate bar for 45 cents here, and it is amazing quality..

My host parents went somewhere this afternoon and evening so I am home alone. I think they felt a little guilty about it, or maybe wondered why I wasn't going out as it's Saturday night, but honestly I am grateful for the quiet. Life here is so tiring, and there's really not much time between going to school, commuting, meals (which almost always last an hour or two) and sleeping a solid 10 hours every night to just hang out at home. I won't be seeing them until tomorrow evening because tomorrow I am going to an AFS welcome brunch in Fribourg but they already had an engagement to attend and won't get back until later.


Alrighty, now for some questions I've been asked in emails that I will answer for everyone:
-Who is Laura?
Laura is my host aunt, technically, but she's only 18. She lives in the apartment upstairs.

-When do you start regular school?
I have two weeks of language school and then should be starting regular school immediately after that.

-What's the time difference?
It's seven hours later here than in the central time zone.

And now I must go walk Lucky before it starts to rain again (it's been very rainy this week.)

Madonna, etc.

On Wednesday I went to the château in Gruyère with Laura, about 30 or 40 minutes away by car. Gruyère is a touristy little town on top of a hill (go here: http://www.la-gruyere.ch/en/navpage.cfm?category=GruyeresFR to see more.) The château was pretty cool, It was built in the 13th century but changed by various inhabitants over the centuries to create a nice blend of old and really old.

On Thursday and Friday I went to school, and I can't remember that anything exciting happened. I had to give a presentation of Friday to my classmates, it was basically 'this is Minnesota' and 'this is Minneapolis in the dead of winter' but in French. I am definitely behind most of the students in my class, because they studied French longer in their home countries. Right now I feel like I am not very good at French, and maybe I learn better by reading and seeing than by hearing. I am not just picking up French left and right from hearing it. However, I have only been here one week so I think I need to be easier on myself. It is just difficult because I want to be able to say what is on my mind right now, not in a few months... but oh well, I will cope.

Last week Jess asked me if I wanted to go see Madonna with a group they were going with, and not wanting to pass up a good opportunity, I said 'oui.' Yesterday around 3 we drove to the train station in Romont where we met up with three of PA's sisters and two of their husbands. The trains were all ridiculously crowded, partly because it was Saturday but also because the whole world was taking the train to see Madonna, as train fare was included with the concert ticket. We rode the train from Romont through Fribourg to Bern, where we switched trains, then to Zürich, where we switched again to take a special Madonna-goers only train to Dübendorf air base (where the concert was.)

The crowd was gigantic but luckily I didn't get lost from the group. Apparently the concert attracted more than 60,000 people, which is pretty crazy. We ate some overpriced not very good Mexican food while waiting a few hours for the concert to start around 9. I was not suprised to see portable toilets but I WAS surpised to see portable urinals like this: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Image:Portable-toilet-Netherlands.jpg just in plain view. It was obvious I was in Europe...

The concert started around 9:30 after some mediocre singer I had never heard of opened for Madonna. We were in the standing part in front of the stage but I could barely see a thing. The concert was fun but also a drag. I was tired before we even left home, then we had to stand up for at least 3 hours straight which was hard to endure, and the crowds afterward were terrible- it took us more than an hour just to get to the train. But complaining aside, I think I am glad I went. Madonna sung some of her hits which I knew ('Into the Groove', 'Music', 'Like a Prayer', 'Ray of Light') and were fun to hear, but a lot of the new songs were pretty bad. And the audience, for the most part, was very unenthusiastic- I heard someone say on the way out that it was 'like being at a funeral.'

I was a walking zombie for an hour or two trying to get to the train. And then we took about two hours to get back home, but I fell asleep on the way. We got home around 3 and then I slept until noon today.

Pictures

Alors...

On Sunday I went with PA and Jess to PA's sister's house for lunch. They only lived twenty minutes away but they lived in a German speaking community (but they spoke French.) It was me, Jess, PA, his sister, her husband, their friends, and their friends' 1 or 2 year old daughter. For lunch we ate fondue, and it was really interesting. It was the kind where you put raw meat in the pot and let it cook. I didn't really like it that much but I tried the three types of meat- beef, turkey, and cheval (horse.) The horse was definitely not the most appetizing thing I had ever eaten...

Later we went to Jess's mother's house for supper. It is funny because when people visit each other here they do it for hours. Jess's mom was going to drive me to the train station on Monday morning for language school so we walked the the station by her house. She lives in a dome house with (I think) her boyfriend and the house can rotate.. it was pretty cool. For dessert there were like 20 options. I tried a meringue with double crème. I really don't understand how everyone is skinny here, I guess it's because they walk more.

On Monday Jess's mom drove me to the station and I took the train to Fribourg. It wasn't really hard at all. I met up with the other AFS kids going to language school- l'ècole-club Migros. They are Marianna from Latvia, Carlo from Mexico, Sergio from Venezuela, Fernando from Paraguay, Sakshi from India, and Jirapatch from Thailand. Everyone is really nice. School is kind of boring but it is only 4 hours every day and we don't have to go on Wednesday so it's not too bad. For lunch we have a 1.5 hour break and no one knows what to do with all the time. We buy sandwiches from Migros (the grocery store) because everything else is way too expensive.

Yesterday I went to school again. Then after school my AFS liason and her daughter met me there. We went to get coffee and then they took me to their apartement where we ate dinner. After dinner we picked up David, an exchanger with YFU from Boston. He is going to Macalester next year. We went to a performance of music and dance groups from Cuba, Spain, Mexico, Russia, Kyrgyzstan, and Siberia and then they drove me home.

Today I think I am going to the famous Chateau in Gruyère with Laura, who is technically my host aunt (though she is only 18.) I also have to work on some homework that is due Friday.

Aujourd'hui je comprend de plus français que hier. (I learned comparisons in school yesterday!) Chaque journée j'apprend un peu plus.

Moi, Je Suis Fatigué

Sorry about my last post's quote completely disappearing. In French quotations are two << >> marks on the side of the quote.. but of course my American blog thought I was trying to write something in code. What he did say was ``Are you Ruth?``

So yesterday was a long long day. PA took me driving around the area. He showed me the bus stop in my village, the train station in Villaz-St-Pierre (the nearest stop), and the one in Romont. We drove around Romont and it is great. It was built on a hill and there are a lot of old buildings and a church. He told me that you can tell when you are in a new village if you see a new steeple because every village has a chapel. And honestly, there is no other way to tell because all the villages run into the others.

At the station in Romont I had a passport picture taken and got some train passes. One was paid for by AFS and I think it gives me a half price fare anywhere in Switzerland but maybe only for a month (it was pretty confusing..) so I can get to orientation or other AFS events. Actually it might be good for the whole year because they are going to send me a card with my picture on it in the mail. I'm not sure. The other ticket was one that will take me from Villaz-St-Pierre to Fribourg for language school.

After getting my train information (sort of) figured out we headed to PA's mom's house. Two of his sisters live in the same cluster of houses, which used to be a farm. At the house there were 3 little girls awake and one taking a nap. We hung out for a few hours and two of his sisters dropped by. One of them had a 3 month old (girl) baby, the other was the mother of the sleeping one. It was a little overwhelming but fun too. I think all the kids were afraid of me except the newborn and the oldest, who was around eight.

Then we headed home to take the dog Lucky on a walk. There are sheep here but I'm not sure if Lucky rounds them up or not. There are also cows. Everywhere. I can hear them mooing outside my window.

Afterwards PA took me to Fribourg. We drove around and he showed me a lot of the schools here. There is a big university as well as many high schools and private schools. Fribourg isn't big compared to Minneapolis, but it's really nice. It has every sort of store I might need or want, and it's très chic. We got out to walk around and PA showed me the train station so I would know where to meet the other AFSers for language school tomorrow. Then we ate kebab which is not what we think of in America. It was actually more like a gyro but they use veal instead of lamb..and called it Dürüm.. and it was quite delicious. And I tried Rivella. It's this Swiss boisson gazeuse that tastes sort of like Smarties candy but I actually liked it. I looked at the ingredients and it said something about milk. Yes, it is derived from milk yet tastes a little like Smarties. In fact I just looked it up and it is made from milk plasma. Hum. I am not sure if I liked it or not but I guess I would try it again.

Since Jess was hosting some kind of bachelorette party for one of her friends, PA and I needed to hang around Fribourg. We went to see Le Chevalier Noir at the local theatre with Laura (Jess's 18 year old sister) and her boyfriend. I had already seen the movie but this was good because it was dubbed in French and I would have been completely lost otherwise. Then we drove home and went to bed.. and that was my day.

Some things I have noticed here...
- It is cold compared to Minneapolis at this time of year. I am freezing because I went from 90F to maybe 50F or 60F. There was frost on the grass when I looked out the window this morning. I am now a convert to slippers.
- There are flies everywhere!
- Everything is way more expensive. I mean I know that's to be expected but it makes me feel stingy, haha. For instance, a Dürüm is 8 Fr, a Big Mac meal at McDo is 12 Fr, 4 liters of milk (a tiny bit more than 1 gallon) is 5.5 Fr. The cheapest alarm clock (smaller than the palm of my hand, analog, with just a beeper) was 5 or 6 Fr.
- The cartons are weird here. They look like the ones soymilk comes in but you have to open the side.
- Milk isn't refrigerated until you open it, and it's 3.5% fat

Finally Here

Hello everyone! I am finally in Switzerland and at my host family's home. But I should start at the beginning...

On Wednesday my flight left Minneapolis at 6AM, I had a layover in Chicago, and then I arrived in NYC for my orientation around noon. Everything went very smoothly. It wasn't really scary flying alone because I had flown so many times that everything felt natural. The AFS people met the arriving students at the airport and together we traveled to the Doubletree hotel by JFK airport for orientation.

Orientation lasted from 3 on Wednesday until around noon the next day. It was pretty boring and just made everyone want to get to their country sooner. However, it was great meeting with 160 exchange students from across the country who are going to Switzerland, France, Belgium, The Netherlands, Latvia, Czech Republic, Russia, Ghana..and some other places, I think. In all there are 15 girls and one boy from America going to Switzerland, and 4 girls including me in the French part.

We hung out together at the hotel until 5 Thursday night when we left for the airport. The SwissAir flight left around 9 and landed in Zürich a bit after 11 in the morning Swiss time. On the way I was lucky to catch some Z's while listening to my iPod.. consequently I had several strange dreams of the other exchange friends I had met singing Mason Jennings songs. I think I got around 4 or 5 hours of sleep which is pretty good. I also bought Fig Newtons for the flight but never ate them so now I guess I will share them with my host family, haha

Anyway, after the flight landed in Zürich (and we had all expressed to each other our nervousness, excitement to meet our host families, and sense of surrealism many times over) we grabbed our checked luggage. Across the glass from the baggage claim were a bunch of waving, smiling Swiss families. We exited but I saw no one who looked familiar. I was about to ask an AFS volunteer about it when suddenly my host dad came up to me and said "Are you Ruth?" and obviously I said yes.

Pierre-Antoine and I drove to Fribourg, a 2 hour drive through beautiful countryside. We talked a lot on the way but mostly in English because my French is basically nonexistent when it comes down to actually holding a conversation. A lot of times he would say things in French and then repeat them like a lot really slowly but I was still confused so he would say them in English. He told me that he probably has to go to army training next week for 2 weeks because every Swiss male has to do that every year. However sometimes employers can excuse their employees, so that might happen (he's hoping for that.)

Before we talked in the car I had no idea what I would be doing in the next few weeks. However I learned that starting this Monday I will be going to French language school in Fribourg for at least a few weeks with the other AFSers in my canton. Apparently there are 11 or 12 besides me, including an Italian girl within walking distance of my house. I will be the only American in my group because all the others were placed in Genève. However this is okay with me because I am so excited to meet so many kids from other countries. After language school I will be going to regular school at some point, but I am quite glad that I will be able to pick up some more French before meeting a lot of Swiss kids (so I can actually talk to them..!)

On the way home we stopped at this cool shopping area where we bought a lamp for my room, an alarm clock, and a pizza which we cooked at home. Since I arrived at my house I have eaten, unpacked everything into my room, and showered. I will meet my host mom Jess later this evening when she comes from work and right now Pierre-Antoine is at work to check about the army thing.

My house is pretty cool, it has a entryway and then all of doors of the rooms basically branch off of that. My host family has special shoes for inside the house, and they gave me a pair of slippers to wear around, because itàs pretty cold in here. There is a fairly fast computer here which is convenient but the keyboard is so hard to type on. Everything is in different places.. Y and Z switched for example so I have to keep going back to fix mistakes. And some keys can make 5 different letters or symbols if you know how to use it right. Driving here was great, we exited off of the freeway and then drove through one little village after another on windy roads. The hills are beautiful and bigger than I expected (which is good) and apparently there are mountains behind them which can be seen when it's not so overcast. Also, not sure yet if there are sheep in the family but I would not be surprised. There are cows and sheep and crops everywhere around here. I will definitely take a picture of the view (and animals)later, when I am not so tired, and put it up here.

For now...



^^My entire wardrobe



^^Mon lit



^^Salle de sèjour



^^La cuisine

Sorry if it takes me a long time to email you, I think the first week will be pretty crazy though. If I have free time I will try to get on the computer some more.