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
Friday, September 26, 2008
Monday, September 22, 2008
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!
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!
Saturday, September 20, 2008
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...
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...
Friday, September 12, 2008
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!
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!
Saturday, September 6, 2008
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.)
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.)
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