Five Month Mark (Minus Two Days)

Hello everyone. I wanted to start this post by saying that this Tuesday will be mark five months of living in Switzerland, which is very nearly half of my exchange... It's a nice feeling to know that I have that much behind me. In some ways I feel like their is nearly nothing left, in some ways I feel like it's going to take forever to pass.. As I have said before, time behaves weirdly on exchange!

Getting through the first four months especially was really hard, but now I feel like.. I have six months here. That's limited. There are so many things I am going to miss about this country, and so, I can't mope about missing the US. I don't have the time for that! Because before I know it I'll be back. I really need to enjoy what's here while I can, and now I think I am in a mindset where I can do just that. It's definitely a healthier, positive way look at my remaining time here. Everyone says that the second half of exchange is the fun, more enjoyable half.. and I am planning on doing everything I can to be able to say the same thing in July.

Now, about my week. To be honest I don't remember much except one big thing.. On Tuesday in gym class I sprained my left ankle (J'ai une entorse à la cheville gauche!) . We were doing this obstacle course and I landed on it wrong jumping down from a raised parallel bar onto a gym mat. I immediately fell down, and it hurt really ridiculously badly. My friend Bérénice helped me to the corner, and the teacher went to get some ice in a bag from outside. I was crying quite hysterically, I guess because I was so shocked at what happened.. luckily everyone was really nice about it, they said that it's normal and when people get hurt like that it's normal to cry hysterically. Bérénice even said that if you don't get it all out then you can't heal properly. Perhaps it's true. Anyway, I iced my ankle for about 45 minutes, and settled down. At the end of the day Bérnard came to get us from school.

After dropping Andréanne at home we went to the hospital where they did xrays of my ankle and foot to make sure nothing was broken. Luckily it is just a sprain. At the hospital they wrapped up my foot and put it in an aircast as well as gave me crutches and a prescription for some pain and anti-swelling medicines. I can't do any sport for six weeks, both a blessing (gym class) and a curse (ski vacation.) But life is life and bad things don't arrange convenient times to happen. I am just glad this took place five months into exchange, and not two, because I was able to understand all of the doctor's instructions and communicate where it hurt and what happened.

Wednesday was the class trip to Bâle, which I was looking forward to but obviously couldn't go to. The doctor said I should stay home for a day, even if it was just a normal day of school.. and I could hardly hobble around the house let alone the city! So I stayed home.. on the bright side it meant I didn't miss any classwork to make up. Andréanne said it was a dull trip anyway since it was a two hour trip each way and the art teacher made them answer questions about all of the paintings. I made use of my time by sleeping in, elevating my leg, and watching a bad Ben Stiller movie.

Thursday I went back to school. I used crutches which sucked on the bus, but I found that I was putting quite a lot of weight on my ankle already with no pain. In history class we had to pick a personage from the 18th century to do a powerpoint on later in the year.. One of the themes was music and painting so I chose Antonio Vivaldi since I like his music that I know and I would like to learn more about him. I wish I could have chosen an architect but the art theme was specifically devoted to music and paintings so there you go. In the afternoon there was gym which was replaced by a study hall. It is ridiculous, for the next five weeks of school just until the next vacation (excluding the semaine thématique, during which there are no normal classes) I will have, not six and a half hours of study hall each week on average, but NINE! Yeah, being an exchanger is tough, but I can't say there aren't advantages.

Friday I was already feeling well enough to go to school without crutches, just the aircast. Seriously, the crutches were way too big a hassle considering I had no pain while wearing the splint. That all went well.. I limp a bit but that's no big deal. I am just glad that my improvement was rapid enough that I don't have to deal with crutches now.

Saturday Béatrice's sister Rosemarie came over because she bought a new car from the car sellers in Siviriez. We had cheese fondue for lunch. Afterward we went to Fribourg were we went shopping for about an hour and a half. I went to mail some letters at the post office, browsed a bit, then went to get a coffee and read a book. At 15h30 we met at the movie theater and saw the only movie that was at a convenient time.. Mamma Mia. Yes, I have now seen in three times in the theater, and I hope I never have to see it again. The Pierce Brosnan solos were bad enough the first time around.

Today, I really did nothing... ate, did some homework, and watched something Andréanne had recorded on TV about 30 mysterious and paranormal stories. It is nice to have a day to zone out.. and rest my foot.

Nothing big is coming up in the next few days, just more normal school life. Two weeks until the semaine thématique, when I'll learn all about reiki and Lord of the Rings.

Sorry if my English is bad, I am really tired!