Hello everyone
I'm writing my blog post a few days early, since tomorrow is the first day of a week-long vacation and I will be leaving to go to Valais, a very mountainous canton in the south of Switzerland. Béatrice and Bérnard are going to drive us to the village we're staying in, but only Nicolas, Andréanne, and I are staying. The original plan was that we'd all go skiing since the runs are pretty amazing there but since I sprained my ankle I can't ski.
My friend Margaux from school, knowing it would be pretty boring to stay in a little ski village and not ski while the others did, very nicely invited me to stay with her family for the week.. I decided to do a compromise since I really do want to go up to the mountains to hang out with Nicolas and Andréanne (not to mention enjoy the hot baths that the area is also known for) but I really want to hang out with Margaux too and I knew I would get quite bored in Valais for a week. So what I am going to do is go to the mountains with my host family tomorrow but leave on Wednesday, taking a bus and two trains to get back to my village... I love Swiss public transportation! Then Wednesday night I will go over to Margaux's and stay there until the end of the vacation. She told me that we might go to IKEA with her mom and aunt.. I am quite thrilled by this prospect.
So, anyway, I should probably tell you all a little bit about my week.. Today (not Saturday, as I think I wrote before) is my host brother's birthday. Yesterday I made him chocolate chip cookies as a present since he really liked them when I made them before and I got the feeling he would have liked to eat them all himself. Yesterday Tata and José came over with a forêt noir cake which we ate after dinner, along with a lingonberry tart that Béatrice made (it took me the longest time for me to remember the word lingonberry.. apparently an IKEA trip is overdue!)
Also, this week, my host sister Andréanne went to the doctor and found out she has mono after her lymph nodes swelled (I hope that's not supposed to be "swoll"? Is "swoll" a word?) a ridiculous amount. That certainly explains a lot since she has been pretty lethargic lately. She'll probably still do snowboarding, but not to the extent she would if she wasn't sick, so I may have a companion to accompany me to the baths on vacation.
School was pretty boring this week.. right before a vacation, it's always like that. In math we started a new unit about vectors which is something that, again, I more or less already covered (in math I usually have already learned all the concepts and ideas but they're written differently so I have to get used to that.) In history we have been learning about the reform, and now the counter-reform, which is sort of interesting but complicated too. I got two tests back this week, in chemistry and math, and got a 4.7 on both of them, so that is nice. And today I had a two hour chemistry lab where among other things, we heated solid iodine in a closed container which turned into a bright purple gas and then that deposited crystals when the gas was cold.. it was pretty cool.
Sorry I can't make this longer, but I am really really tired and ready to go to bed, since tomorrow we'll be getting all our stuff together and then leaving to go to Valais. I probably won't be on the computer much since I'll be in the mountains with no internet and then after that staying at Margaux's, so I promise to write all about my vacation after it's all said and done.
Happy Carnaval!
Friday, February 20, 2009
Sunday, February 15, 2009
Another Week
On Monday all the students in my grade went to Fribourg on the train. We had the first one and a half hours of classes and then the second hour teachers walked with us to the train station. After they saw us off (probably to make sure no one went home instead) and the twenty minute train ride we got to Fribourg.. Bérénice, Andréanne, and I were going to see Spanish and Art in the afternoon, so we had the whole morning free. We went to a department store to get fabric for Andréanne who is making a cape as part of her Carnaval costume, then looked around at the other costumes they were selling (very much like a Halloween costume display in the US, except less spiders and witches) and picked up some small items for Bérénice.
Afterward we went to the Migros Restaurant.. here in Switzerland the two main supermarkets are calls Migros and Coop. Both of them have restaurants in larger places (shopping centers in bigger cities.) Usually the restaurant is on the top floor of the shopping center while the supermarket part is in the basement. "Restaurant" isn't exactly the right word though.. think IKEA cafeteria. It's exactly the same concept except there is usually more choice, such as a pasta selection and a menu where the food is made when it's requested. And usually there is a portion where the food is priced by weight or by plate size. I ate a sausage with onion sauce, french fries, and some green vegetable that was a bit like broccoli but I had never seen it before. It was good.. I will definitely miss Swiss food.
After eating and sitting in the Restaurant Migros for a really long time talking since the meeting was scheduled around 13h50, we went to the collège. It was pretty funny- neither Bérénice or Andréanne knew how to get there, or to the Migros, and so they counted on me to guide them. I had visited both places before (with language school at the start of the year) so I knew where to go. On the way up the hill to the collège I crossed my exhange friend, Fernando from Paraguay, and we talked for a few minutes. We were very nearly late for the Art meeting though.. in the building where we went, the first two floors were all connected to each other, and there were several staircases between the first, second, and third floors. However each staircase (stone spiral staircase, I might add.. the part of the school we were in was built in 1660) led up to a different third floor room, and they didn't connect to each other. Does that make any sense? Hopefully it does. So anyway, we took the wrong staircase twice, but luckily we were just in time for the meeting in an attic-ish art room on the top floor. Basically the teacher just described what the students who choose art as there options do for their three years of school there, and then we saw a short film made by previous students.
After that was the meeting for the Spanish option. We found the room fine, and then waited around for the teacher to be ready. She was quite strange and I had a bit of trouble understanding her because she mumbled and had a Spanish accent. But basically she said she didn't know what to tell us and that she didn't know why they gave us a day off of school to "ask questions" about the options since no one ever asked any. She's perfectly right too, no one really learned anything in our day off.
We went to the Fribourg shopping center after the Spanish meeting and ate crêpes with Nutella because we still had some time left. And then afterward we came back to Romont on the train and got home around five.
The rest of the school week was standard.. On Wednesday in art class we worked on our drawings of observation of wine bottles, which was challenging but enjoyable. On Thursday we had a Chemistry test that I THINK I did okay on but there were a lot of problems in a short period of time so I didn't really get time to check answers or anything. In geography we are learning a bit about the different types of geography (human, urban, transportation, etc..) and that is pretty interesting.
Yesterday was Saturday and I didn't really do anything during the day. I cleaned my room again. Seriously, I'm going Swiss. In the evening we went to the Soirée de Gym in my village which was.. sort of lame. But everyone thought so, including Andréanne and Béatrice, who were in it. They say it's the worst one they've ever been in. But it was enjoyable watching my host mom's routine (a somewhat modern dance to Swiss alpine music in which there were a bunch of guys aged 50 and up wearing ridiculous red pants) and my host sister's jump rope routine. After they set up tables in the gym and we drank some coffee. Mine had caffeine in it so I didn't get to sleep until around two in the morning.
And then of course this morning I couldn't sleep in for some reason.. I woke up around nine. My host family left soon after to go to church, and then I took pictures of our kitchen to show you all what typical foods I eat here (see next post.) For lunch we went to the village restaurant with José and Tata since it's Nicolas's birthday next Saturday and we wanted to celebrate. Everyone except Andréanne ordered the same thing, l'entrecôte (rib-eye steak) which was served with a sort of thyme and mustard sauce, cooked vegetables, and pommes allumettes (French fries that are thinner than usual- "allumettes" is the French word for matches.. though they aren't that skinny.)
And now, I'm going to go take a walk outside since the sun is shining and it's supposed to snow- AGAIN- tomorrow, Tuesday, and Wednesday. Il faut profiter du soleil!
Afterward we went to the Migros Restaurant.. here in Switzerland the two main supermarkets are calls Migros and Coop. Both of them have restaurants in larger places (shopping centers in bigger cities.) Usually the restaurant is on the top floor of the shopping center while the supermarket part is in the basement. "Restaurant" isn't exactly the right word though.. think IKEA cafeteria. It's exactly the same concept except there is usually more choice, such as a pasta selection and a menu where the food is made when it's requested. And usually there is a portion where the food is priced by weight or by plate size. I ate a sausage with onion sauce, french fries, and some green vegetable that was a bit like broccoli but I had never seen it before. It was good.. I will definitely miss Swiss food.
After eating and sitting in the Restaurant Migros for a really long time talking since the meeting was scheduled around 13h50, we went to the collège. It was pretty funny- neither Bérénice or Andréanne knew how to get there, or to the Migros, and so they counted on me to guide them. I had visited both places before (with language school at the start of the year) so I knew where to go. On the way up the hill to the collège I crossed my exhange friend, Fernando from Paraguay, and we talked for a few minutes. We were very nearly late for the Art meeting though.. in the building where we went, the first two floors were all connected to each other, and there were several staircases between the first, second, and third floors. However each staircase (stone spiral staircase, I might add.. the part of the school we were in was built in 1660) led up to a different third floor room, and they didn't connect to each other. Does that make any sense? Hopefully it does. So anyway, we took the wrong staircase twice, but luckily we were just in time for the meeting in an attic-ish art room on the top floor. Basically the teacher just described what the students who choose art as there options do for their three years of school there, and then we saw a short film made by previous students.
After that was the meeting for the Spanish option. We found the room fine, and then waited around for the teacher to be ready. She was quite strange and I had a bit of trouble understanding her because she mumbled and had a Spanish accent. But basically she said she didn't know what to tell us and that she didn't know why they gave us a day off of school to "ask questions" about the options since no one ever asked any. She's perfectly right too, no one really learned anything in our day off.
We went to the Fribourg shopping center after the Spanish meeting and ate crêpes with Nutella because we still had some time left. And then afterward we came back to Romont on the train and got home around five.
The rest of the school week was standard.. On Wednesday in art class we worked on our drawings of observation of wine bottles, which was challenging but enjoyable. On Thursday we had a Chemistry test that I THINK I did okay on but there were a lot of problems in a short period of time so I didn't really get time to check answers or anything. In geography we are learning a bit about the different types of geography (human, urban, transportation, etc..) and that is pretty interesting.
Yesterday was Saturday and I didn't really do anything during the day. I cleaned my room again. Seriously, I'm going Swiss. In the evening we went to the Soirée de Gym in my village which was.. sort of lame. But everyone thought so, including Andréanne and Béatrice, who were in it. They say it's the worst one they've ever been in. But it was enjoyable watching my host mom's routine (a somewhat modern dance to Swiss alpine music in which there were a bunch of guys aged 50 and up wearing ridiculous red pants) and my host sister's jump rope routine. After they set up tables in the gym and we drank some coffee. Mine had caffeine in it so I didn't get to sleep until around two in the morning.
And then of course this morning I couldn't sleep in for some reason.. I woke up around nine. My host family left soon after to go to church, and then I took pictures of our kitchen to show you all what typical foods I eat here (see next post.) For lunch we went to the village restaurant with José and Tata since it's Nicolas's birthday next Saturday and we wanted to celebrate. Everyone except Andréanne ordered the same thing, l'entrecôte (rib-eye steak) which was served with a sort of thyme and mustard sauce, cooked vegetables, and pommes allumettes (French fries that are thinner than usual- "allumettes" is the French word for matches.. though they aren't that skinny.)
And now, I'm going to go take a walk outside since the sun is shining and it's supposed to snow- AGAIN- tomorrow, Tuesday, and Wednesday. Il faut profiter du soleil!
Sunday, February 8, 2009
La Semaine Thématique, etc.
This last week at school was the semaine thématique, which I've been talking about for ages. It was nice to have a break from regular school, though sadly it felt that, when we were done, we would be starting vacation. Alas.. we still have two weeks of school before the next one week break. Really though, I can't complain, coming from the US where we have so few breaks during the year.
And that's basically all I have to write about here...so until next week.
So, I signed up for the same activities as Andréanne just because I didn't really know what else to sign up for. The first activity, which was about four hours in the morning including a twenty minute break, was Fantasy Literature and Films. The description of it when we signed up made it sound as though we would be watching films and reading passages from books and then comparing them. It turned out to be more of an intensive writing class, which was a bit more work than we really wanted to do. Everyone had to write a short story of at least three pages, single spaced. I think mine turned out to be six. Luckily no one had a problem with me writing in English. I mean, it's hard enough to do creating in your first language, and since I actually wanted to make something good, I opted to do it in English.
The first two days we read passages from books, watched clips of films, and talked a lot about what makes a fantasy story.. for instance who the hero is, what the characters are like, the scenery, etc. Basically we were collecting ideas from other sources to inspire our own stories. The third day we did more discussing and reviewing of films, and also started writing some specific parts of the story and a complete storyline. We had to do a "low fantasy" story, which has a passage from our world to the fantasy world- think Harry Potter (in comparison to "high fantasy" where the fantasy world is unrelated to ours- think Lord of the Rings.) The catch was that the portal had to be in our school because some of the stories are going to be published in the school paper. On the last two days we went to the computer lab and typed/wrote our stories. It was pretty intense typing for so many hours straight. My eyes definitely hurt.
The second course we signed up for in the afternoon was a Reiki course. We had to stay in school until five in the evening so that the second class was the same amount of time as the first, so sometimes that got long. We did a lot of different activities, with one initiation on Monday, two on Tuesday, and one on Wednesday. The initiations are ceremonies where you sort of meditate while the instructor "opens your energy channels" so you can give Reiki energy to yourself and others...We did a lot of other activities too because we were initiated in three groups and each time that took twenty to thirty minutes so there was a lot of time to do random things with the assistant teacher. Every day we did a guided meditation of varied length. One time we did one where you encounter an animal in the woods.. this is your totem animal and then we researched what it meant having that totem animal and how it can guide you. Mine is the bear, in case you were all wondering.
The rest of the time we learned how to do Reiki treatments.. Monday we learned the short treatment which can be used on yourself or others, Tuesday I received the hour-long full treatment from Andréanne, Wednesday we switched and I did the treatment to her, Thursday we did specific treatments in relation to the different chakras of the body, and Friday we did "intuitive treatments" and a group treatment. The group one was funny because everyone received six minutes of treatment from six other people at the same time. We almost all had laughing problems with that one, since it was so weird lying on a massage table, having six people standing around you with their eyes closed and hands on their hearts, trying to find where you needed to receive energy. But besides that one, in the course there was generally a very nice, quiet environment all the time. It found it to be very contemplative and relaxing. I have to say though, the meditations, not the Reiki, were more of a highlight for me. At the end of the course we all recieved the first degree in Reiki.
On Saturday I didn't really do anything during the daytime.. in the afternoon I skyped with my mom and dad, and Emily after. I cleaned my room. Oh yeah, and I read from Persepolis, which is even better than the movie. It's cool being able to read it in French. It started snowing Saturday and continued today, probably about a foot in all. It is very, very February-like snow.. you know, a little mushy and only just barely not melting. In the evening we went to the Soirée de Gym in Sâles, a village not that far away, where Andréanne and Nico's cousin Emily was in the show. I liked this Soirée way better than the last one.. it was very athletic like the other, but they also focused a lot more on the entertainment aspect of it. I think most of the groups had rehearsed better. The theme was Ali Baba and the Forty Theives, so everything was (more or less) in relation to that. The costumes and scenery were really, really well made, and also every single group did something really unique. Also, it helped that we were in the very first row, so when they were doing gymnastics on the rings, parallel bars, and trampolines, there was always the risk that they would fall off the stage on top of me. That definitely added an excitement factor.
Today I worked on my homework in the morning and early afternoon. Around three Béatrice, Bérnard, and I decided to go for a walk. We drove to Romont and around the ramparts of the city, which was really pretty and nice, but a bit snowy. Luckily most of the paths had been cleared off. After that we went to get a coffee at the only cafe that was open, and then to buy bread, and then came home.
Tomorrow is a special day of school, where the 60 students of the collège are going to Fribourg after first hour to look at school options. There are three different collèges in Fribourg where they will be going next year for the second year of school (my school is different in that they only have the first year.. sort of like grouping 7th, 8th, and 9th grade in the US instead of putting 9th with the higher grades.) Each of them will have to choose a different option, which they then do an extra five (?) or so hours each week. For instance my host brother is in the economy and law option, my host sister wants to go into the visual arts option, and Alicia is in the English option. So anyway, we all signed up to see two options.. I signed up for Spanish and Art since thats what most all of friends signed up for, and obviously it doesn't really matter what I go learn about. We are all going to Fribourg after first hour, because some people have their information meeting in the morning. Ours are for just two consecutive hours in the afternoon, so basically we have the whole morning free to do what we like.
Then after that the rest of the school week is normal.. Next Saturday is the Soirée de Gym in my village, which should be interesting. Béatrice is in it, but I don't really know what her group is doing. Andréanne is helping out.. the group I normally go to the gym with is doing some sort of jump rope thing and she is helping them by turning the rope (she didn't want to be involved but they didn't have enough people so she had no choice.. luckily I sprained my ankle, haha.) As usual the whole family will go see it.
And that's basically all I have to write about here...so until next week.
Sunday, February 1, 2009
Fette Schnecke
Hi all
Let's see.. last week in school was mostly average. We got our grades for the semester back on Thursday. I actually have a nice average, because when there is a class that I don't do the tests for, or I do miserably on the tests, the teacher just doesn't give me a note for it. Too bad things don't work like that in the US! So, my grades, including gaps:
Français -
Allemand -
Mathématiques - 5
Anglais - (obviously I would have a 6, but I don't take the tests)
Histoire -
Géographie - 4.5
Biologie -
Chimie - 5
Dessin - 6
Economie -
Informatique - 4.5
Education physique - 5
Okay, obviously there are just as many gaps as there are grades, but I actually did work for the grades I got, so I am proud of them. Especially Math, Geography, Chemistry, and Art.
For some reason the teachers were really nice about homework this week, as in they didn't give us much, which was nice except that I need something to do during my huge amounts of study hall. On Tuesday, while my classmates had gym, I went up to the school library for the first time. I found a book about some Swiss guy that decided to follow the Mississippi from it's source to the Gulf of Mexico. He decided to start his adventure in the dead of winter, which I guess means he didn't do his research about Minnesota's climate. Anyway, there was a lot of complaining from him in his book about how cold and desolate and empty it was on the highway, and how there were always people putting gas in their noisy snowmobiles when he stopped at the gas station. It was funny to read his impressions about our state, but after he worked his way out of Minneapolis I lost interest in the book.
I also checked out another book, Le Petit Nicolas (I've already read Les Vacances de Petit Nicolas), which is a children's book.
On Thursday night I also went for the first time to the public library in Romont, because Andréanne had to return some books. The library is absolutely tiny, maybe 1/3 the size of the Linden Hills library, without any of the music or DVDs there are in the US. They have a lot of kids books and also comics though. In Switzerland, comics and graphic novels are read by kids and adults alike, and there are tons of series. It's kind of strange for me how popular they are here. Anyway, I found that they have the Persepolis series, so I checked the first two out because now that I know more French it would be cool to read in the original language (I've only seen the movie before, subtitled into English.)
On Friday for the last two hours of school I was saved from having another pointless study hall because there was a play at the Bicubic building. There is a 25 fr. fee for all the students each year which allows for the school to book "cultural events" like that. Anyway, all of my grade and some other kids got to go. The play was called "Les caprices de Marianne" and I understood next to nothing, but I don't feel bad because it was written in 1833. I mean, it's sometimes hard to understand things written in the 1800s in English, so I can't feel bad for not getting it in French. Plus, they were talking super fast. Sadly, about 50% of the audience (most of it was younger) didn't want to be there and so they were quite terrible, talking and yelling and all that, while the other 50% sat there cringing and feeling bad for the actors. It felt like 5th grade again..
Friday night was the Soirée de Gym at the village where my host brother does gymnastics. I can't remember if I've written anything yet about the Soirées, but I don't think I have, so I will explain. In Switzerland, or at least where I live, in every village with enough people there is a village gym. We have one here, that's where I go (or went, rather, since my sprain) on Tuesdays with Andréanne. A large percentage of people in the village and the villages surrounding that don't have their own go to the gym. Every January-February, the gyms each organize a Soirée where all the different age groups have their own routine. For instance at Nicolas's there was the group of dads with their toddlers, moms with their toddlers, different age groups of kids doing gymnastics, etc. It is probably the most wholesome thing I've ever seen! So yeah, Friday the family all went to see Nico, and there were also some other random extended family members there too. Next weekend we're going to the Soirée de Gym at another village, I don't remember which one, to see my host cousins. And then Valentine's day weekend there is the Soirée de Gym here in my village. I can't even begin to explain how very very Swiss it all is, you really have to be here to feel it. Here are a bunch of pictures from the Soirée last year
if you are interested in seeing a bit what it is.
Saturday I took the bus/train to Fribourg to see Alicia. I got to the train station in time to take the InterCity train, which it always interesting. That goes all the way from Geneva to Zürich with only stops in the big cities, so not only is it twice as fast, but the crowd that rides is way different from the crowd on the regional train. It probably sound stupid, but it really hits me where I am when I'm surrounded by all the travelers and business people speaking different languages (there are always some English speakers) and travelling across this tiny country. In Fribourg I did some random shopping and then Alicia and I went to see a movie.. Sept Vies (Seven Pounds, with Will Smith.) It was bad but I knew it would be because I read some reviews. I was kind of annoyed to go to that when there are some movies I actually want to see like Slumdog Millionaire, Burn After Reading, and Revolutionary Road playing right now, but it was the only movie playing in the early afternoon and Alicia had to go up to the mountains to eat fondue afterward so we had no choice. I swear the next time I go to a movie here it is going to be something that got good reviews and that I haven't already seen twice!
And yeah, that's pretty much all I did. I've just been hanging out and relaxing this weekend. I did get around to cleaning my room though. I think I'm turning Swiss because I can't bear to let the clothes pile up on my floor for more than a day or two anymore, and I open my window all the time to freshen my room up even though it's freezing outside. Weird.
This week is the semaine thématique so there will be no homework and no real classes all week! Just watching fantasy films and moving energies through my body. We'll see how that goes.
Let's see.. last week in school was mostly average. We got our grades for the semester back on Thursday. I actually have a nice average, because when there is a class that I don't do the tests for, or I do miserably on the tests, the teacher just doesn't give me a note for it. Too bad things don't work like that in the US! So, my grades, including gaps:
Français -
Allemand -
Mathématiques - 5
Anglais - (obviously I would have a 6, but I don't take the tests)
Histoire -
Géographie - 4.5
Biologie -
Chimie - 5
Dessin - 6
Economie -
Informatique - 4.5
Education physique - 5
Okay, obviously there are just as many gaps as there are grades, but I actually did work for the grades I got, so I am proud of them. Especially Math, Geography, Chemistry, and Art.
For some reason the teachers were really nice about homework this week, as in they didn't give us much, which was nice except that I need something to do during my huge amounts of study hall. On Tuesday, while my classmates had gym, I went up to the school library for the first time. I found a book about some Swiss guy that decided to follow the Mississippi from it's source to the Gulf of Mexico. He decided to start his adventure in the dead of winter, which I guess means he didn't do his research about Minnesota's climate. Anyway, there was a lot of complaining from him in his book about how cold and desolate and empty it was on the highway, and how there were always people putting gas in their noisy snowmobiles when he stopped at the gas station. It was funny to read his impressions about our state, but after he worked his way out of Minneapolis I lost interest in the book.
I also checked out another book, Le Petit Nicolas (I've already read Les Vacances de Petit Nicolas), which is a children's book.
On Thursday night I also went for the first time to the public library in Romont, because Andréanne had to return some books. The library is absolutely tiny, maybe 1/3 the size of the Linden Hills library, without any of the music or DVDs there are in the US. They have a lot of kids books and also comics though. In Switzerland, comics and graphic novels are read by kids and adults alike, and there are tons of series. It's kind of strange for me how popular they are here. Anyway, I found that they have the Persepolis series, so I checked the first two out because now that I know more French it would be cool to read in the original language (I've only seen the movie before, subtitled into English.)
On Friday for the last two hours of school I was saved from having another pointless study hall because there was a play at the Bicubic building. There is a 25 fr. fee for all the students each year which allows for the school to book "cultural events" like that. Anyway, all of my grade and some other kids got to go. The play was called "Les caprices de Marianne" and I understood next to nothing, but I don't feel bad because it was written in 1833. I mean, it's sometimes hard to understand things written in the 1800s in English, so I can't feel bad for not getting it in French. Plus, they were talking super fast. Sadly, about 50% of the audience (most of it was younger) didn't want to be there and so they were quite terrible, talking and yelling and all that, while the other 50% sat there cringing and feeling bad for the actors. It felt like 5th grade again..
Friday night was the Soirée de Gym at the village where my host brother does gymnastics. I can't remember if I've written anything yet about the Soirées, but I don't think I have, so I will explain. In Switzerland, or at least where I live, in every village with enough people there is a village gym. We have one here, that's where I go (or went, rather, since my sprain) on Tuesdays with Andréanne. A large percentage of people in the village and the villages surrounding that don't have their own go to the gym. Every January-February, the gyms each organize a Soirée where all the different age groups have their own routine. For instance at Nicolas's there was the group of dads with their toddlers, moms with their toddlers, different age groups of kids doing gymnastics, etc. It is probably the most wholesome thing I've ever seen! So yeah, Friday the family all went to see Nico, and there were also some other random extended family members there too. Next weekend we're going to the Soirée de Gym at another village, I don't remember which one, to see my host cousins. And then Valentine's day weekend there is the Soirée de Gym here in my village. I can't even begin to explain how very very Swiss it all is, you really have to be here to feel it. Here are a bunch of pictures from the Soirée last year
if you are interested in seeing a bit what it is.
Saturday I took the bus/train to Fribourg to see Alicia. I got to the train station in time to take the InterCity train, which it always interesting. That goes all the way from Geneva to Zürich with only stops in the big cities, so not only is it twice as fast, but the crowd that rides is way different from the crowd on the regional train. It probably sound stupid, but it really hits me where I am when I'm surrounded by all the travelers and business people speaking different languages (there are always some English speakers) and travelling across this tiny country. In Fribourg I did some random shopping and then Alicia and I went to see a movie.. Sept Vies (Seven Pounds, with Will Smith.) It was bad but I knew it would be because I read some reviews. I was kind of annoyed to go to that when there are some movies I actually want to see like Slumdog Millionaire, Burn After Reading, and Revolutionary Road playing right now, but it was the only movie playing in the early afternoon and Alicia had to go up to the mountains to eat fondue afterward so we had no choice. I swear the next time I go to a movie here it is going to be something that got good reviews and that I haven't already seen twice!
And yeah, that's pretty much all I did. I've just been hanging out and relaxing this weekend. I did get around to cleaning my room though. I think I'm turning Swiss because I can't bear to let the clothes pile up on my floor for more than a day or two anymore, and I open my window all the time to freshen my room up even though it's freezing outside. Weird.
This week is the semaine thématique so there will be no homework and no real classes all week! Just watching fantasy films and moving energies through my body. We'll see how that goes.
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