Brick by Boring Brick

Here, have some pictures! The first 3 are stolen from Jess because I always forget to bring my camera to school...

Snow at our school!

Our last day before break. We had soupe de chalet (classic swiss winter soup) in the courtyard to celebrate the beginning of break and everybody nommed on the yummy soup together!

Massive pots of soup!

and last but not least, me and my darling sister being super cool over skype and doing sister high fives. cause that's the way we roll.

Have a song as well. These guys are amazing and I've been listening to them nonstop!

joyeux noël!

The planets have aligned and all is fantastic with my life!

In Switzerland the 24th is more of the day to celebrate christmas, so all day we've been doing presents and eating and bonding with family. the whole 9 yards. I was expecting homesickness, but it's the complete opposite! I'm so frickin happy right now to be where I am, and I am so thankful for everything I have in Switzerland. I'm leaving in 30 minutes to go sing at the midnight mass with my choir, and then after that I'm off clubbing for the evening. (Still a little confused about Swiss nightlife... but no complaints!)

Perhaps I'm also freakishly happy because I will be reunited with my one and only soul sister in AMSTERDAM! Potentially. See heres the thing, the band Matt & Kim are playing in Amsterdam in March, so obviously I'm planning a trip to go see them. and it just so happens to be around the same time my darling sister is flying over to study in france for the spring. So the most logical thing is that she flies to Amsterdam first for a little family reunion. I AM SO EXCITED!

Right now everything is how I imagined it to be. Life with my host family is fantastic, I had a marvelous christmas with lots of presents and money (yessss!) my french is slowly improving, and I'm just very content right now :) I have a marvelous life here, and yes, I do miss my american life, but it's hard to be unhappy when I have so much going for me. I hope everyone has a fantastic christmas with lots of love!

Find the joy in your life

I'm going to take a brief moment to brag about the awesomeness of my life.

- In 2 weeks I am flying to Istanbul, Turkey with Grace so we can visit my cousin Sarah who is studying there

- In April I am going to Croatia for a week with my class

- In June I am going to Barcelona for a long weekend with my host family

AFS stressed the point that this is a "cultural experience" and not a travel experience. But not gonna lie, I really wanted to study abroad for the travel aspect. Yes, I love being in a town and learning the language and experiencing the culture, but I came here with a pretty strong intention of traveling and I've been very fortunate to get these experiences. I love making lists, so of course I have my Life List that I've been working on since I was 14. Since being in Switzerland I've managed to cross off 5 things on my list:

7. Go to London

33. See someone famous (Gaga)

42. See the London Eye

49. Study abroad

83. Go to Platform 9 and 3/4 (yes, that actually was on my life list...)

by the end of my exchange I'm also hoping to accomplish the following:

65. Go to Venice (I want to go so frickin bad!!)

67. Learn a foreign language (slowly but surely!)

72. Go to Spain (This will be accomplished in June)

88. Ski in the Swiss Alps (Just bought my skis this week, so it's coming soon)

91. Travel east of Switzerland (I've been to a lot of western european countries, but have never gone west, but that's what Turkey is for)

So basically all I have to say for now is that I'm extremely happy I decided to come to Switzerland :)

Leave all your love and your longing behind

So far december has been a pretty quality month! Friday the 3rd I went to Lucerne (about 1.5 hours by train) with 2 of my friends Jess and Mylisha. We met up with a couple other exchange students and went to a fest thing called Klausjagen. In all honesty it was really bizarre, but still a lot of fun! There was a parade and crazy guys with whips, and just a lot of nonsense...

The parade.

Those things were paper mache and had real

candles inside, which seems to a bit of a fire hazard in my opinion.

The whip guy!

The next day (saturday the 4th) was St. Nicolas! In a lot of Swiss families it's celebrated even more than christmas, but my family isn't too into it, but it was still a lot of fun! I am in a choir here, so we sang at a massive church service in town at the Cathedral of St. Nicolas. The church was built in the 1400's so it's so beautiful!

Cathedral of St. Nicolas

Before the church service starts there is a massive parade through the town and St. Nicolas walks through the streets. He then comes to the church and climbs up to the top of the cathedral and gives a speech to the crowd below. Since we were getting ready to sing we got to be inside of the church during the speech, so we snuck up to a balcony on the outside of the church and were able to see all the people below! It was so amazing because there were thousands of people in the street who all came to here St. Nicolas' speech! Afterwards we climbed back down and sang a couple of songs during the service. It was a bit bizarre for me because it was a catholic service, which I've never attended. and then on top of that it was in french, so I was pretty lost the entire time... but it was still cool!

The people of Fribourg!

Sunday was a pretty awesome day, because I went to the Ke$ha concert in Zürich with 4 other friends! It was pretty much nothing compared to Lady Gaga last month, but I'm still super glad I went! Not gonna lie, I wasn't expecting anything over the top from her, but I was pretty impressed with her talent! She sang a lot of her classic songs, which made me pretty happy.

Me with Whitney and Grace.

Obviously confetti was involved at the Ke$ha concert :)

For some reason the people of Switzerland don't appreciate Ke$ha as much as us crazy americans, so there was literally no security at the concert. So afterwards Whitney managed to sneak back stage and ended up meeting Ke$ha! She said she was really chill and was like "do you want a picture or an autograph or something?" She didn't seem too concerned that crazy people had managed to get backstage....

Whitney with Ke$ha and another girl who snuck backstage as well

A few random things:

1. I got my psych test back last week and I got a 32% which is pretty quality seeing as how I guessed on everything

2. You are not allowed to take pictures in H&M

3. Swiss security guards do not appreciate it when you climb on abandoned trains

4. Hot wine (vin chaud) is very tasty!

That's all for now. Ciao!

Harry is the best hope we have, trust him.

Last weekend I had my first visitor in Switzerland, my one and only cousin Ellen! She's studying in France for the semester, so last thursday she hopped on a train to romp in the mountains with me in jolly ol Switzerland! She got in late thursday night, so we made some mac and cheese for dinner and stayed up talking until 1 in the morning then went off to bed since i had school in the morning. well... i attempted to go to school, but sometimes I go to the classroom on my schedule and my class just isn't there, which is exactly what happened friday morning. I wandered around for a bit aimlessly searching for them then finally gave up and went home. I only had 3 classes that day, so it wasn't horrible that I missed school. Ellen and I hung out at home in the morning, then we went into town to meet up with a couple of friends to eat lunch. I got so excited to introduce her to people because she was my real cousin, not my host cousin, but actual real live cousin!! We brought Grace back with us and all afternoon we baked! Ellen's family visited her last week in france, and they brought over ingredients for pumpkin bread, so we had a little touch of Cleveland life while in Switzerland :) Afterwards Ellen and I headed up to Zurich to watch the new Harry Potter movie with my friend Aurelia! and it was soooo fricken good!!! We spent the night at Aurelia's then went back to Fribourg Saturday afternoon and just bummed around for a while. Grace came over for dinner (cheese fondue!) then afterwards we went into town to meet up with a few people and just hang out. Sadly Ellen and I had to wake up at 6:30 the next morning so she could catch her train to go back to France, so we were planning on having an early night, but that kinda fell apart... We were taking the last train home, and when we got to my stop the door just wouldn't open. All you have to do is hit the button and it should open, but for some reason the door just felt like being stupid and stayed closed. So I'm standing there punching the button as the train starts to roll away and I begin to freak out. We went to the next set of doors which actually worked and we got off at the stop following mine. But here's the thing, we got off at a stop named Matran, which is in the middle of nowhere. I called Grace in a frenzy and she had absolutely no advice for me, but thankfully she stopped us from walking on the tracks to get home, because that was my only thought. So Ellen and I tried walking on every road we could find, but they all lead to places I didn't recognize, so we eventually called my host mom Sylvie to come pick us up. But she didn't even know where it was either! She finally found us, and driving home I realized how buried that train station is, it is literally at the end of an empty road. But all is well that ends well! We went to bed and got a few hours of sleep before heading back to the station Sunday morning. I absolutely loved having Ellen here for the weekend, but at the same time, it was pretty bizarre. I feel like my life here is just so different and disconnected from my american life, so it was strange to have someone here who truly knows me and knows details of my past. I've done my best to sort of shut off my memory from the US, just because it makes it easier to live here, but with Ellen so much stuff just came rushing back. With people here, everything we have in common is Swiss life. But with ellen, everything we have in common is american life. We have the same family, the same traditions, we drive on the same roads and take the same vacations, so when we were together all conversation had a way of falling into the past, which was kind of hard. Don't get me wrong, I am soooo glad that I got to see her, but at the same time, it made me realize how much has already changed in my short time here and it brought back memories of everything I'm missing at home. It put me into a bit of a funk for the rest of the day, but I sort of expected that to happen, so it wasn't too bad.

Fortunately I have pretty amazing friends in Switzerland who brought me back to my normal self :) On Monday we took off the afternoon and went to Berne for the annual Zibelmärit, which is basically just a massive party throughout the town! It starts at 5 in the morning and goes all day long. I had school in the morning, so I couldn't be there for the start of it (which is apparantly the best time to go) but the afternoon was still really fun! The streets were completely filled with rainbow confetti, and within minutes I was covered too. I spent the entire train ride home picking it out of my hair and clothes, but still managed to spread it throughout the house when I got home. all in all, it was a pretty good time :)


This thursday I celebrated the lamest Thanksgiving of my life... My family is hard core about holidays, and for thanksgiving they make 3 different types of turkeys, loads of mashed potatoes and about 10 different pies for desserts. Seeing as how Thanksgiving isn't even a holiday here, I knew it was going to be a bit of a let down, but we still did our best to have a good time! Sadly I had school all day, but afterwards I went over to Grace's with Andrew and we spent all afternoon cooking with her host mom! We made a pumpkin pie from scratch, which was basically the only thanksgiving type thing we had... but we had a lot of bread and cheese and salad, which is always good too!

Nothing beats a true american thanksgiving, but this was a pretty good second :)

A few random things to share with you:

- Remember how I mentioned that everybody rides razor scooters around town? Well I was at the train stop by house with Ellen and Grace and there was a kid about 14 years old riding one, but he was drunk. So he ended up riding off of the platform and onto the tracks. There wasn't a train coming, so it was pretty hilarious. I hope he learned his lesson not to drink and ride!

- In gym we have to do swimming for the next month, which I think should be banned from all schools. We only have gym for 45 minutes, so we're only in the water for 20 minutes and have to spend the rest of the day with wet hair. Somehow I've managed to fall sick for the past 2 wednesday's... and i have a feeling it will happen again this week too. So I haven't actually been apart of this marvelous swimming experience. Bummer, right?

- I took a psychology test last week, which really boosted my self confidence. oh wait, I think that was sarcasm... I spent about half the time translating the questions only to realize that I know absolutely NOTHING about psychology. So I had to get a bit creative with my answers, which I'm sure the teacher greatly appreciated. I made a vow from the beginning that I'm not going to let myself get stressed about school, and I'm sticking to it! I'm still trying, but at the same time, none of my grades count this year, so I'm not going to spend hours studying and preparing myself for a test that means absolutely nothing to me.

- I was skyping with my dad last week and I told him that I felt guilty about skipping school to go to the confetti party in Berne, and he gave me my new life motto. He said "what will you remember?" A simple question, but it makes so much sense! I had to choose between going to school, or having an awesome afternoon with my friends. I think the answer is obvious, I will defiantly remember the party verses a boring afternoon in school. Now I obviously can't skip school everyday to do something more exciting, but I have to keep in mind that I'm only here for a year and I don't necessarily have the same priorities as swiss students. If an opportunity comes up, I'm going to take it! So next time I have to make a decision I'll just ask myself "What will I remember?"
And lastly, it's finally beginning to snowwww!!!

up in the clouds, we'll be higher than ever

heyooooo, lady gaga was fantastic! I don't know why our tickets were considered bad, because I was on the floor about 50 foot away from gaga herself! does it get much better than that? The other people were stuck in their seats or loge boxes, but I got to rock it out in a massive mosh pit, which made me ecstatic :) She is amazing live, and her costumes and dances were so impressive! I swear, that night is going down in history because I was just so frickin happy!! (So happy that I was willing to shell out 45 francs for a shirt...)

Grace and I ready to go!

Fame, doin' in for the fame, cause we wanna live the life of the rich and famous


On another note... today I went to the bank to convert my leftover british pounds back into swiss francs and this is what happened:

Me-Bonjour! Je veux convertir cet argent pour les francs suisses
Bank Lady- Ok, no problem. That will come out to 45 francs
Me- D'accord, merci
Bank Lady- How would you like the money?
Me- Avec 20's, s'il vous plait.
Bank Lady- Alright here you go! Have a nice day!
Me- Merci, bonne journée

WHY DID SHE SPEAK TO ME IN ENGLISH!??!???? This has happened to me on numerous accounts. I don't say a word of english, yet they continue to blabber away. Apparently my french just sucks... score!

and one last thing, today I was on the bus and this man was having a very loud conversation with himself in a mixture of german and french and then he saluted me and said "high hitler!" What the heck do you say to that?

I miss seeing this everyday :(










But then again, mountains might be better :)

3 Months

Wowza, tomorrow is my 3 month mark in Switzerland, which is so bizarre! It's already flying by so fast, christmas is becoming a predominant subject in conversation, and we've already picked names for secret santa! Sadly the name I got is a cousin who I haven't even met yet... so that will make buying a present a little challenging.
I honestly don't have much to report, nothing too interesting has been going on, just school. On friday my bus broke down on the way to school, so I was about 5 minutes late to economics which ticked off my teacher because he's a stickler for rules. So I did my best to explain what happened, but he was still mad and told me that I would have to do a report. Every morning 1 or 2 students have to read an article about economics to the class, which is easy for them, but sadly my pronunciation sucks so it makes it a bit challenging. Well anyways, when he told me that I would have to do a report I didn't exactly understand what he said but didn't feel like asking so i was just like "oui, ok pas un problèm" which meant that I agreed to do the article. So monday morning I get to class and he asks for my article and I just give him a blank stare... so then he explains what I have to do, but since I didn't do the first one, I had to do 2! So I got to class this morning and had to read my article to the class, which was extremely humiliating and just so horrible. I know it made no sense at all, because I was butchering the words horribly. I honestly don't think anybody understood a word I said... and the teacher just gave me the saddest most pathetic look once I finished and then said something about how I'll be better by the end of the year. but he was nice and didn't make me read the second one out loud. But fortunately my class was nice and didn't laugh in my face, even though I'm sure they wanted to. so yeah, that's my story of the week!
Yesterday I got a massive package from my marvelous cousin Chrissy, which was unexpected but greatly appreciated! Maxime destroyed the Reese's, so those are all gone... hahah but I still have my peanut butter, twizzlers, gum, easy mac and chocolate chips! I even made some snowcaps (a cookie my mom bakes) last night, because I wanted to put the chocolate chips to good use! I think I might have mentioned this already, but chocolate chips here are extremely hard to find, and they taste like crap which is shocking because switzerland is basically the chocolate capital of the world. and they're not even chips, they're cubes. it's stupid. So using real chocolate chips was fantastic! She also sent over a bunch of tabloids, which made me so happy! I'm so out of touch with the celebrity world! well actually, I'm so out of touch with just the world entirely... but at least now I know what's happening in hollywood! So basically the point of that little rant is that if you want to win over my heart, send me a care package!
Tomorrow is finally friday, which means I finish school at 12:15. I'm celebrating my friend's birthday tomorrow night in Fribourg but other than that I don't have much planned for the weekend. I'm just anxiously waiting for monday, which means GAGA!!!
oh, and side note, this week's glee episode made me so frickin happy! I have creepily been stalking Darren Criss for about a year and a half ever since he premiered in A Very Potter Musical on youtube. and now my little boy is all grown up and starring on tv! So proud :)
and one last thing... ONLY 1 MORE WEEK UNTIL THE EPIC FINALE!!!!

:D

Wanna know something super duper cool and exciting? My host dad just bought tickets for me and Grace to go to Lady Gaga on November 15th!! I've been freaking out for about an hour straight!! As the wise John Grady once said "I found Lady Gaga to be extremely interactive with your soul." Sounds like a good time, right? So yeah, I've got me some Gaga on the 15th, and then to top it all off my most favorite cousin Ellen is journeying over from the land of the frenchies on the 18th to watch the epic first part of Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows with me! Gaga+Ellen+HP= THE BEST WEEK EVERRRR!!!

tu vis seulement une fois

Bonjour!
I've been on a 2 week break from school (not exactly sure why...) but it's been really nice because I've caught up on some much needed sleep and have gotten the opportunity to sleep in until 1 in the afternoon :)
Besides London I didn't really do anything too exciting during my time off, which was kind of nice, because I'm always a fan of some quality lounging time. I've gone out with my host brothers a few times and just spent some time with their friends, which is always pretty amusing. I've spent a lot of time at Grace's house because her host mom is always so welcoming and always excited to see me. Grace and I had an american evening where we made some Kraft Mac and Cheese, which tasted so good! She also has a hot tub, so we've spent a lot of time there too :) I've also gotten to know a few kids who are studying in Switzerland with Rotary, so I've hung out with them a lot too, which has been pretty fun. Yesterday I went out with my friend Andrew and we just wandered the streets of Fribourg for 3 hours doing absolutely nothing, yet still managed to have a fantastic time :) Last night I went to Zurich to see my friend Aurelia, which was fantastic! We watched Hocus Pocus, which was our tradition in Bay Village, so we felt it was necessary to repeat since we're finally in the same country again! Tomorrow I'm going to Luzern with some other exchange students, and we're going to attempt to celebrate halloween... because sadly it's not too widely recognized here :( and that will pretty much wrap up my weekend and it's back to school on tuesday.
I've been in Switzerland for 10 weeks now, and I can't decide if that's short or long. I was talking to Grace about this, and she made a fabulous point. We've been in Switzerland for 10 weeks and have already accomplished so much. We have a (mild) understanding of the language, we have a family, a home, friends and a normal life in Switzerland. When I really think about it, majority of the people here don't really know me.. they've only been in my life for a little over 2 months. But now I can't even picture my life without them. I'm so use to walking downstairs and seeing Sylvie cooking in the kitchen, and Guillaume lounging in front of the TV and the familiar sound as Maxime comes home on his scooter. These people are my life now, and I will be eternally thankful for how willing they have brought me into their family. And this is only after 2 months! I can't even imagine the relationship we will have by the end of my year here. I have everything I could have wished for here and it's still just the beginning! With each passing day I know it's just going to get so much better. I'll meet new people and explore new places and each day I'll understand and speak a little more french, and I'm so excited to watch my life improve and change to become something so much better!
Bonne Nuit et bisous à tous!

London Baby!

Kendall and I by the Millennium Bridge



Leaving Buckingham Palace (sadly I didn't get to meet the Queen)



The London Eye all lit up!



The highlight of my week!



Home sweet home <3



I'm so glad that I got the opportunity to go to London, and it was really comforting to be with someone who has actually known me for more than 2 months. Kendall is so easy to get along with, and she's the only person I allow to call me Michellular... We had a lot of fun just exploring Europe and hanging out with her roommate Catherine, who is her really good friend from America. and it was also really cool because they are living with all the other students from their program, so it was just nice to be around other students. although it wasn't so nice when someone was smoking at 1:30 in the morning causing the fire alarm to go off. but other than that little glitch, London was amazing! It's good to be back home though, although I must say I managed to forget a lot of french during those 5 days... so I should probably get back to some studying!

Jolly Germans and Brilliant Britians!

Friday night I ventured into the German speaking part of Switzerland with 3 fellow Americans, Grace, Andrew and Whitney where we went to Oktoberfest! I have no idea where we were, but we were surrounded by fields, cows and a cheese factory (known as a cheesery to some...) At first I was a little skeptical about the whole thing, but it was actually extremely fun! I had a personal quest to drink one of those massive beers, but sadly they were all in this fancy VIP section that despite multiple attempts, we couldn't get in! So we ended up asking some random guy with the wristband the get some for us, which made me pretty content! We spent all night dancing and talking to random Swiss guys and then left around 3 in the morning. But seeing as how we were in the middle of nowhere it took eternity to get back to Whitney's house where we were all sleeping. We walked past the field of cows (why were the cows awake at 3am? They should be sleeping!) and waited at the shady cheesery until the creepiest van ever came to pick us up. We jammed 10 people inside this piece of crap and drove about 45 minutes through mountains and forests. I was a tad bit scared for my life... and one of the guys riding with us was tripping on something because he kept talking about seeing rainbows. So yeah, that was a little interesting. But we eventually made it back to Whitney's house and finally went to bed around 5! So overall it was a pretty successful evening!
Right now I am on a 2 week break from school, so Sunday morning I took off to visit my almost cousin Kendall who is studying there for the semester! I had to take the train Sunday morning to the airport and then flew about an hour to get to London and then took the tube into town. Let me just say, I fricking LOVE London! I think it's partially because I can actually understand what's happening around me... Even though I'm in this massive city where I could get lost in a second, I feel strangely comfortable just because I can read the signs and understand what people are saying. I never actually realized how stressed out french has been making me. But now that I think about it, I have to mentally prepare myself to go order food or talk to the people at the post office or ask for directions. I take a minute to look up the words I will need and do my best to memorize and pronounce them correctly, and it just overwhelms my brain sometimes. But here, it's so simple! I just simply walk up to the window and order my food or buy some postcards, and I can understand what the person says to me! In Switzerland I mostly just smile and nod and hope that is sufficient enough, so it's extremely comforting to once know exactly whats going on.
Besides the whole English aspect there are a million other reasons why I love London.
- The accents! So freaking awesome! All the little British students in their super cool uniforms just romp around speaking with an accent, and I want to steal one so bad! I think I'm going to move here just so my kids will have an accent
- They drive on the opposite side of the road, which is extremely cool, but also extremely dangerous for me. In Switzerland all the cars just stop for people. I no longer look both ways before stepping into the street because I know that anything coming towards me is going to stop. But no such thing here! It's the complete opposite... if you step into the street when a car is coming, you're skrewed. So I'm still in this mindset that I can just step off the curb with no problem, which I quickly learned is a no go. But sadly the few times I actually remember to look before crossing, I look to the left instead of the right. So either way, I don't see any oncoming cars because I'm looking the wrong way. I think it would take me a while to train myself to look to the right. Let's just hope I make it home alive.
- In general I think I just like being in a city. I love the hundreds of cars and buses whizzing past. and the Tube!! I loveee the tube! There is an entire world of travel buried beneath the streets of London, and it is fantastic!
- The British use such better adjectives to explain things. Everything is Brilliant or Marvelous or Fantastic!
- Primark. It's Forever 21 on steroids. Everything is really affordable and so cute! Kendall and I ventured in for only about 30 minutes today and I still managed to buy a lot of things, including cotton tights for only 2 pounds, which made me really happy because I've been looking for some for a long time! The only thing that sucks is that it is soooo crowded! It's all these crazed women scrounging for the best clothes and not really caring if they're in your way or not. It reminded me of the Friends episode where Rachel, Phoebe and Monica go to the bargain wedding dress shop.
- We've managed to get in a lot of sight seeing while being here as well. Sunday we went to the Camden Markets, which is without fail my favorite part so far. If you ever come to London, go to the Markets! We've also been to Piccadilly Circus, Millennium Bridge (HP sight), Platform 9 3/4 (!!!!), The London Eye, Big Ben, Parliament, St. Paul's Cathedral, The Tate where we saw artwork by Warhol, Monet and Picasso, Buckingham Palace, the Victoria and Albert Museum, a nice ride on a double decker bus, and probably a lot more but I can't remember it all. So overall, I would say this has been a pretty successful trip, and it's not even over yet! I'll be home on Thursday, so I'll try to put up pictures soon!

There I just said it, I'm scared you'll forget about me

Salut!
I'm closing in on my 7th week here, and I'm sad to say that my french is still horrible. I think I'm understanding a lot more than when I started, but my vocabulary is pretty much non-existent, so I can't say what I want. I only have myself to blame for that, because I depend too much on the fact that my family speaks english. Instead of taking the time to look up words and conjugate the verbs, I choose to speak english instead, because I know it will be easier. But I'm not benefitting at all from it and it only means that my progress will be delayed. I've started looking through my old notes to refresh my memory on grammar and vocabulary, and I'm going to try my hardest to speak more french, even if it takes me eternity to form one sentence!
School is going pretty well, but one thing I find frustrating is the fact that we have to bring all of our books home with us. I was never exactly one for homework in the united states, I chose to do it during lunch or in between classes, so I've never really brought home a lot of stuff with me. But now I have all my notebooks and textbooks that I have to carry around all day in my purse and it's so annoying! I swear to god, girls here practically carry around duffel bags to hold their books. Guys use backpacks, but the majority of the girls just use an oversized purse. It gave me an excuse to buy this bag that's been taunting me for weeks, but after a while I get tired of lugging around this massive weight on my shoulder. And wednesday's and thursday's are even worse, because I have to bring a change of clothes and shoes for gym as well. But I guess it's something I'll just have to get use to! I'm still managing to get lost in school, because my schedule is so random so I haven't been able to find a routine yet. One of the buildings has a bunch of towers, and I can never remember which one has my art room on top. I always climb up the wrong one then have to go all the way back down and repeat until I find the right one... so at least my legs are getting a good workout!
Girls at school are always dressed up. Always. I don't mind looking nice every once in a while, but honestly, I love the days where I just roll out of bed, throw on some yoga pants and my XC hoodie and head to school. But nopeeee, not here! Girls never wear t-shirts (so that rules out all my favorite cross country shirts) instead they wear their fancy heels and flashy shirts. They always look like they’re ready to go out on the town for an evening of partying. A lot of the guys are much more composed than the united states as well. They often wear collared shirts underneath a sweater with a scarf. Which I have to say looks pretty nice, compared to the endless guys in Ohio with their hoodies and boxers hanging out of their pants. Although I’ve also seen a lot of guys just wearing t-shirts and stuff. Yesterday my math teacher was wearing a Guinness t-shirt, which I found amusing.
One thing that’s a little bit different is gym. Every month we can choose from 3 sports that we will play for the entire month. So for the month of October I had the choice of badminton, soccer or tennis. I chose badminton because that’s the only sport I don’t completely fail at. But sadly each time we play I have to pay one frank to use a racket. I just don’t understand that at all. And last week we played tennis and it was 2 franks for a racket. Why is the school charging me for equipment that I use for an hour and then safely return to it’s cubby? Also, a random thing to share, a lot of the girls wear wind pants for gym. Now I personally haven’t worn wind pants since I was about 8, but perhaps I’ll have to invest in a pair!
A few other notes:
- They are hardcore about taking notes in class. I’m talking about 20 different colored pens to label and underline. And they always use their mini rulers to underline stuff. Even if it’s like 1 word, they all whip out their baby rulers and underline it so it’s perfect. Fortunately I’m a champ at drawing straight lines, so I’m not too concerned about investing in a ruler.
- They can’t drive cars until they are 18, so instead a lot of kids get their scooter license at 16. I feel like every single person has a frickin scooter (including my host brother)
- It’s illegal to ride a scooter without a helmet.
- I’ve found a channel that is almost always playing Friends, which makes me really happy because that’s my favorite show. So it’s really fun to watch it in French. I’ve also found a British channel that also plays Friends, so I can see it in English as well.
- I think I have finally mastered the European way of eating (fork in left hand, knife in right) It took me forever because my left hand is completely useless. But here it’s considered rude to have your hand in your lap while eating (which is what I always do) so I trained myself to start eating with my left hand.
- I just discovered the band called Norwegian Recycling. You should go check out their songs on youtube. especially How Six Songs Collide, Miracles, and No Taylor No Scar.

I'll leave you with some John Mayer. I have no idea why you can only see half of the video though...

École

Ok, first I have a few random things I have forgotten to mention in the past
1. Instead of light switches, they have light buttons, which I think is more fun
2. We don't have a lot of thin sheets and layers on the bed, instead it's just one massive comforter. It is also very common to walk down the street and see these massive comforters hanging out the window to air out. More than once I've come home to find all the contents of my bed (including my stuffed elephant) sitting on my window sill.
3. There are no ceiling fans
4. Closets are not built into the wall
5. The parking garages are tiny because they have tiny cars. Everyone here is a champ at driving and can parallel park in a spot that I could barely stand in. Doris the taurus would not fit in here.
6. They have oreos and peanut butter here, which I think is fantastic!
7. To say hello some people say 'coucou' which I love.

So now it's time to talk about school! I attend Collège St-Michel, which was first built right around 1600, so the majority of the school is pretty old. There are a total of 6 buildings, some of which are more modern, but some are all stone with towers and swirly stairs, which I enjoy greatly. I like to pretend I'm at Hogwarts as my cool new european boots clack down the stone hallway and I walk through an archway as I make my way to the train station to return home at the end of the day. School here is extremely different, because we have one class that we stick with all day long. There are 21 people in mine, 15 guys and 6 girls. We all have the same schedule and move from class to class and building to building together all day long. I still can't decide if I like this concept or not. I think it will be beneficial because I will really get to know these 20 other people very well throughout the course of the year, but it also prevents me from meeting a lot of new people, because every class consists of the same students. but it's pretty cool because we do a lot of stuff together as a group including a trip at the end of the year! My class is trying to go to Croatia, so we will be fundraising throughout the year.
Another thing that is extremely different from America is our schedule. It changes everyday, so some days I have 8 classes, where as other days I only have 3. I finish my school day anywhere from 10:30 to 3:45, which is pretty awesome. And actually this friday we don't have our french class for some reason, so my school day is finished at 9:35! Throughout the week I take a total of 15 different classes, which sounds overwhelming but honestly isn't that bad. Some class I only have once a week like Science Religion, Art, and Physics. and then other classes I have 4 times a week like French, Math, and Economics. But even though I have those classes 4 times a week, they're not usually in the same classroom. The teachers don't seem to have their own room, because they're always moving around, so none of the rooms are decorated too much. And also, if the teacher doesn't show up we don't have class. Last week our gym teacher never came, so we got to leave early for lunch.
Currently I just kind of chill out in the classroom and don't really do much, because I can't understand a thing the teachers are saying. I really like my philosophy and math class, because those teachers write a lot on the board, so it gives me a fighting chance to understand. But my history teacher has yet to use the chalkboard (no dry erase boards here), he only lectures and the students take notes off of what he says... so that leaves me kind of stranded because our desks are separated which prevents me from copying other peoples notes, which I do in a lot of other classes.
On Tuesdays I have 2 blocks of 45 minutes that are free because my class is in German and English, which I'm not taking. So I usually wander around Fribourg, and I've found a couple of good bookstores where I like to chill out. It's really nice to have those breaks, because I've been getting really bad headaches from constant french, so it gives me some time to just listen to music and get a break from school.
The people are really nice in my class, and they're doing a pretty good job of being welcoming, especially because they started school a month before me and have already had a chance to get to know each other. I still don't know the majority of the names though, because in general I am so bad when it comes to names, but honestly none of their names would be used in America, so it's a little complicated for my brain to remember!
A random thing is that none of the classes have clocks in them, which drives me insane! So I am constantly taking out my phone to see what time it is.
So yeah, that's basically all I have to report for now! So if you'll excuse me, I have a new episode of Glee to watch!
Ciao

Harry... tu es un sorcier.

Ok so where to begin? Let's go back to last Thursday when I went to the Cailler chocolate factory with my french class! There are 8 of us in the class, and our teacher Cécile wanted to take us out to celebrate the end of our french class, and what better way to celebrate than with chocolate! We took a bus about 25 minutes, and then we took a small train until we got to the factory. Overall it was pretty boring, because it was a museum about how the company started, and i'm just not big on history.... but the end made up for the boring tour because there were SAMPLES! One of my personal favorite things in the world! We walked into a room that was just filled with tons of little chocolates and you could eat as much as you wanted. It was literally my heaven :) When is it chocolate time for you?





Friday was my last day of french class, which was actually pretty sad, because I was finally getting adjusted and having fun with the other kids in my class. and sadly the majority of them don't live near Fribourg, so it will be pretty hard to see them this year. We spent our last day painting... I don't really know why. We were supposed to paint something about our journey in Switzerland or something like that. I didn't fully understand the assignment... So yeah, this is my painting!

My french class <3>

It's easy once you know how it's done

It's been 4 weeks since I've seen all of my friends and family back in Bay Village, which is the longest I've ever been away from home. I thought that each day would get a little bit harder as I count the days I've been away from them, but surprisingly each day is a little bit easier than the last. Of course I still miss everybody terribly, but each day I'm settling in a little bit more in Switzerland and adjusting to my new life. The one thing I really miss though is driving. Whenever I'm stressed, or sad or anxious, or basically just any heightened emotion, I like to drive around. There's nothing more relaxing than blasting my music and driving down lake road or 480. But sadly I'm not allowed to drive this year :( So instead of killing time in my car, I spent my afternoon baking Nutella Chocolate Chip cookies, which was a very good second option :) It was so relaxing to bake again, because it was one of my favorite pass times in America, but I haven't had the chance until today. I love cranking up the oldies music and eating so much dough that I feel sick, it's just strangely comforting to me.
I spent the weekend at an AFS camp in Veysonnaz, Switzerland which is about 2 1/2 hours away. It was probably the most beautiful place I've ever seen, there were mountains everywhere! Not a lot happened that weekend, but it was a lot of fun to be with other AFSers from all over the country.

The mountains!

All AFSers from the French part of Switzerland

I'm in my last week of french classes, which I'm a little bit upset about. My french has not caught on as quickly as I would have liked, and I still feel very very lost in conversation. On Monday I start regular school, and I am so nervous for it! I'm scared enough about being a new student, because anyone who knows me knows that I'm horribly awkward when meeting people, so doing it in french will be even worse. I know there will be a few familiar faces, and probably a lot of people who speak english, but I don't want to rely on others to survive. It's really hard that I can't be independent yet, because the language just slaps me in the face everytime... but hopefully soon enough I'll be ok!
à bientôt!

These are a few of my favorite things...

-Trains
-Bread
-Chocolate
-Banana flavored hookah (in moderation)
-Care packages
-Asians with cameras
-Harry Potter in french
-Mountains

walk on, cause you can't go back now

Hello World!
In case it wasn't completely evident to the entire world, I'll let you know that I was having a horrible time adjusting here. and to be honest I wasn't exactly trying. But after receiving a massive shove from my dad I've finally accepted the fact that whether I like it or not, I'm here for the year, so it's up to me how I want to spend it. I can either sit in my room and cry and miss home, or I can go out and actually enjoy myself. I've been given an amazing opportunity that so many people would die for, and I already spent 2 weeks wasting it. So from here on out I'm actually going to start living. I realize that I can't just erase my homesickness overnight. Every morning I wake up and for an instant think I'm back in my bed in Bay Village, and a sense of dread washes over me when i realize i'm not at home. But maybe someday soon I'll wake up and be happy I'm not in Bay. I think this has been so hard for me because living my life has never been about where I am, it's been about who I'm with. and when leaving Bay I left behind all of my favorite people. So I know it's going to take time for me to be completely happy here, but I think I'm finally up for the challenge!


Here is our back porch :)

You have to leave the ground to learn to fly

I've officially been away from home for 2 weeks, and this is without a doubt the hardest 2 weeks I've experienced. Being thrown into this completely different world has already taught me so much, and it has really made me appreciate my small town and close family and friends. I'm still getting adjusted here, and it's making me feel like I don't have a home. I feel like I'm in limbo because I'm not comfortable enough here to consider these people friends and family, yet I'm so disconnected from Bay Village that it's almost weird to consider that home anymore. When I'm stuck in my challenging french class I always mutter to myself that I want to go home, but I don't even know what I mean by that anymore. I know it defiantly takes more than 2 weeks to adjust, so I'm trying to have a little faith! The major challenge I'm dealing with is that I haven't had an appetite since arriving here. My host mom has been making the most incredible food, but I literally can't eat anything. I don't know if it's nerves, or just the fact that I'm not adjusted... but either way it sucks because I'm basically living off of Diet Coke. Fortunately I finally figured out that it's a lot cheaper to buy Diet Coke at the grocery store as opposed to the little Kiosk's at the train station, so at least I can afford it now!
Here's something that might make you laugh: A couple of days ago I was walking to school from the bus station and I passed a lady in her 40's speeding down the sidewalk on a razor scooter smoking a cigarette. I was the only one staring, so I can only assume this is semi-normal. Now I don't know about you, but I haven't ridden a razor scooter since I was about 12. Perhaps I'll have to give them a second chance!

what should i name this?

Hey there, hi there!

Today is Wednesday, which means no school!! I was so happy to sleep in and to not have to deal with my brain exploding, so already I know it's gonna be a good day. I figured I would blog a little more about the differences I have found between America and Switzerland.
First of all, the drinking is still so weird to me! Last night one of Guillaume's friend's came over for dinner, and then afterwards they were like, hey Michelle, come have a beer with us! So we were just chilling in the kitchen drinking a beer... and the alcohol content in Swiss beer is a lot higher, it's usually 8 or 9%. But maybe that's not for all beer, i'm not really sure. After we drank at home, the guys grabbed another beer and we walked to the bus. and they were just walking around, sitting on the bus drinking. it's just so weird to me, because never in my life would I consider walking through the streets of Bay Village sipping on a Bud LIght... so yeah, that's basically it. I'm not complaining or anything, it's just different! oh, and also, last night I tried a beer with lemonade in it, soooo goood!!!
Some other things I've noticed is that they eat so proper. It kind of freaks me out. I've never really considered myself to be a messy eater, but compared to Europeans I think I am! they hold the knife in the right hand and fork in the left and cut everything up. Like everything. Including french fries. Today for lunch we had pasta, and they were all swirling it with their spoons, and I was just looking like an idiot trying to cut it up, so I just gave up :( But yeah, this is really testing my dining skills!
The thing that's really bugging me the most is the prices!! It's sooo annoying how expensive the world is here. Water at a restaurant is not free, instead it's usually 4.5 francs (which is basically the same price in dollars) Yesterday I went out with a few people and we went to a restaurant where I got a Diet Coke (which is called Coca Light and it comes in a class bottle) and it was also 4.5 francs. Not cool. Last night we went to a bar because every Tuesday night they have beer for 2 francs, so like all of Fribourg comes flocking to get cheap beer. That's where I tried the beer with lemonade!
After being here for a week I don't understand why the US gets all the blame for having anorexic teens, because here it's insaneee!! Don't get me wrong, I'm not saying everyone is starving themselves, but never in my life have I seen so many stick thin people. The age doesn't even matter, I've seen tiny people from age 10 to 80. Maybe it's just because of their lifestyle, they eat healthier, they walk more bla bla bla but either way, it's not exactly helping my self esteem!
I think I mentioned the driving a bit? I'm not really sure, but something new i've noticed is that cars always stop for people. Yesterday morning I was standing on the curb waiting to cross and an oncoming car came to a complete stop for me to cross. Pedestrians don't even bother looking at the traffic before stepping into the street, becasue the cars are just expected to stop. Now to me that seems stupid and dangerous, but it seems to be working for them!
One last thing that I can't seem to grasp is the fact that they where the same clothes the next day. I knew that was common, but it just seems weird to me. I'm not one to wash my jeans everyday, but I usually wait a week or 2 before I repeat an outfit. But nope, not here!
Oh and also, I have never seen so many nuns in my life. Nuns in a car, nuns in a bus, nuns in a train! It's crazyyy, i feel like i'm in the Sound of Music!

Bonjour tout le monde! My weekend went pretty well, i hung out with my host cousin Jeanne and she invited me to a party at her house on Saturday night, which was really fun. Her and a lot of her friends have been to the US with AFS, so they know what it feels like, which is really beneficial. Sunday was my host dad's birthday, so there were people here all day long. A lot of food and a lot of alcohol could be found that day. I left the party for a while to skype with my family and my friend Alex, which made me soooo happy! but unfortunately it made me homesick later that day :( There were just so many people at the house and they were all speaking french (obviously) and after a while I was just so tired of trying to understand it all. I went to my room exhausted at 9:00, but I didn't fall asleep until 1 in the morning. I tried watching Gilmore Girl's to fall asleep, but it just made me miss home and then I was on facebook, which also made me sad. so all in all it was a rough night. I had to wake up at 7 this morning to go to my language classes. So after a late night with little sleep I woke up exhausted and sad, when I remembered that my host family was only speaking french to me now! the morning was rough because i was just sooo tired, so I could barely comprehend what Sylvie was saying. She dropped me off at the school where there are 6 other kids attending the class. One of which is Grace, who is another AFS student nearby and we flew over from the US together. So i was glad to see her in the morning! the other kids don't fluently speak english, so the entire french class was taught in french! i was freaking out all morning and was just soo stressed. adn for those who know me, when i'm stressed I want to cry. so yeah, that was pretty rough. class is only from 10 until 3:30 and we have an hour and a half for lunch, so it's not horrible. but have you ever tried learning a language in a different language? because it suckkks! I couldn't understand the teacher in the slightest and she kept calling on me and it was just humiliating becasue the other students could speak like 5 languages and were really good at french.
so yeah, that's basically be just ranting about life, why should i be complaining when i'm in freaking switzerland!?!? but either way, this is just a lot harder than I imagined. The language is so hard, i'm always starving but i can't eat without getting sick... and it's just weird not to have my friends here :(
I miss you all so much, and hopefully next time I can post something a little more positive!!

I'm Here!!

I've arrived in Switzerland! Hip hip hooray!! I flew out on wednesday and got into New York City where we had a 2 day orientation and I met up with all the other kids going to Switzerland (12 all together). The day was filled with boring activities and bad food, but it wasn't completely horrible I guess. Just not really worth mentioning... On Thursday we left for the airport and took off at 5:30 for Zurich! The flight was long and uncomfortable, but fortunately I was able to sleep for a while. We got into Zurich at 7:30 in the morning, but for us it was actually 1:30 in the morning, so everyone was pretty exhausted. My host mom and dad met me at the airport and then we took the train back to their town. I'm already noticing a lot of differences here, mainly the fact that they are so environmentally conscious. People stop their cars at red lights, the buses run on electricity instead of gas, it costs money for garbage pickup, but recycling is free. and i'm sure the list will go on and on!
THe house i'm living in is amazingg!! it's 110 years old and soooo beautiful! I have my own room, which is really nice. (the picture is the view from my window) there are spiral staircases, which i'm a huge fan of. they have a lovely garden in the back where they usually eat and it overlooks mountains and fields. they also have a pool! tonight I'm apparently going to a birthday party, but i wasn't exactly paying attention when it was all explained to me, so i'm gonna ask for details later.
My host parents are fluent in english, but unfortunately they're only going to use English until sunday, and then it's up to me to learn french :/ that really freaks me out, because my french is basically non existent... but i guess immersion is the best way to learn it! I also start a language class on Monday, so that will be a big help. That's all i've got for now, talk to you later!

Now we're saying bye...

I never imagined how hard it would actually be to say goodbye to all of my friends. When I applied to AFS I pictured myself all stoic at the airport, only showing excitement as I left my loved ones behind. But now that the time for me to leave has actually arrived I am finding myself the complete opposite of stoic. In fact, I've kind of been an emotional shit show. I feel like I'm constantly saying goodbye to someone, which basically means I'm always in tears... Tonight I'm going to my friend's house for one last party, and then I leave tomorrow morning! The next few days are going to be incredibly hard, but I know in the end I'm gonna love this year!

packing...

I've come to the horrible conclusion that fitting my life inside one 44 pound suitcase is just not possible. I can't do it.. I have too many shoes and clothes and too many books I want to bring. The world would be so much easier if I could apparate.

I need more time...

I leave 3 weeks from today for what will probably turn out to be the best year in my life. But right now, i'm feeling a lot of things other than excitement. I have an awesome job nannying that is supplying me with a steady cash flow and I am having the most amazing summer with all of my friends. I realize that everyone else is soon to be leaving for their own college adventures, but right now I just feel so content with where I am. After talking to other exchange students I have sadly learned that things rarely return to how they were upon return from a year abroad. and maybe i'll change for the better, but all i can think right now is that I don't want anything to change!
i know i'm probably over-thinking it, and once I land in Switzerland I will be so insanely happy, but I'm currently having a hard time adjusting :(

"make a radical change in your lifestyle and begin to boldly do things which you may previously never have thought of doing, or been too hesitant to attempt" -Into the Wild

HOST FAMILY!!

I finally got a host family today and I am so excited!! I will have a mom, dad, 2 brothers (18 and 16) and a sister (15). I'm going to be living in Villars-sur Glane which is near Fribourg and about 20 or 30 minutes from Bern.
34 days left!!!!

Bonjour!

I just recently found out that I have officially been accepted into Switzerland! I don't have a host family or anything yet, but I do know that I am going to be living in the french speaking part, which is just what I wanted. I don't have much information yet, but my departure is only 4 months away! I am so insanely excited, words can't even begin to describe my emotions... I have had it in my head for so long that I am going to study abroad, but now it's actually happening! Now I just need to get a host family and start studying my french!

Wish me luck,
Michelle