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...