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.