Market

Today we went to Solothurn and saw the Saturday market, however the market was extra special this week because all of the vendors were dressed up in traditional Swiss clothing. It was crazy! People were selling, cheese, fruits and vegetables, yarn, flowers, and more! After we checked out the market we climbed to the top of the church's highest tower (about 250 steps, very small too (to give my parents an idea they are about 3/4ths the size of the ones at Grandpa's house)). From the top we could see the whole city, and Grenchen too. Later that day I went to one of Florian's football games (and yes by football I mean soccer). His team was very good and won 6-0, I am pretty sure that people are naturally better at football here. Except for the fact that Girls don't play football here. When I told my host mom about people in the US getting down on one knee when a player is hurt and clapping when they get up or exit the field she looked at me, puzzled , I guess they don't do that in Switzerland.

Swiss Alps

Today we went on an amazing hike in the Swiss alps. I swear I will live there when I grow up (or at least visit). First we took a twoish hour car ride to the bottom of the Alps, than we took the ski lift up. The ride up was a little over 5 minutes, much longer than any skillful back home. At the top we started hiking and hiked up, to the right, and circled back to a stop at the chairlift. This was about a four hour hike and, though I was sore at the end, I loved every second. When we reached the top again we rented bike scoters to ride down, this was a blast. We were on patched roads, gravel, and everything in between. At one point we stopped at the side by a small stream and just drank strait from it because the water is that fresh. I had so much fun and cannot express my awe and thanks enough to my host family!!!

This is where we drank out of the stream

Rotary Club

On Wednesday I met up with my rotary club for the first time. I went on one of their evening trips. This trip was to AZ media, the newspaper and magazine and book and almost everything else company of Switzerland. The factory is located in Arru about a hour and a little away from Grenchen. The 20 or so people that went took a charter bus, which was really cool. The bus had a fridge full of drinks, it made me really excited. When we arrived we were taken on a tour. We got to see the giant news paper making machines, which was really cool. Newspaper is printed in about the same way as technicolor movies are filmed. One color of paint is applied to the paper and than four or so more on top until *magic* colored newspaper. We also got to see the filming rooms for Swiss news and the back stage area of it all. Afterwards we were fed delis hous mini sandwiches and drinks. All of the people in my club seemed nice, I think I will have a good time with them.

Differences

Here are some of the things that I think are the most different between Switzerland and the USA. Clothes: no they do not have more conservative clothes, or a completely different fashion taste, but one major difference is they do wear clothes more than one day in a row. The week I went to school many of the people would wear a shirt two, three, or four days in a row. This is a habit we don't have in the U.S. Here is we have worn something for a whole day it is seen as dirty and must be washed. Even if we wear it two days it is not to the same extent as Switzerland. Food: Swiss people eat larger lunches than we, but for Breakfast they only have a butter and jammed slice of bread also dinner tends to be a small meal consisting of yogurt, cheese, and, well you guessed it... bread. Their portions for some meals might be larger but their packaging is much small.  There are of course exceptions to both of these, but it seems to be a trend. Another foodie fact is the peanut butter hear is more peanuty and dense unlike my favorite sugary fluffy peanut butter. I am not saying any of this is bad, only different. Around town: people walk more here, as expected. Also things are more expensive, but for some reason, it doesn't shock me of make me wonder, it seems normal.

23.8.15

Today is Sunday, in the morning I went on a long bike ride with my family to a muse me about a man who saved and repopulated storks throughout all of Switzerland. It was very interesting. Than we too our bikes across the river and played in the river. On our ride home we were able to see the blimp that is currently in Grenchen take off. The blimp is called edlewisse, after the flower, and takes about 15 people on a ride each time it takes off. When we got back to the house I was tired and slept like crazy, probably because of my late night last night.

Photos from Olten

22.8.15

Today I made baked French Toast for my host family in the morning. It is one of my favorite American breakfast foods. Later I took the train to Solothurn to look around and maybe buy s pair of shoes. On the train I was confronted with my first awkward guy situation. Two guys asked to sit across from me and I gave the usually nod, thinking it would be the usual look out the window and not say one word I had gotten used to. He first held out his hand for me to shake, and then kissed me on each check like close friends do here, not complete strangers. Then enough they started talking to me and by the end of the ride were asking things like where I was going, my phone number, and if I was meeting a friend. I managed to say that I was meeting a friend (a lie, but it made me feel safer), I did not yet have a Swiss telephone (also a lie, but I do not give my number out to random people), I now know how to safely avoid weird conversations with sketchy train people. Finally my stop arrived and I gladly exited the train. I walked through the different streets and appreciated the cobblestone. Once I had gone into about half the shops, found a style of shoe that I liked, and thoroughly enjoyed the view I headed back to the house. In the evening Barbara and I took the train to Basel and saw the play 'The Lion King' put on by the London cast. It was my third time seeing the play and every time blows me away. Basel also was amazing, we did not walk around much, but from what I saw it is a very large city. All of the towns here are much, much bigger than they would be in the USA. Basel is a town of less than 200,000 and yet it seems to be bigger than Portland (well, not sky scraper wise). We arrived back in Grenchen at 00:11 and boy, did I sleep! Bellow is the pair of shoes I liked, tell me if you like them, please also comment on what you want to hear about in my blog because I have less day to day things to talk about now, are there any specific questions you have?

Deutschkurs

My German course is pretty much like having Spanish class all day long for three weeks. It is interesting, but after the first couple days became boring. It is helping me learn, but much of it is not relevant to what I would need to know for school. I have it from 9 to 3 five days a week for three weeks. I also surprisingly got placed in the advanced group. My least favorite thing about the German language is der die das. These are 'the' for masculine, feminine, or neutral. Everything you say I front of a noun will change based one wether it is der die or das. For example you can have mein or meine, ein or eine, sein or seine, and the list goes on. My problem is not the changes or the words, but the der die das themselves. They follow no rule and any word could be any form, you just have to memorize. I have a mathe brain that knows things when it understands them, memorizing is not my strong suit.

15.8.15 + 16.8.15

Saturday and Sunday. Saturday was a stay-at-home rainy day. I biked around with Samule and Mirjam some and than took a walk with Lea later in the day, but mostly I organized my room and relaxed the day away. I was able to get some cool pictures from the walk though. Sunday morning was the first inbound meeting for exchange students. I have a lot more pins on my Blazer now! The meeting was more informational and less get to know the otherstud nuts, unlike the Oregon meetings. And it only lasted four hours. Sunday evening we held a going away dinner for Lea, her last night in the USA. If you would like to hear about her adventures here is a link to her (English) blog: leazoss.blogspot.com

What I miss

I know I have only been gone from the USA for 17 days (okay that actually seems like a long time now that I write it down), but I am going to tell you the times I miss most from the US. First the obvious: my family, my dog, my car, and English. Food: Mac and cheese, chocolate chip cookies, goldfish, Ben and Jerrys, pretty much the unhealthy foods. The not so obvious: my pillow, the smell of my room, our (very tiny) shower, my record player, the crazy amount of crafts in the drawers of my desk. Things I do not miss: the amount of time it takes to drive to another town, pine cones that hide in the grass for you to step on, Bend's endless stream of tourists. Things I already know I will miss when I go back: Rivella, having younger siblings, trains, the schwimbot, bread, school lunches that actually taste good. 

14.8.15

School again, I understood more today, My best classes are Math and English. Math because our teacher writes the rules and equations on the board, a lot of which include numbers, a universal language, and English because, well it's kind of obvious. It is my last day for three weeks and I am nervous about skipping that much school, but excited to improve my German. That night I played soccer, poker , and some other crazy games with the kids in my family.

13.8.15

Today is a long story, let's start at the very begining. I woke up at 5:40, because I am out the door at 6:30. As soon as I woke up I was met by a gian spider on my pillow, and if you know me you know how much I hate spiders. Phillipe helped me get rid of the spider. Had a slice of bread for Breakfast and was out the door. My first to classes were physics and sports, where, as usual, I didn't understand much. Than I began walking home for lunch. I missed the train home by about 3 minutes and ended up waiting a half hour for the next. I finally got on and as my stop approached the ticket collector came. I reached into my bag to grab mine and couldn't find it. I needed to get off, but also didn't have a ticket. I got off and the Tibet master followed me, he gave me a recite after filling out my information that had 100.00 CHF written in the bottom, although he had said that I could bring my pass in tomorrow at the front office, I was still scared. I finally reached the house at about 10:50 and was excited to be able to relax until lunch at 12:30. Sadly I looked at my schedule and discovered that my class was at 1:10, It takes me 45 minutes to get to school (15 minutes of train and 30 minutes walking), the math didn't add up. I was having lunch at Oma's and came early at 12:10, finding out that I was suppose to come at 11:30 and not 12:30. I had to rush out the door and get on the 12:30 train for school. Lunch was sadly not a part of this delayed schedule. I returned to school exhausted, hungry, and wishing that I could understand what everyone else was saying.After school got out I had volly ball in hall H11 when I arrived I was by a girl told that Vollyball was in the P hall which is a 12 minute walk from the school. I started the walk (getting lost quite a pew times), arrived in P hall, saw people in Vollyball clothes, and got changed. Practice went pretty fast and I was definitely the worst one their. At the end of the class I was as sore as anything drenched in sweat, and convinced I was not cut out for Vollyball. I went up to the coach to double check that this was beginners Vollyball, which it turns out if was not. the girl had directed me to advanced Vollyball and I was practically about to crack. This day had been so crazy what more could I take? I missed not having to walk 30 minutes to get to school, not relaying on a train to get places, understanding people , and not making stupid mistakes. It was then that I realized this is what exchange is about. learning to be able to laugh off the stupid mistakes that are made when you don't understand anything anyone is saying, being able to be flexible and walk five times more than your used to, realizing that when tomorrow comes people will forgive you for the I stakes you have made. And in realizing this I started to laugh, because I knew that this day would be one that you'd see in the movies the day where everything goes wrong and you are just about to lose it when your first love appears in the tunnel. No, I am not going to get the gushy ending, but I did have a realization, tomorrow you are going to laugh about this, and you can't take it too seriously, because life is life, and sometimes things happen. I walked home ready for anything. waiting at the train station the universe started to test me again. A wind storm brewed add blew leaves and dirt in my face. I rode on the train and as soon as I started the 10 minute stretch to the house rain came poring down from the sky, I just smiled and started skipping home. I can get through anything as long as I have a smile.

12.8.15

Today I had school, nothing new to report, I was able to go home for lunch because school gets out so early on Wednesdays. Later we went to the Circius, the acts were amazing. The animal acts made me a little sad but they were still good. The circus was called Knie and is a traveling circus. My favorite acts were the ones with balancing acrobats. This evening I did my first German homework, reading and mapping out a magazine report, it took me about an hour to read and translate it. But I did finish.

11.8.15

Two words: total confusion. I am usually a very studious student. But it is hard to be one when you don't actually know what the teacher is talking about. My class is nice and I have quite a few friends, but school is so much more confusing than I thought. Thankfully I only have this week, than three weeks of German, hopefully that will help. My schedule is different every day so I will list it day by day for you.

Monday: History Economics Open Chemistry Chemistry open Geology Geology Ethics Ethics 

Tuesday: Physics Sport English History Open Open Math German German (yoga in the afternoon)

Wednesday: Math Open English Biology Biology (rotary and violin in the afternoon)

Thursday: Physics Sports Open Open Open Open Chemistry English German (Vollyball in the afternoon)

Friday: Biology Biology Math Math Open Sport Economics Chemistry 

In total that is 12 different subjects throughout the day. I have one class, we go together to all of the classes, we eat together, it is a nice idea having one class, a lot less names to remember. However the downside is that you meet less people. My friends so far are a 23 year old refugee from Syria, she has been living here for a year now and it fun to talk to. Also Nadja who has been helping me in all of my classes, she is 19, rides horses, does archery, and both of them at the same time!  In the evening I rode down to the market to get a Swiss binder and dividers and found everything ally y myself, I am actually getting a hang of this town!

10.8.15

Today was the first day of school, however I did not attend. In the morning I went with Samuel, Mirjam, and Lea to the Primary School for the first day of school for the kids. We got to see Samuel's class start and the opening ceremony. There were pigeons flying out of cages, buckets of sunflowers and songs, it was a lot more intense than the first day of American school. Later Barbara and I went to Soloturn to talk with my head teacher, Frau Tardo. In the schools here the head teachers actually teach classes, Frau Tardo happens to be my Biology teacher. It turns out that I don't have to take any tests for the first whole 6 months of school and just focus on learning German. I also am going to have Vollyball and Yoga as elective sports.  It sounds like it will be smooth running. Later in the day Lea and I went to Olten where my three week intensive German class will be. My German class is going to be at a place I already mentioned in an earlier post. It really surprised me, can you guess it? We also went to the older part of Olten and discovered a carnival in the middle of the street. We rode on the Farris wheel and saw the whole town, than on the really high fast spiny ride and des covered that they run much longer in Switzerland than they do in the USA. We went him by train, the ride takes 45 minutes! And met with my RYE counselor Hanz. To say the least it was a very busy day. 

9.8.15

I woke up early, not on purpose, for the first time today. I once again traveled to the top of the Jura Mountians, except this time it was to work Lea and Noemie. I helped out with a yodel/traditional Swiss chorus festival. It was cool to see all the traditional instruments from giant bells, to giant horns, to other large instruments. I was a waitress taking of old orders in German, which turns out to be harder than you'd think because people there would speak French or Swiss German to me instead of the high German that I sort of understand. It was an interesting day. When we got home I took a long nap, and then made chocolate chip cookies. Everyone enjoyed the cookies even though they contained four times more sugar than any Swiss cookie ever will. 

8.8.15

This morning we traveled to Lucerne to play Paintball (it was Florian's Birthday wish). Just as a warning I am not good at paintball so don't ask me to play on your team. I am glad that I went, but I am not going to play paintball again I don't think. We had on shorts and t shirts, a vest, and 'overalls' which was a think piece of clothing that protect your body from paint. We also had masks, hats, turtlenecks, and gloves. Despite all of the clothing we were not protected from the paintballs. During the games we play in teams of three, one game was a basic what team can last longer, if you got shot you were out. Another was capture the flag, if you get hit you go back to base, it is over when one flag is popped. At the end we had white and red welts where we had been hit and all of our clothes were soaked through with sweat because the room was about 110 degrees. Later we visited Lea's uncle's house so she you'll say goodbye before she departes to NY. Her Uncle lives in a community, it is like a town, except in one big building, each 'room' had outdoor space. There are laundry rooms to share,a river not far away, a big community garden, and lots of kittens. A pretty cool set up that you don't see in America. At night I looked through let's school web site with her and showed her all the random holidays we have... She didn't quite understand why we had a whole week off for Presidents' Day. We also discovered the different sports and clubs at her school. 

7.8.15

In the morning Lea, Noemie (Lea's best friend), and I took the train to Solothurn.  It is about a 10 minute walk to the train station from their house, and then a 15 minute ride to Solothurn (which I might add is 4 towns over, the towns are very close). When we arrived we were greeted with the aroma of warm bread, this is common in Switzerland, the food is often more fresh and all in all better than in the USA. Lea and Noemie took me to my new school. The school is three times bigger than mine in the U.S. and only has 500 more people. It is set up like a college with different buildings holding different subjects. Each building is 4 stories tall! The school has many outdoor fields and an indoor pool, however in Switzerland most people do a school in their hometown because the teams are better and it is easier to get back and forth. After we toured around the school we went to the Solothurn Market, a grocery store that the Students usually have lunch at. The food their was much better than any grossly store food I had ever had, It was a sandwich on homemade bread and a typical Swiss drink, Rivella. Rivella is a soda, however it is not sickeningly sweet like Coke or Pepsi and has surprisingly little Sugar. I have been told it was originally based off of milk but if it is thank I could drink milk soda for the rest of my life! After we finished in the groshery store we went to the shopping area. All of the stores are in very, very old buildings, yet all of the stores are new, it is a funny sight. the streets are cobble stone and wind through the town, there is a huge breath taking church in the middle of town, and the sight of anything or everything in Solothurn will leave you in awe. I went into the stores, bought some clothes, but no, it didn't wipe my whole wallet away, shoppers mug in Switzerland is the same as the USA, if you buy normal clothes they will be cheep,however many items in Switzerland are quality (like their sandwhiches) you end up spending a reasonable amount unless you buy something really nice, or if you buy makeup, all makeup is very expensive. Later in the day we took the train back to Grenchen and left once again for the Swimming pool. For dinner we had stuffed peppers and sautéed vegetables (I never knew they could taste so good).