Wednesday, August 31, 2011

More Swiss Times!


Hey! Sorry it has taken me a while to blog again, I have just been so busy! I will try to write the highlights of my week though!

Hm..where do I start? Ok, last Friday I left school early to go with the exchange students to hike to Zugerberg, the closest mountain to Zug. They really are like my family, since only they know exactly what I am going though.

We rode up this tram to the top of the mountain, then hiked around with Rolf, and saw some cow pies! haha. From left to right that is Carlos (Columbia), Bianca (Mexico), Me, Sienna (Hawaii), Elle (Colorado), Laura (NY), Pavel (Russia) and Pusit (Thailand).
Then we went for some homemade Swiss ice cream! Delicious! And took some pictures of the lovely view over looking Zug. These are my friends Laura and Elle in the picture below, who are from New York and Colorado.


The next day I went to Schwyz with my host sister to meet her brother and sister at the summer festival, where they were serving beer at a booth. We sat down in the beautiful old town, listened to music and yes, drank some good 'ol Swiss beer and Rivella.

Then on Sunday, my host mom took me to hike the Rigi. It was a pretty hard hike at the end, but well worth it for the view!


We took a REALLY high gondolla type thing to the top of the mountain, where I took this picture from. I almost got a little dizzy, so it is good I don't get scared of hights, like the Chinese tourists next to me. On the top of the mountain, it plateaus, and that is where I took this picture of the farmhouses who raise cows. They were so lonesome up there, just them and the cowbells! But I guess some people love the solitude of being alone in the mountains, which I can kind of understand in a way, it is just so beautiful!


We hiked for two and a half hours, on the flat section, overlooking Lake Lucerne. The final bit was definitely hard, but I was very proud of myself that I could keep up with my super-human host mom, who was like booking it the whole way up no-stop!  The next picture is not one I took, but it shows where we hiked too--the tippy top! You can't see it from this picture, but the Rigi is one of the foothills of the Alps!


This is the lovely view of the Alps from the top of the Rigi! It is not as pretty in the picture as it was in real life...which I guess is true for everything, but I think you will get the jist of what it looked like.

Here is a picture from the top of the Rigi, looking to the Alps. I can't imagine how high we were when I took this picture, and the Alps still look huge! 



School is going pretty well, and I am making Swiss friends instead of just hanging out with exchange students (told you so Dad!).  School is pretty excruciatingly boring though, because I can't understand a word the teachers are saying, except for yesterday, when I think they were asking when World War I started, and I couldn't answer because I can't speak German! Grrr. It is so hard not being able to be the smarty pants I normally am in school, especially in English, which I thought I'd be good in! Haha, it was a ton of grammer I never learned, like, "what is the second singular present perfect", and my German friends had to help me! Eeek. What is wrong with American schools? Well, at least I could help them when they said "I drankst the tea,"

I made some new friends today in Gym, and we talked about music together, which is great, because my class is a music major, meaning we all chose it because music is our favorite subject. Actually, Gym is even fun over here...today, we jumped on trampolines the whole period! I was pretty skilled at it, you know me and my trampolining skills...haha.

And also, my host mom signed me up for a ballet class which I went to last night, and a Glee Club which I just came home from! Glee Club was so much fun! The teacher said we were going to sing an "unknown song" at the end of the class, and it was Seasons of Love! Everyone was so surprised I already knew it!


I love Switzerland so much. I love the transportation system, which makes it so easy to get ANYWHERE. I love how friendly and nice everyone is here. I love how people dress very fashionably for school, and try interesting clothes instead of just wearing North Faces and Uggs (haha, I know I do that too at home). I love the food, how beautiful the lake is, and how the Old Town looks like something from a story book. I love how people bike everywhere, and you have a 2 hour lunch, where you can walk to downtown or the lake or the market. C'mon, only in Switzerland could rock climbing be your PE class.

I feel like I am living a dream, and never want to leave. I just wish I could see my friends and family, who I miss so much. I wish there was some way to bring them to this new adventure with me! Oh yeah, and I wish I could actually speak German :) haha

Love and miss you Vashon and all the people on it. So much. Don't change to much while I'm gone! I LOVE YOU! You have no idea how much I miss hearing "Welcome aboard the Washington State Ferries..."




2 comments:

  1. okay, loved this until the end, when you made me choke up! vashon misses you, too!!! ballet and glee? how fun is that!!!! and you sang "seasons of love"?? wow! sounds all so great... hang in there.. german will come! keep blogging.. makes me feel less left out!

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  2. Emma, one of the pictures you took of the farm house where the cows were reminded me of where Suzanne took us where the entire dinner was squash-squash soup, dessert, etc. We visited Lucerne, too. It is absolutely the most beautiful town. Remember Mt. Rainier is taller than the Alps (Grandpa argued with Suzanne)..We're so happy you have these awesome experiences. You will learn Swiss German, too
    Love, Grandma

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