Saturday, April 14, 2012

Wait...it's April?

Eeek! How the time really does fly when you are having fun. I have officially been in Switzerland for 8 months. In some ways, it seems like I only arrived in Zurich a few days ago, but in other ways, it seems like I have already experienced a decade worth of memories. 8 months. It seems so weird, but fitting at the same time.

I am currently lying in my bed with my laptop on my stomach and am on about five different medications. I have a fever and a headache, and feel like I am dying boredom, which is what prompted me to write this blog post. I caught the flu from Laura and Sienna, who both had to miss three days of school last week. I am supposed to leave for Rome on Monday, and am desperately trying to get better in the next two days. With the amount of medication and bananas my host mom has been force feeding me, I am hopeful, but wish me luck! And if you have any suggestions on activities that you can do without moving, feel free to tell me. Reading the Great Gatsby in German truly isn't as fun as it sounds.

Anyways, here is my brief recap of the end of March and beginning of April:

It is FINALLY Spring Break! That means the entire Kanton has a blissful two weeks off to go traveling and vacationing to exotic places like Spain, the Maldives and the Canary Islands (those are all places my friends are actually going) . I am lucky enough to be going to Venice and Rome this week with Rotary, and I can not explain in words how excited I am! We are going to tour the Vatican and the colosseum and Sistine Chapel, and eat a lot of pizza! This is my first time in Italy, which I have been dreaming of going to since I would post pictures of Venice on my binder in Middle School.

Then the week after, I am flying to Nice to meet my Aunt and then go to Paris with her. I have missed her so much, and I am unbelievably excited to see my first family member in over eight months. And f course, to be in Paris!

After I return, it will be the beginning of the hectic and fantastic month of May. I will return to just two days of school before leaving for Berlin with my class to study music and art in the cultural center of Germany for a week. I am secretly nerding-out, because I am the most excited to be in Berlin because of the history. Dad, if your reading this: remember you helping me with my Cold War presentation last year? And now I am actually going to be there myself! I will be thinking of you when we go to the Berlin Wall, history-wiz. This will be better than any lesson Mr. Zecher could give!

The week after is only a three day week of school, and I plan on using my time off to go traveling with the Zug girls, and going to "LSD", which is a big celebration at our school for the last day of school for then Seniors (unfortunate acronym, I know). Needless to say, this is going to be a crazy  couple of months, with my first week of school being the last week of May. I know I am not going to have ANY time to blog, and I apologize in advance.

So here is what has been happening so far:

My class finally preformed our Beatles concert to a packed house last Wendesday. Over 400 people came, and we raised $4000 for the school's music program. We had been having a very intense rehearsal schedule, but I am very proud of our final product. My friends and host family came, and it was really nice to see faces I knew in the crowd, and even more to be preforming again, since I hadn't realized how much I really missed it. Our director (and my class' teacher) not only conducted and played the piano for the show, but also watched over some 50 teenagers for a week at our music camp, and all by himself. I think Mr. Ruetti is one of the kindest and most hardworking teachers I have ever had the pleasure of having, and one who really does change the lives of the students he teaches. Thank-you so much Mr. Ruetti, you are amazing!

I was also asked to make a cake for the concert, so I decided to make an American cake, which are much different than Swiss ones. I planned on making my favorite carrot cake recipe, and bought all the ingredients in preparation. I didn't plan on how hard it would be for me to bake, and ran out of time, and had to leave for the concert while it was baking, under the watchful eyes of my guest mother. I didn't realize how difficult it is to bake in the metric system! The metric system measures weight, unlike the US system which measures mass. I had to use this little scale for all the ingredients, and translate the German ingredients into English, and substitute brown sugar, which I guess doesn't exist in Europe. Long story short: something went awry along the way. Terribly wrong. My host mom brought me the news before the show, when she said she couldn't bring the cake because of an "accident". When I got home, I saw that "accident" was an understatement. My cake completely exploded, and somehow managed to get even outside the oven. The entire house smelled like smoke, and the oven was covered in black cake guts. My host parents weren't mad, they just thought it was funny, and so did I. My host dad's theory? He thinks I though that yeast was baking soda. Hahahahahaha

What else has happened these last weeks? Lets see. Yesterday, when Phoebe and I had a free afternoon, we decided to go on an Asian food hunt, since cheap Chinese food is basically non-existant in Switzerland. After a lot of train jumping, we ended up finding a take-out place in Winterthur, which is a city a little north of Zurich.  Let me just tell you, there is nothing more delicious and mouth-watering than having your first Chinese food in 8 months. Chinese food is one of the biggest American staples (I know, ironic statement) that exchange students crave. I think we both died a little eating it. And the best part of the story? We found A SUSHI RESTAURANT right next door! This is the first sushi place I have seen in my entire exchange, so of course, we had to get some sushi too. We probably consumed two days worth of calories, but it was worth it to eat both of our favorite food again, and a food that reminded us both of home. I just didn't let myself think of where that fish came from, since Switzerland is in the Alps...

Those are probably the two biggest events of the last two weeks (is that sad that one is entirely about food?) but have been having a marvelous time. I have been having so much fun hanging out with friends at the lake, and exploring this beautiful country during the weekend. Easter was absolutely wonderful here. I got some chocolate bunnies from my host family, which were probably the best things I have eaten in my entire life. Swiss chocolate Easter Bunnies, c'mon! We also had a delicious 3 hour brunch with my host family's family, who are all so sweet and kind, and I loved talking too (even though 3 hours is a little strenuous). My host grandma even said she wants to adopt me.

I can't wait for these next few weeks! Next time I see y'all, I will have been to France, Germany and Italy, and I am so excited. Until then, bis bald mitenand! Let my flu go away, and the fun begin! xoxo


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THE EXCHANGE STUDENT'S CREED:



I agree with every single one of these :)

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