Recently, I have been harassed to update my blog-you know who you are. I started the German course with some of the other exchange students in Zurich on Monday. Well the first day… I had to get up really early-BLEH. At 7:35, Rebecca and I left the house for the train station. She helped me my first day switch trains and navigate the Bahnhof (train station). I really appreciated it, because since it was my first day, it was very overwhelming and difficult. On the train from Wil to Zurich Flughafen, we ran into the other exchangers around St. Gallen- Mateus, Ana Paula, Fusae, and Ashleigh. Finally, we arrived for the class at 9. Rebecca then left me with the other exchangers to learn Deutsch! My host mom, the sweetest woman, gave me money for lunch this week. This was so nice and completely unexpected. I tried to return it, but apparently its required by Rotary for your host parents to provide all your meals.

After we did a group introduction, we had to take a placement test. It would seal our fate, decide our destiny: if we were in the beginner group or the advanced group. Duh duh duh! I made the cut for the advanced group. The classes are hard, but also not over the top. I’m learning a lot, but the homework doesn’t take up my life (not even much). It starts at 9 and ends at 2:30. We typically get two 15 minute breaks before our hour lunch break. All the restaurants are very very very expensive, so I’ve mostly gone to the best super market ever called Migros, which sells everything. Every day this past week pretty much, we leave the area to go find another place to eat. But we always come back to Migros!! It’s really good and reasonable. I normally get a sandwich (they have great ones-you got to pick the right one though). The first day getting home was very interesting-there were 5 of us taking the same train and route homeward, so we put our minds together to figure out how to get home. Claudia, the sweetest host mom ever, gave me a schedule and two train options I could take with all the information and directions. If it wasn’t for that I would have been home a few hours later… When we first got to the platform, we noticed that one of the girls in our “group” from St. Gallen was missing, Fusae. She is from Japan and came over with barely any knowledge of German and English. The first thing she said to me was, “No English.” We were slightly worried, but then again she is so resourceful and finds her way around. She has continually escaped from us and we have talked about getting her a leash. Apparently she went on the earlier train.

                That night I had a Rotary function. Jürg and Silvia, my counselors, picked me up to take me up to the beautiful mountains that night for somewhat of a cook out in celebration of the National Day (Aug. 1). I really like my counselors. They are very nice!
It was a tad chilly, but the scenery was absolutely stellar. I met a ton of Rotary people, but I can’t say I’ve mastered all the names … But I can solve that problem with a sheet my host mom gave me with all the Rotarians’ names and pictures. For dinner we had the St. Gallen sausage (I don’t know if you could tell, but they like their meat, potatoes and bread here) and bread. First, you pick the sausage you want. Then, you put it over the fire. After the sausage is roasted to perfection, you select your bread. The sausage is held in a paper bag-typical Swiss: clean, yet environmentally conscious enough- and then you alternate between bites of bread and sausage. It was tasty, but definitely not the healthiest meal. There is this Apple Juice Cider: Mohl, that is delicious, and I drank it with dinner (I had the alcohol free version). I like that it’s not super sweet.

I enjoyed mingling and I met this one guy who went on an exchange to Australia three years ago. I loved talking to him- which was for quite a while. He was gorgeous and in the Swiss military… Too bad he’s too old for me! I also got to know the girl from South Africa better. She’s very cool and will be going to the same school as me after language camp. SHE SPEAKS AFRIKAANS!!! On another note, after dinner they drink coffee. I haven’t done that yet, but I’d like to try it sometime. Also, so many people smoke here. In one week, I think my lungs have been exposed to as much second hand smoke as I’ve experienced in my lifetime before. This is somewhat of an exaggeration…

Tuesday was an okay day… I remember being really tired and just not in the mood… But I went on a run that afternoon, read my devotion of the day, talked to my host sisters and I immediately felt better. I had the worst headache ever because it was just a lot of German in the past two days and a lot going on. I knew I would have a bad day (I'm here for a year, how can I not??). I hate them and there wasn't anything wrong at all-it's just that it wasn't a great day.

Wednesday was much better. WAY BETTER!! I bonded tremendously with the other exchange students. I’m so glad too since they are my rock through out this experience. There are a lot of  Americans (I've been advised that this is not the right term completely since South Americans are "American" too) in my school group. There are a few Canadians, a couple Mexicans, several Brazilians, one Icelander, one Japanese, one Venezuelan and one Ecuadorian. I love them all, but for different things. They are all so cool and fascinating. In school, we played a game where we went to this farmer's market in Zurich and had to match German words with vegetable and fruit pictures. This was fun, because we had more of a chance to bond rather than focusing in the classroom. Plus, our classes were mixed for this activity. One big thing here is Paprika Chips. Zweifel, the equivalent to Lays in America, has the best paprika chips. They are out of this world, and some of the exchange students hadn't had them before, so for lunch I bought some and let them try one. No one was as obsessed with them as I am. SO GOOD!! After school, some of the exchange students, including me, went to Zurich for the afternoon to sight see. Sofia's, from Brasil, host sister came with us too because she is going to Iceland, and the Icelander was with us. She was great! Zurich was absolutely incredible. The train station was ginormous. We wandered around, had fun and talked. None of us knew where we were or what there was to do, but that was somewhat the fun part! We saw the lake of Zurich, and then went to this church. At this church, we could climb the tower (a lot of stairs) to see a 360 view of the city. That was the highlight of our day trip I think. I want to go back again because there is so much to do!! After Zurich, I took the train to Wil so Silvia could pick me up and take me to Jürg's house for dinner and an informational meeting. This was quite interesting for me because I had to navigate the train station and schedule myself, without Claudia's highlights!! I made it though....almost an hour early. Anyway, when we got to Jürg's house, we helped him cook and prepare. We had spaghetti with lamb chops, salad, and a tart for dessert. Jürg and his wife love to cook, therefore the meal was top notch. We actually made the pasta-with this awesome machine! The food was delicious!! Jürg has the prettiest view from his dining room window too. The food was just to die for and I'm going to invite myself back-it was that amazing. Behind his house, his neighbors are raising llamas. This I did not know, so as we are eating dinner, I see llamas walk by the house window. I was so surprised and excited. I wanted to go pet them, but Jürg said he didn't know if they were nice llamas. It was so cool-how often do you see llamas  strolling outside of your kitchen window?! After our exceptional meal, we had to get through so much information and rules. I already knew it all thanks to my sending district for preparing me so well!! My counselor and Youth Chair were so impressed at all that I knew and my mindset because of my sending district. We finally left at 11, and I was dead. Even though it was slightly repetitive, they have to inform me so they can say they've told me the rules and I can't say I didn't know.

My running thing is solidified-I'm going tomorrow and on Tuesday I'm going to Sankt Gallen to check out their girl's lacrosse club. I'm so glad I'm doing a sport here. I function so much better with sports. I'm so appreciative of my host family taking my interests and helping me achieve my goals. I realize that they really want to help me have the best exchange possible and by telling things I want to do is not an inconvenience, but a pleasure. They want me to succeed and love Switzerland-this program is great. My host family is great!!

Thursday: I had school. When I came home, I went running. It was so so so hot and I couldn't believe how sweat soaked I was afterward. After I took my shower, I had dinner with my host grandparents. They are so sweet and want to have me over some time for dinner or something. I loved our family dinner. They are so nice and I gave them the pecan pralines, as well to my family. They were a huge hit and gone in less than 24 hours. MOM PLEASE SEND MORE-DANKE!!

Friday was miserable. That night, Leandra and I went to Sankt Galler Fest, a huge party in the streets of Sankt Gallen. It was so fun, and we met with her friend who went to America on an exchange this past year. I loved the atmosphere; it was a nice city fix. It solved my mood problem!

On Saturday, Leandra and I went with Rebecca to her kid's camp activity. We went hiking for most of the day-it was a gorgeous day paired with impeccable scenery. I'm kicking myself for not having brought my camera... There were about 60 kids and a few chaperones. Slowly, but surely I attracted my own group of child followers who were fascinated by this American foreigner. They were really shy at first, and would just stare at me, but they finally opened up. I loved their energy, and they spoke slowly and in High German with me. They had so much patience and were so interested in me. It was so cute. I gave them American coins and they loved them. Leandra and I were joking that we could hear them now telling their parents excitedly about the American girl. It was so fun to be her, represent my country and talk to these kids. It was very rewarding. After the hiking, the group got ice cream, and went swimming in this cool public swim club in Glossau. You pay CHF 5.50 to get in and you're in the coolest country club/water park. It was so awesome, and America should take notes. I was so tired after this busy day, but Rebecca, Claudia and I had tickets to a Swiss German play in celebration of Apenzellerland's 500th year as a kanton of Switzerland. It was chilly that night, and we met up with Claudia's sister and her daughter. They were very funny and nice. Before the play, we got a  yummy dinner. I had a traditional Appenzell macaroni and cheese thing with crispy onions, potatoes and apple sauce. I understood very little in the play. I got so confused during it too, understandably. Claudia said it was excellent though, so I think it was very good. After the play, we went to get coffee, and for me hot cocoa. It was delicious.

Sunday: I got to sleep in for the first time in a while. We had breakfast all together, and we had zopf!!!!! Switzerland has the best cheese, bread and chocolate. After our breakfast, I had to get ready for the Rotary Inbound meeting in Olten. We packed our lunch, and then left to catch a train that took about two hours to get to Olten. My third host family (well, part of them: my mom, dad, and sister-there are two brothers) met us to come with to the meeting. They are so so so sweet. I will be their first exchange student. I can feel and tell how much love they have and how badly they want me to have fun and be comfortable. The mom is a hairstylist and she said whenever I want my haircut, I can walk downstairs to her salon-SO COOL. I really enjoyed meeting them, and I'm excited about living with them. But I still don't really want to leave the Cozzios because they're amazing! The meeting in Olten was great, and I got to meet some other exchangers!! They're four Germans-in (French part) Switzerland. I was so surprised that was their first choice! The meeting was fun, but long and informative.