The First Month

It's pretty amazing that a month has already gone by. I've done so much, so I will write about the main things.

Rotary Meetings and Conference:
My first Rotary club meeting went well. It is only men, and there are about 30 members. I watched a presentation by the other girl, Grace from Australia, who is also sponsored by my club. The food was good, except for this salmon paste stuff that tasted like salmon flavored butter. It was awful, but I still ate what I could.

The EEMC conference was held in a small town near Zurich. All of the inbounds in Switzerland were there, and we gave a group presentation to the 300 Rotarians there. We sang songs, and a few kids gave demonstrations from their culture. It was all fun and it was great meeting all of the other students.

Neuchâtel:
A few students from my language class went to a small town on a lake called Neuchâtel. It was very beautiful and we went to many different places. Me and another student went swimming and it was awesome.

Moving right along...

Thun:
A few students from my language class went to a small town on a lake called Thun.
It was very beautiful and we went to many different places. Me and another student did not go swimming, as it was a little too cold. There are also mountains very near by, so the views of everything were great.
I also just went to Thun again with one other student this weekend and we attempted to go on a hike. It turned more into walking around the town looking for the trails, which we later found out didn't really exist. It was still nice and a little exercise never hurts I suppose.

The Hike:
I went hiking with my host mom, my host brother and a family friend, Mario. We left at 8:28:45:22, and got to our destination at exactly 8:58:45:22 to catch the 9:00:00:00 o'clock lift up to where the trails start. The Swiss are very punctual people...
We hiked for a while, and eventually made it to the top. The views were simply amazing, and the Alps were crystal clear, as the weather was just about perfect. Right up until a few clouds blew through and decided to park themselves right where I was trying to look. The hike down went well and the cows kept us company. It was a great little hike.

Language School:
Is now over, and on the final exam, when discounting four of scores better than mine, I got the best score in the class! I really learned a lot in the class, and I have some good friends now, which is nice. Three of them are going to my school too.

School:
Starts tomorrow (Monday the 13th.). I will write more about it in my next blog post.

Ice Hockey Match:
A few of my Swiss friends invited me to an Ice Hockey game in Bern. The Bern club team, SCB, was playing some other team from a little town. I stood right in the middle of the fan section and it was a lot of fun. Bern won 6-2, so everyone from Bern left happy. After that we met up with some other kids and had a good time. They practiced their English, and I practiced my German, so it is good for everybody.

So for my first month, I would say it has been pretty darn good. My host family really is great, and I have no real complaints about anything or anyone.

I am going to find a website to post my pictures up onto. While I can upload pictures here, I can't really organize them or label them in any way. I will post a link when the day comes.

Thanks for reading!

Language school and other things

LANGUAGE SCHOOL- Language school is right in the middle of Bern at the WWF (the one with the Panda sign, not wrestling) headquarters. There are eleven of us. Six from USA, two from Brazil, two from Ecuador and two from Canada. It is pretty difficult, but it isn't too bad. The teacher talks about 70% of the time in German, which was very difficult at first but now I understand most of what she says.

Party- I went to my first party this weekend. It was in the woods at kind of a campground. There were about 30 kids. Some spoke English and they asked me lots of strange questions. It was just very strange being there- not knowing anyone, the language, the "normal behavior." It was definitely an experience, and I think as the year progresses I will get be around it more and it will be more normal.

Swimming in the Aare!- This was a very fun day. There is a river that goes around Bern called the Aare. I was invited to tag along with a few people. The water was a bit chilly at 17 C (62 F) but it was worth it. It is a bit of a dangerous river, because the current is very fast. Several people die each year (most are Jamaicans) because they underestimate the speed and they are alone. It wasn't allt hat bad though, and there were many people there that day. It was a beautiful sunny day, and it was just such a strange but great feeling floating down a river in Switzerland.

Bike ride- I went on a bike ride (is it one word- "bikeride?") to the radio tower next to my town. It took about an hour and a half and the view was amazing. I could just see the alps through the clouds. On the way down we met back up with my host parents in another small town for lunch. It was another very beautiful day and a great way for me to see more of the country side.

Those are the main things from this week. For more pictures, go to my Facebook. Or Google "Bern Aare"and you will see some fantastic pictures of the Aare taken by professional photographers.
(The reason I don't post many pictures here is because it only takes one at a time, so it is very slow).

My first few days here

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It is not easy to write a blog, as it is difficult to balance the main highlights of a day(s)/week with all of the little things that were just as influential, but only to myself. So, I will try my best to pick out the most important and exciting things that will keep you as the reader entertained and satisfied.

ARRIVAL: I arrived in Zurich, Switzerland on Tuesday at 8:25 am. I met my host mom, Anita, and my new little brother, Guy (he is 13, and his name is pronounced "Gee"). I then took the train to my small town of Bolligen. It has about 6,000 people, but it is very close to Bern, which has a population between 150-300,000 people (It depends on what your definition of "in the city" is). I then met my host dad Patrick, as well as my host brother, Luc. Luc is 16 and will be leaving for his exchange to Canada on Sunday. My home is a very modern, and clean apartment with three levels (see pictures that are not yet posted below). I also got a tour of Bolligen, which took about 15 minutes.

BERN: Bern is a very beautiful city, and it felt strange walking down a street that is older than the United States. The public transportation is very nice, and it is always great to have a nice walk between the trains, trams and buses.

As for the social aspect of everything, it has been very good. I met many of the neighbors two nights ago when we had a small party. Every single guest spoke fluent English, so it was very nice. I have also met many of Guy's friends, and we've played a lot of basketball.
Last night was very exciting, because Luc had his going away party. I was then able to meet many kids my age, and a few will be going to the same school as me. Most spoke English, and they made lots of jokes about America. It didn't really bother me at all, but it was interesting to hear what they thought an average day for me would be: wake up, eat a hamburger for breakfast, watch football, eat a hamburger for lunch, shoot things with my gun while driving, and eat one more hamburger for dinner before falling asleep to the TV. All in all it was very fun, and it was a good way for me to start getting to know more kids my age.

That is all, and if this uploads correctly there should be a stunning picture of my flight in.

Hello everyone,

The blog I have started is a way for you to read and enjoy my stories as I live in Switzerland this year. I plan on updating it around once a month, but that could always change.

Thank you for taking time to read about me, and I hope you enjoy it.
Ian
(July 16, 2010)