Wow have these past 2 weeks been very eventful!! First of off I have finished with my intensive language course in Bern which was so much fun! I really enjoyed the three weeks with my fantastic class. On the weekend before the start of school (real school that is) my friends Faith, and Hannah and I went to Basel a city in Northern (ish) Switzerland. I knocked off another 2 cantons (provinces) on my list of 26 Swiss Cantons! I'm now up to 8 (not bad for only a month)! It is right on the boarder of France and Germany! We had bunches of fun, exploring the city and walking around. Although I would like to come back not on a Sunday when most of the shops and touristy things are closed. Here are some pictures:
Now the day before I was in Basel my host mom and I went to Burgdorf in Bern to go see the Schwingfest (the Swiss National Sport Championship). If I were to give a short description of what Schwingen is I would say: "That it is very very Swiss... very" :) It is a kind of hybrid between wrestling and playing in saw dust... I know that sounds quite strange but it was fantastic! My host mom and I had so much fun. We walked around the Schwingen village and cheered as some Schwingers moved up in the ranks. I really had no idea who was winning but I just cheered with everyone else all the same! The best part about Schwingen is that the winner on the national event doesn't win only money... they also win a cow!
This cow to be precise! All I can say is that Schwingenfest was very fun!
The day before that (I know I am kind of working backwards but bear with me) my host family took me to a musical on the Schiffenensee (a lake) and it was all in Swiss German. I understood very little of what was going on but I had loads of fun, the music was excellent!
Now two Mondays ago I started my first day of school at College Ste. Croix. I was a little nervous at first but my first day went really well. The other people in my class are hilarious! Two weeks of school in and things are going great! Today I felt so proud I actually understood almost everything that was going on in Math class! And Philosophy is by far my favourite subject! Even though Deutsch is also really fun!! My friends are great and I am having a lot of fun at school, even though Wednesdays are a bit heart deteriorating because we have a 10 hour school day... oh well! I'm still just amazed that I am still here in Switzerland! One thing that I notice all the time now which is a small (but to me big) cultural difference is: people blow their noses all the time... in class!!! What is that??! I don't think I have ever heard people actually blow their nose in class! We always go to the washroom and do that. But people here do it all the time in public. At first I was taken off guard but now I am a little bit used to it... a little :P
Last weekend I went with two friends to Luzern an incredible city in the middle of Switzerland on a lake. It looks as if it comes out of a fairy tale!! Tomorrow we don't have school because our class is going on a field trip to the capital to have some fun together (isn't that cool??) Should be great!
Well I should maybe get some sleep,
Gute Nacht!
Ryan
