Oh! Mon Dieu!

I'll explain the title in a minute:) But first, a little recap. Basically, school is still school. My mom started driving us to the train station this week, since it's getting colder, and she laughed everyday because she would say have a good day! And I would be like thanks in an unenthusiastic way, and she thought it was funny, my excitment over school. Lol. But other than that, oh, badminton. I'm still going, and still doing bad, but the coach is nice and helping me, and I think I'm improving. . . Or I hope I am. Haha. Oh. And today I was talking with my parents (here) and they were asking me if there was anything I'd like to change here, or what are some difficulties, and I said it's hard for me because I can't speak French great yet, but everything else is good. And they told me that they think I am doing a lot better and I am improving every week with more words and sentences and stuff:) Yay! So then I was a happy camper:)

This is the BEAUTIFUL sunset that takes place evey evening, outside my window:)
Yes everyone, I. Have. Friends. !!!!!! Friday night, I went over to Juliette's house for a sleepover. I was a little afraid that I wounldn't understand and be left out, but it was completly the opposite! They made sure I understood:) We had crepes for dinner, then we looked at "Hot, American guys", lol, and we talked about boys, then we watched two movies, one of which was Borne Supremacy, with Matt Damon. Manon (the one holding the movies) brought a ton to chose from, and when Juliette saw Matt Damon, she was like, Oh! His muscles, and his abs! And Ah! He is so hot! And here is where the title comes in, because it means like oh my, my goodness, and she was going crazy. It was pretty funny in my opionion. Then we ate candy and chocolate, and just chilled. It was so much fun:)

Today, we went on a walk through the vineyards with my family. I took this picture for all of you who are wondering where my town, Chexbres, is. It is that way<------. :)

France weather forecast for today, snow! Yes people, that is snow:) I thought it was pretty cool.
Waiting for my sister to catch up.

I could live off these grapes. They are SOOOO GOOD! I love them so much. Everytime we go out on walks, I sneak a ton:) Haha. But my parents do to, so I figure it's okay. Lol.

This is my house from the opposite side, a.k.a. the vineyard side. See the white side wall, and the top with that one window, that's my room:) Cool. I know.

Well. That's all I got. I have a full week of school this week, complete with a test in Chemistry. Yay. Lol. Oh. Yesterday, I went to a rugby match, thinking it would be kinda like football...it's not. I was so confused. What is rugby anyway? Like it was the strangest thing. Haha.

Okay. Not that is truly all I got. Talk to you soon!

Laura

Umm. What is happening?

Haha. This title is the story of my life. I just had to tell you guys this story that happened yesterday. So, I've been in school for 3 weeks, and you would think I would have the majority of how things work at school figured out. . . . but I don't. It is just so strange, how the day is arranged and they do things. Okay. So my story:)

So, Tuesday mornings, I have physique/imformatique. The first week I was here (I only have these once a week, for 2 periods back to back) I went to physique, with half my class, while the other half went to imformatique. Last week, I went to physique and the other half physique. So, yesterday, I was to go to physique, or so I thought.

So I get to school at 8, drop my stuff off at my locker, and noticed that I didn't see anyone from my class, which was a little odd. So I went straight to class (I still had 15 minutes to chill though) and waited. Now, there are these 2 guys in my class that are always there first, but they were no where to be found. So I contiuned to wait, the bell rings, still no teacher, no classmates, what is happening? So I wait a little longer and decide to go look for them. I found Marion, who was running late, but she is in the other half, imformatique, so she did't know and advised I just sit and wait, work on homework, whatever, and if I got in trouble, she would cover for me.

So I go up a few floors and find a nice place to sit, where other kids that didn't have class were waiting, and after just settling down, an announcement comes over the speakers. The first one I've heard. I can make out something about "for your safety" and "evacuation". All the sudden, all the kids around jump up and head down the stairs outside, so I follow them. We wait in the courtyard, and then teachers come and tell us to walk to the fields. So we do and I follow. Then the fire department shows up and some police and I am so confused.

I make it to the field, and now I don't know what to do. I'm assuming we have to check in with a teacher, and assume it's our principal teacher (which is my Bio teacher, but I only see her once a week) but I can't find her and there are so many other people! After 7 minutes of roaming around, I find some kids in my class, that were in the other half though, so imformatique. We wait, and I turned around to see if I saw anything else, and next thing I know, they are gone, lost in the sea. So I then find one of my sister's friends, who expalins this is a drill. It was mad choas for a drill I can tell you that. Kids were leaving, and smoking, and all sorts of crazy.

At this point, it's been about 25 minutes since the announcent, and they start saying classes over the speakers on the field (since you stay with your class the whole time, you have a name, like my in 1M4). So they announce like 2 and then they say mine. The girl I was standing with tells me that they are announcing to say everyone in that class is present. Sorry, but I don't remember anyone taking me for attendance. They announced like 2 or 3 more (there are like 60 total I believe), and then don't say anything for like 7 minutes. No joke, it's now been 40 minutes, and then they come over the speaker saying it is finished. What?

So I wandered back inside and sat where I had been before, and waited for the next class. About 10 minutes before the next class, people from my half showed up and said we didn't have physique. How I was to know, not sure. When are the random breaks, couldn't tell ya. Lol. I just ask my classmates, and they inform me. Ah. Swiss school.

That's all for now. I can only hope we don't have a real fire, because I can only imagine how that would go. Lol.

Laura

P.S. Go Blazers!

Yet another week in Suisse. . .

Hello. How are you? Everything here is all well and dandy. Except for school. Which bores me to death everyday. But before I get to school, let's talk about the exciting stuff in my life here! This past weekend, after arriving home from school (I get out at 2:20 on Fridays compared to the 5:00 on Thursdays) my mom (here) informed me that we would be going to Zurich the next day (Saturday) for Cirque du Soleil! I was soooo excited because I've heard it's like the most amazing show ever! So I got up (happy and not wanting to hurt the alarm clock for once:) on Saturday, ate breakfast, and was informed we were staying the night. So I packed a bag in record time, and we were out the door to Zurich. It was a little over a 2 1/2 hour drive.

After arriving, we unloaded and went straight to the show. Needless to say, it was FABULOUS!!! I had my mouth open like the whole time, in awe that they could do the tricks they were doing. There were a few parts where I was like "OHHH! He's gonna fall! Close my eyes!" but they never missed a beat! So amazing! So, so, so amazing.

After the show, we headed to the hotel. We dropped our bags off, and headed out for dinner. We wandered around for an hour or more, deciding which resturant to eat at (they are all pretty much in this one part of town) and finally decided on an Italian place. I got some lasanga (one of the many foods I have been craving) and it was sooo good! I ate that thing in record time:) haha. Then after, we went to the cutest coffee shop. Ever. We first got some pasteries (which were amazing) and then went up to the little sitting area. There was a lady playing the piano, these super fancy chairs, and candles. The atmoshere was so calm. She was taking requests, and my sister asked for "Over the Rainbow", which made me a little sad, cause it's like Kansas, and home, but after she played other songs, and my family and I sang along. It was so nice! After, around 11, we wandered back to the hotel, but got lost and ended up taking a taxi. Then off to bed!

Sunday, we got up and went out for breakfast. After we wandered around Zurich. We visited the river, an art museum, the old town, some churches, which made us work up an apetite, so we went for dinner (we skipped lunch for whatever reason, so I was ready for dinner!) at this tropical kind of resturaunt. I felt like I was in Tahti in that place! And the food, ahh, reminded me of my favorite, Seafood Portofino without the mushrooms from Olive Garden. It totally floated my boat:) Then, we made it back to the car at 9, and headed home and arrived back at the houe at 11:30. And let me tell you, I slept like a baby:)

Today, I didn't have school (I'm not sure why, but I wasn't complaining:) so Zion, another exchange student, came over and we walked through the vineyards, talking and sneaking grapes, which happened to be really good:)

Here are some pics. . .

Yes, this proves I was there:)
Zurich, with the river and adorable houses.
I just can't get over how cute it is here:)

Our hotel, the Marriot, right on the river. It had such amazing beds:) I fell in love. Haha.

At the coffee shop, with our pastries:) YUM!
Another adorable little street in Zurich

Of course, I had to take a picture of the Swiss flag:)

Zurich!

We brought Moon with us because he has to eat every few hours. We just introduced him to pate this weekend, and he was in love. He was totally in the little bowl, just loving every bite. It was the cutest thing:) He has grown sooo much since we first got him, but is still super small!
And in case you just couldn't get enough, here is another:) Awww.

Now, a little word about school. I have always been the weirdo who loves school. I just love learning, and being with friends, and just plain love school and GEHS. But here, school is different, and although the teachers are nice, I kind of just sit in class staring into space, because they don't give me the handouts and booklets and stuff. And here, the teachers change classrooms too, so there aren't any cool and colorful posters for me to start at, so I look at the floor, or exaime the handiwork of the desk, and so on. The only class where the teacher actually thinks I have a brain is Maths. So I had to take the test on Friday, and oh man, that didn't go so well. You would think numbers and such are universal, but I have a hard time understanding Maths. And when I ask the teacher, he explains it, and then thinks I get it, but I still don't. A little difficult. And I have friends and stuff, like the kids in my class are really nice, always asking me to sit with them at lunch and all, but I always feel like I'm imposing on them and their other friends. It's kinda difficult. But I'm sure they don't feel that way and that school will get better with time. Or I hope it will at least:) Everything else here is great though:) Talk to you soon!

Laura

I'm a SURVIVOR!!!!

Why hello there! Guess what?! It's exciting news. . . . I have officially survived my first week of school in Switzerland! AND, that's right, there is more. . . I have also offically been in Switzerland for over a month now! It is so crazy that a month has gone by already. It feels like I've really only been here for a week. Well, after my horrible, sucky, making me want to run into every corner anf hide first day of school, the rest of the week was great:) I made new friends, I am attempting to understand my teachers, and I am no longer going down the path of becoming a hermit here. School here is a lot different than at good ole' GEHS. Not that at GE it's strict, but here the atmosphere is just a lot more relaxed. Like, there are a few periods a week when I don't have class, and you can jsut do whatever. Bring your laptop to school and get on the internet, go to the library, leave (I would do this but it takes me too long to get home and back), and stuff like that. For lunch, you can leave, or like yesterday, since it wasn't freezing, we walked to this cute little park like thing on campus and ate. I feel like it's a college atmosphere, not that I know what that is, lol, but it's like what I imagine it to be like. I think I am for sure improving at French. When I got here, I had no idea how bad I was, but now, I am actually able to somewhat hold a good conversation and understand French better, although for some reason, I can never understand my host dad. He will say something, and I'll look blank, and then my mom will say it and I get it right away. It's the weirdest thing. Some of my teachers are really nice and making sure I understand what's happening. There is one that I don't think knows I am an exchange student, even though I introduced myself and all, because he was asking me these history questions and I was like, "Je ne sais pas!" Again. Lol. I think he thinks I'm dumb. (That means I don't know by the way, but I didn't really yell it, but I was thinking it that way in my head). The hardest thing is I don't know what is expected of me. I don't know if I am expected to understand the assignment and do it perfectly, or what. But I will figure it out eventually, I hope. Ladt night, I made my first American dinner here. It actually turned out pretty good, except the pie for dessert was a little off because the brown sugar is different here and there is no cinnamon. But otherwise, my dad sad it was 3 forks out of 3 forks up:) Winner! Here are some pics. . ..

The kitchen before I started, nice and clean. But when I finished, it still looked nice and clean too, so there was no need for the after picture:)
For the entree, I was making cole slaw, potato salad, and fried chicken. My mom got the cabbage and it was the biggest cabbage I have ever seen! And it weighed like 10 pounds! Seriously, I was amazed. When I broke out the mini flag, and my mom asked if she could keep it, and I was like sure, and now, it is being displayed downstairs. She was excited about it:) For the appetizer I made mini PB&J's. They have never heard of this before and never use peanut butter, (like Swiss people in general don't use peanut butter, not just my family), so we found some at a store and they were a hit!
After the 4th of July, I went to Target, and you know that great little dollar section when you first go in? Well, I found these American flag glasses and got two pairs. So I figured last night would be a great night to break them out:) My mom was saying "Oh yeah baby, Uh huh!" as I was taking this pciture. It was sooo funny!

Jean-Michel and Magali, with the glasses:) And my sister is wearing the USA shirt I got her (she wears it all the time, I feel so special!) and has the mini American flag. Now they are Belgian-Swiss-Americans:)

After our PB&J's, I brought out the main course. Now, I've been to a few BBQ's here, but they are not true American ones, so I explained that we always have potato salad and cole slaw at ours:) My sister loved the potato salad! Well done, Laura. Well done. Here is Magali and me! I should of been wearing my matching USA shirt, but I wasn't. Darn.

So far, the only thing I had given them from American was the BBQ sauce, and that shirt, but I had brought a bunch of other stuff. So I felf like last night was the perfect night, so I gave them a book with pictures of Kansas, a BBQ book, a Royals hat, a Gardner flag, and this little USA thing. My mom then took it and now, it's sitting on our bar in the kitchen/dining room:)

I think that I have finally really clicked with my family, now that I am able to communicate better and all:) It's gonna be a good year, I jsut know it!

Salut! Laura

Oh, happy day, happy day....

I just have to do a quick update here:) Just to say how even though my first day of school pretty much sucked, we have had a complete turn around! Which is swell:) Yesterday, I was suppossed to get out of school at four, but the teacher of my last two classes was absent, and they don't have any substitues here, so you just don'e go to that class. That's getting out of school two hours early! Sweet. So then some kids from my class invited me to hang with them in Vevey, so of course I agreed. And yesterday, during school, they were all talking to me. So when Chemistry was over, we hopped on the train and headed to Vevey and chilled and they were really helpful with my speaking French, and when they were having a conversation, and I wasn't following, they explained what they were talking about to me, which was really nice:) After saying bye (they even gave me a goodbye kiss, which is what friends do here) and I headed to badminton. I wasn't that great at it, and my partner was 9 and super good, but I'm still gonna stick with it and get better:) Maybe go pro. . . . .haha. So today, I got up and was praying that school would be good again, and it was:) The kids were still helping me when I looked lost and making me feel welcome:) So, it am no longer dreading school. Here is a picture of my student ID badge. And it's actually a school picture that isn't horrifing. . . .

I know. Pretty snazzy. . . On my cool Gymnase de Burier lanyard. Don't worry everyone. I have two , so some lucky person gets the other one when I get back. Ohh. Ahh. Please, don't fight for it:)

The front of my badge. Cool.

This is the big building at my school, or the main one. With the logo of my school in sculpture form on the big fountain. I can't quite get Gymnase de Burier out of the sculputre yet though, but I'm working on it. Well, that all for now. Talk to you later!

Laura

School and Parties. . . .

Well everyone, today I started school. But we'll discuss that one later. I must first tell you about my great weekend! So Saturday, all the exchange students in Switzerland travelled to a town outside of Zurich for an internation Youth Exchange Officer Conference. We didn't have to be there until 4 so, we got to Zurich early and travelled around and visited, which was nice and relaxing. When 4 rolled around, us kids from the French part (there are 10 of us compared to the 80 or 90 in the German) hopped on a train to the town. I would say the name but it is too difficult for me to even attempt to spell. Lol. So, once there, we meanded to the school where we all met up, and we exchanged pins and cards:) So my balzer is beginning to fill up! Quite exciting! Then, we practiced all together the Swiss-German song that we would sing for everyone and it was so hard for everyone to hold back laughter. We were soooo bad at it! After singing it a few times through, they had the 10 Frenchies get up on the stage, and as we are singing it, the German kids are laughing, which made us laugh, and it was a big mess, but we eventually got it to be presentable. Then we had a really good dinner, and marched with our flags through the town and to the hotel. Us Americans started a mini revolution in the streets. Good stuff. So we went in, sang our two songs, dies of heat in our sexy blazers, and then left. It was so fast for so much rehersal! After that, I met up with the other kids who were staying the night in Zurich, and we went to the youth hostel where we would be staying. I had never been in a hostel before and it was pretty cool:) Then, we decided we were going to go out clubbing, but no worries everyone, I only had a hot chocolate. And the lady totally laughed at me when I ordered it too:( But I was cold and it was totally worth the strange looks! We stayed out until 2am, which was a genius idea being that I started school the next day, and then we chatted a bit before all falling asleep. We had to get up at 7am then and scurry to catch our trains home. Once I got home, I slept for 5 1/2 hours. And was still super tired. I went to bed that night then at 11 and when I woke up this morning, I was like "WHY?! WHY MUST I GET UP THIS EARLY AND GO TO SCHOOL?!" But I sucked it up and went. But before I go into that story, here are some pics. . .

Kelly (a Frenchie) had the honor of carrying the flag. She looks super excited about it! Lol. In reality though, she was and she was waving it so hard, it kept flying in people's faces.
Zion, Becky and I marching through town to the conference in our awesome blazers!
Here we are waiting to go inside. From left to right are Shelby (Frenchie) and Andrew (Frenchie) and then two other girls from the U.S. that are in the German part. I can't remember their names. Lol.
This is Jess (an Aussie) and moi when we were going to hit up some clubs and drink coco. Cause we're just that cool.

The train to Zurich was SO crowded and we were sitting on the steps, because it was a double-decker train, but still, no spots.

Okay. So now. . . School. It was okay I guess. At first, the kids were talking to me, but then they stopped and I was totally lost. Especially in Chemistry. Tommorrow I have physics. I can't wait. I had a 2 hour lunch and after lunch 2 hours of sports, but I didn't know to bring clothes, so the teacher told me to go wait in the lunch room and come back after class so he knew I didn't leave. Even though I really wanted to since it was my last class. So during my 4 hours of sitting in the lunch room, I caught up on the last week of my journal, wrote a 10 page letter to my sister, and doodled endlessly. We'll see how tommorrow goes, but I hope it goes a little better than today... Tata for now. . Oh, and did I mention that when I got home from school, I ate a whole chocolate bar that I bought to mail to my family? I then learned the Zion, who also started school, ate her whole body weight in Nutella after school, so I didn't feel that bad. Lol. I'm sure I'll regret it tommorrow. . . . . Oh well. It was good:) Okay. Now I'm done for sure:)

Fribourg!

Hey everyone! I feel like I update this too often, but since I have no friends that live near me and I'm a loner still since I haven't started school and made friends, I have plenty of time on my hands. Lol. It's actually quite depressing. I start school on Monday and am NOT looking forward to it. I mean like I want friends since I need like socialization since the conversations I've began having with myself are probably unhealthy, but I just don't want to be the weird new kid that is looking around like an idoiot not understanding anything. I'm sure I'm imagining it to be way worse, but still, not looking forward to it that much. But on the plus side, tonight my host sister invited me to go with her and her friends to see a movie, so I am meeting them after they get out of school:) I'm excited. Noemi, our exchange student from last year, called me this morning on my way to language course and told me that Kade Meyer had died. I couldn't believe it. First, we lose Andrew, who was a bright, outgoing, and great guy, and now Kade, a vibrant, young kid. All within two weeks. I don't understand why this is hapening to our small town and all the family and friends, but there must be some reason and I just have to keep both these families in my prayers.

Since my last post, commenting on the freezing weather, it has warmed up a bit. Yesterday, I left without my gloves and a scarf, and today coming home from Fribourg, I just wore a long sleeve shirt and 3/4 length jacket. Oh man, it's a heat wave! Lol. I've taken a few pictures in the last few days. . . . .

This is my language class. Doesn't Bjorn (the lone man from Sweden) look excited? Lol. I'm not sure if he likes me since I insulted him by asking if they speak Deutsh in Sweden. I sware I saw him holding a dictionary that was Deutsh to Francais, but apparently not. . . they speak Swedish.

This is me with my first Rivella! It's okay. I'd never heard of it either. Apparently, it is made only here in Switzerland and is made from cheese run-off. Which sounds nasty. I was a little cautious to try it when I found that out, but its actually really good! It's like a fruity ginger-ale, not like something I'd had before. Its on my good list:)

Okay. So I see this cow everyday and have been wanting to get a picture with it, but everytime I brought my camera with me, it was gone. But today victory was mine and I got a picture! Yay! the canton (state) of Fribourg is said to always smell like cows since they have them everywhere. People make from other cantons make fun of them for it. Good thing I'm in the Vaud canton. Haha you smelly cow people:)
I fugured I might as well take two pictures with the cow since I finally had my camera, so here is Becky and I with the cow:)

This is Kelly. She is in my language course and is from Colorado. She took my camera and snapped some pictures of herself. I thought I would put one up:) She cracks me up. She has a unique personality:)

During our break today, we chilled in these comfy chairs, and Kelly snapped pictures. But it was super bright so we all look a little strange. We were squinting. But din't get me wrong, I am NOT complaining about the sun that was out today!

A silly pic of us:) Tommorrow, I am leaving at 8am for Zurich, since some of us students decided to go early and explore. Then I'm staying the night there and Monday I start school:) I'll let you know how it goes:)