It just keeps gettin better.

Bonjour!

Hello!

How are you?! I'm good! It's been kind of a laid back week here in la suisse. I stayed home 2 days last week (first time I missed school! Gasp!) because my throat hurt, my nose was running like a crimal, and my stomach was churning like butter. Haha. )I have no idea where those metaphors came from, but that was rather creative if I do say so myself). This past weekend started out with a walk through the vineyards......

SNOW! NEIGE! Whatever you want to call it, it's so beautiful!
It's so bright, I have to wear sunglasses. Yet, it is still so cold.
My house.

The vineyards with the snow!

Does it get any better? I don't think so. I think I may create a calendar (calender? I really need to stop trying to stop speaking in English too, because I have noticed some of my sentences are getting a little screwy and I am forgetting how to spell somethings. Geez.)

Saturday, after my walk through the snowy vineyards, my family and I went to Fribourg because there was a "Fete pour St. Nicholas" or a party for St. Nicholas, because here, in Switzerland (and some other European countries) December 6th is the day when you thank St. Nicholas and celebrate, kind of like an early Christmas. The kids (and me) set out shoes the night before with a litte note for St. Nicholas saying what we are thankful for, and when we wake up, and if we've been good, there are little presents!

So, after walking around for a bit, St. Nicholas comes marching down the street, sitting in a chair being carried by these men, and men following him carrying candles and singing. It was quite odd and strange, yet funny and cool.

For those of you that want to know my secret to ALWAYS being on the good list....

"I saw Laura kissing Santa Claus, underneath the mistletoe last night...."

My sister Magali and I in the old part of Fribourg.

Becky and I right before heading home :)

Once we got home, we had hot chocolate and popcorn, courtesy of my mother and the postal service:)

It was weird going back to Fribourg, since I had only been back to the train station since the good ole' days of language camp. It was like a walk down memory lane. Becky and I were walking down the street and were like "Hey! That's the falafel place we ate at once that took FOREVER which made Zion and I miss the train and screwed up the whole day!"

While we were there, we ran into some other exchangies, and it's strange, but we really are one big, dysfunctional, loving family. We have our ups and downs with each other, get annoyed and mad, but at the end of the day, we all love each other and can sympathize with each other since we are all going through the same things. Last week, a Rotex (former Rotary exchange sutdent) told me that he traveled around the world for 11 months, and stayed in a hotel for a total of a week and a half, because he just emailed exchange students and since we all love each other, of course you can stay with us and eat our food!

Sunday, I was going to go skiing with my family, but we ended up not going, so I went to church in Bern with Zion! This was my 2nd time to church since being here and I realize now how much I love church, that sense of belonging and how everyone loves you and is so welcoming! Never will I complain when the alarm goes off on Sunday mornings again.

I am including some links here to pictures that one of the Rotex took. He goes to all the events and is the unofficial Rotaty exchangie photogragher! So, if you have time to burn and feel like creeping, here you are!

http://picasaweb.google.com/rotexchange/InboundMeeting?authkey=Gv1sRgCPGt6fXV9LKAVQ# - This is from when we all first got here and we all scared and akward at the orientation/welcome meeting

http://picasaweb.google.com/rotexchange/ZermattWeekend10?authkey=Gv1sRgCP-F8ejTscna-gE# - pictures from Narnia! Or the best weekend ever! Or the Matterhorn!

http://picasaweb.google.com/rotexchange/FallWEWest2010?authkey=Gv1sRgCLD6vsXfvbiPqgE# - Swiss exchangies are broken up into east and west. Some events, like the Matterhorn weekend, are all toghether, but in the fall and winter, we have 2 weekends where we are divided up. I am in the west, and these are the pictures from the west's fall weekend, even though I wasn't there, but you will see the kids that are in my pictures before, and how cool we are!

The other day, I was talking with some exchange students, and we were saying how we all are realizing that a year from now, we're gonna miss this. I'll be telling Toto I'm not in Switzerland anymore. At first, I couldn't wait to get home and back to Kansas, but now, I feel like it's going by way to fast and I don't want to leave. I've had so many new experiences, met so many new people, and have so many great memories, and can only imagine how many more I'll make before my time here is done. I love this little, expensive, beautiful, chocolate-filled, adventure of a life, freezing, mountaneous, amazing country called Switzerland.