VACATION. I love you.

Bonjour tout le monde!!!

How's it going?! Dandy, I hope! Well, I am officially back in school, much to my dismay. Oh well. But, on the bright side I did have a SWELL VACATION!!!! Wow. I was SO busy! Every day I eas doing something new! I will explain below :)

But first, these are some photos that I never posted but meant to from when I went to Neuchatel a few weekends ago!

Posing by some random statues. . . :)

Me. Attempting to scale a statue. Needless to say, it was a fail. . .
YMCA!!! You see it?! Aren't we creative! Haha.

Becky and I giving that moose some lovin'.
Ben, Michael, Lauren, Brandon and I taking a bite out of that chocolate! Basically sums up our lives here. :)

Okay! Now the PLAY BY PLAY OF MY VACATION!!!

My first day of vacation, last Saturday, I headed to Luzern (going to Luzern on the weekends is becoming a weekly thing it seems) with Zion and Flat "Jackson". Now, if you are unaware what a Flat person is, try to recall the story of Flat Stanley. Basically, it is about a little boy who flattens himself and mails himself all around the world. So, when most kids are in 1st grade or so, they will draw out a flat version of themselves and mail it so someone far away! So, Jackson, a boy from church in Gardner that I babysit, decided to mail himself to me! Then, it was my job to take Flat Jackson with me and take pictures with him, etc, then mail him back to the real Jackson in the States, where he shows his classmates and talks about Flat Jackson's adventures! Cool, eh? :) Okay. Back to vacation.

Saturday morning, I got up EARLY for the first day of vacances and we headed to Luzern to meet up with other exchange students!

Rule 1 of being an exchange student in Switzerland: when you plan to meet up at a train station at 11, plan for there to be at least 2 or 3 an hour or so late because they missed a train.

The bright side to the waiting we did a certain 2 people *ahem* was that Flat Jackson could pose for some photos! There he was in the banhof (german)/ gare (french)/ train station (english) in Luzern!

Flat Jackson was just dying to see the Lake, so we headed outside to snap a photo!
Flat Jackson with Brandon at the Old Swiss House in Luzern!

Flat Jackson at a Swiss cafe! He wanted some Swiss fondue!

Flat Jackson with Zion and I by a knight in shining armor!

So, In Luzern, there is this lion. If I could remember the story of this lion, I would recite it, but I can't. But the end result is, there is this lion in Luzern and you can go and take pictures by him. :) haha.

Flat Jackson and Ben by the lion!

This was so funny! Wewanted a group picture, so we asked this man to take it for us. So I show him which button to push, etc, and then once we all get in place, he asks "Do you want the lion in to picture?". Uh, yeah?! Haha! That would be the reason we are asking you to take our picture, so we can have it with the lion. Haha. So we all started laughing, and some composed themselves before he snapped the photo. Others were unable. :)

Our family.
This one was a funny face shot, and for it, Ian, the guy in the black coat on the far right, turned around, To be funny. HAHA. I thought that was hilarious. Hopefully you do too. :)

Voila! Me, Jenna, Zion, and Ben getting an arm action shot by the lion!

Close up! I really wanted to swim across the little pond that surrounded him and then climb up the rock and lay on him and take a sweet photo. But I couldn't.
After having had enough of the lion, we found this little rock off to the side and decided to take some photos. :)

Action shot! Me, Brandon, Ben, Zion (all you can see is her leg in the very back :) ), Jenna and Shannon!

Encore!

I talk about Migros ( I think) a lot. It is, in a nutshell, the life of an exchange student in Switzerland. Migros is, not only a grocery store, but a bank, a phone company, a resturant and much more. Basically, such a monopoly. But, I still love it. M-Budget. .40 cent chocolate bars, .25 cent giant bottles of gaz water, ah. After this I am walking to Migros and getting some chocolate I just decided.

If you spend 20 francs or more, you can get these free nano thingys. People are obsessed with them here! Especially kids! So I figured Flat Jackson would want a picture with them :)

Since we were all hungry, we bought a ton of food, which equaled over 20 francs, and so when Ian (on the left), saw that he could get a nano, he went back up the the cash register and asked for some. It was just so funny! Then, he proceeded to play with them and teach the rest of us how you can play with them and how awesome they are :).

So. After playing with the nanos for some time, we decided it was time to let the festivites (the whole reason we had gotten together) begin! What were the festivities you ask?! An the Office marathon! Hence, why we bought a ton of food! So, we all piled into the little bus that goes to Jenna's house outside of Luzern! Once there, we each claimed a place in the T.V. room there and cracked open chips, cake, candy, chocolate, crackers, beef jerky, and so much other junk food! I have not eaten so unhealthy since I left America. Afterwards, we were all disgusted with ourselves, haha, but it was fun before the tummy aches hit!

So we watched numerous episodes of the Office, which caused us to laugh until our stomachs hurt so much! Then, most people had to go home, and we went from 14 to 6. Then, we watched Despicable Me, which was really cute! After, Jenna's host mom made us the AMAZING Swiss version of Mac and Cheese and we all had dinner together with her parents. It was just so nice and sweet! Although, Zion and I had a little trouble here and there when they would start speaking in German, since we are the Frenchies. But still, it was so much fun!

After we did the dishes (which ended in a bruttle towel fight), we decided to head into Luzern and find something to do. So, off we went! We basically wandered around (another typical part of being an exchange student, you never know what is happening and have pretty much no say, so once you have the power and can decide what to do, we don't know what to do with ourselves and we end up just wandering around). Zion and I were staying the night at Jenna's, and could stay out for as long as we wanted. So, at 11, 3 of the 4 boys got on a train home, and short after, Brandon's train to Bern was leaving, and Jenna, Zion, and I decided to ride there with him and then we could just turn around and go back to Luzern. But Jenna was a little tired and basically fell into a coma on the train. . . .

Brandon just looks so satisfied, while Jenna was basically dead.

So, after the hour train ride to Bern, we knew we only had 4 minutes to change trains back to Luzern, and I was wearing my clogs (great for running), so Brandon, Zion and Jenna we ready at the train door to dart and hold the door open on the other train for me. So, halfway through running, we see that the train is gone. Not there. At all. And realize that our last train was a little late, so we missed it. And the next train is not for another hour. Great. So, Brandon had to leave to catch his last train, so we bid farewell. Now, I had to go to the bathroom super duper bad, and of course, the bathrooms in the train station are closed. Because EVERYTHING closes in Switzerland. So, we then go up to the platform for our train and attempt to sneak onto one to use the bathrooms. Fail. So then we get on another one and the ticket man came and was like this train is off limits, but then I begged and said I had a GA (the train ticket for everything a.k.a. magical) and voila. I got to use the bathroom. So, we then continued to wait, and wait, and then got on a train to Olten (where all Rotary meetings happen), and then had to change again to get back to Luzern. Then we had to pay 10 francs because it was a night bus and ended up getting home at 3. Long and cold night, but all worth it to be with each other :)

Sunday, after coming home, sleeping, getting up, all that jazz, Zion left to go back home and Jenna and I decided to head to Bern for a little bit, since we had time to burn. So, In Bern, we got some food, rode random buses, and talked :) Then, around 5, I headed to Weinfelden to see Vera again!!! She met me at the train station there and we went back to her house and had dinner. After, we just talked about everything from A to Z. It's amazing still how even though we were separated for more than 2 years, we always seem to pick up right where we left off! Midnight came and passed and we headed to bed eventually :)

Monday, Vera had to get up early, since she still had school last week, while I slept in. When I did get up, I headed to the train station to meet Jenna and we headed to Germany! It was only a 24 minute train ride exactly! So cool! I'll tell ya, it never gets old how close I am to other countries! And the best part, it is FREE to go there with my GA!
Flat Jackson is becoming quite the world traveler! Switzerland, Germany. . . .

Flat Jackson and I in Konstanz, Germany!

Jenna and I on Lake Konstanz!

We wanted to walk out to this little lighthouse, and we walked the wrong way to get there only a million times, and once we FINALLY found it, there was a gate that was locked and it was forbidden to go there. :( It was sad.

After, we had some pizza (SO GOOD) we then headed to Zurich. In Zurich, we decided to go to St. Gallen to see the famed library and cathedral, but once we got there, we thought we had to take a bus to get there. Turns out you don't. But it was foggy, and we couldn't see, and after an almost 1 hour bus ride out of the city (we didn't realize until it was too late), we never ended up seeing the church and library. We will just have to go back!

Then I headed back to Vera's and we had raclette (SO GOOD! It is this Swiss cheese thingy, but man, am I going to miss it next year!) and then we had to do some homework (I had to write an essay and email it to my teacher! During break!). After, we talked, more, and then watched a movie!

Tuesday morning, we said good-bye until next time and then she was off to school. :( It's amazing how fast time literally flies.

I then headed to Basel, over by the border of France and Germany, where Jenna, Zion and I went to the zoo! A.K.A. Our natural habitat.

We caught him mid-stream. . . haha. :)

I LOVED the sea lions! I think we stood there for 15 minutes! Just watching them! They were so cute! Aw!

The giraffes!

Look how cute they are!!!

Elephants!

It had been SO LONG since I had been to a zoo, so it was like reliving childhood memories!

After the zoo, we decided to go and get some pizza in Italy for dinner, so we literally went to the train station, hopped on a train, and went to Italy. There, we got some pizza, pasta, and gelato. Stayed for an hour, and then decided we had better head home. Going to Italy for food will NEVER get old. What am I going to do next year when I am craving an Italian pizza?! I can't just hop on a train and go! Oh my. Let's not think about this.

After Italy, like I said, we headed to our perspective houses and off to bed we went :)

Wednesday, I got to sleep in a little! And after we loaded up our car and headed to the mountains. To go snowboarding. Oh. My.

I don't have any pictures. I figured it best to not risk breaking my camera in case I fell. Good idea. Since I fell over, and over, and over, and over, and over again. The good part about the whole thing though, was that it made me realize how awesome my host sibilings are! I mean, I had always really liked them, but the fact that they spent 3 1/2 hours with me on the bunny hill and only went down the real hill 1 time, shows me that they are totally amazing. I mean, my little brother literally pulling me up the mountain was a bonding experience :)

After the snowboarding adventure, we headed back to a little mountain cottage my mom rented out and we spent the night in the hot tub and sauna! We played made up games and eventually went to sleep :)

Thursday, when we woke up, we all sang "Joyeux Anniversaire!" to my little sister, Nora, who turned 15!

We had a HUGE breakfast, but I was SO SORE! Holy cow. It was intense. I also found some bruises. I sware, I have had more bruises this year from falling on ice while running for trains, from sledding down mountains, snowboarding in the Alps, tripping over imaginary things in general, it is ridiculous!

Anyway, so I opted to stay behind at a cottage with Alix, my 16 year old sister while the others went skiing and snowboarding. Later, we went to my host aunt's house for some drinks and then got home around 10pm.

Friday, I woke up SUPER EARLY! 5:20 to be exact and took the first train from my town at 6am so I could go to Lichteinstein for the day! The Rotary here in Switzerland is Switzerland/Lichteinstein, so a lot of us thought we were being sent to Lichteinstein at first!

Anyway, I got to Lichteinstein around 11am, and there Becky and I meet up with some of the other oldies and the 1 newbie who is the only exchange student in Lichteinstein!

I have been looking for a traditional dress like this FOREVER. It was MY DREAM COME TRUE! Unfortunetly, it was a little small, but still, it made my day!!!!!!!!!!

Lucas (from Argentina) and I trying on some awesome hats!!!

Becky and I playing some alpine horns with our hats on! With Ben creeping in. . . .

So, there was this castle where the prince of Lichteinstein lives on top of this hill. Ben insisted we climb up the hill/mountain to go see it. U.G.H. After sweating a bunch, we made it to the top! See the town below?! Here was the whole group! From left to right. . . Wes (Nevada), Ben (Michigan), Lucas (Argentina), Tighe (Canada), me, Becky, and Alex (Australlia, and the only one in Lichteinstein)!!

View from the top! Those mountains are Switzerland though!

THE CASTLE! Finally.

Frenchie shot! Becky and I on our "hike".

After hiking down the hill/mountain, we finished seeing the rest of Lichteinstein. Literally. The country is sooooo tiny! And I thought Switzerland was small! We took a train to Zurich where we met up with some of other exchangies and then headed to Luzern for Carnaval/Fasnacht! In some of the cantons of Switzerland, they have these HUGE parties for a week! People dress up and just take over the streets of some of the bigger cities like Basel, Luzern and Fribourg. It is to welcome spring, I think. :) So, we headed to Luzern, but since it was still early, there was basically NOTHING going on. . . So we wandered around. Like usual. :)

Ben with his costume wig for the festivities!

After wandering for some time, we decided to head to Soloturn, which is over on the west side of Switzerland and an hour from Luzern, since we knew there was some parties there! But first, we got a GIANT PIZZA! So good. So, so good.

Brandon with the pizza. Y.U.M.

Afterwards, I headed back to Luzern to spend the night at Jenna's house with her and Zion!

Saturday, after sleeping in, us 3 girlies got up and did nothing. All day. Literally. We stayed in our p.j.'s, made soup, ate apple pie, watched chick flicks, chatted, etc... = a great day of nothingness! It was relaxing.

That night though, we decided to get all dolled up and hit the town! We didn't do carnaval costumes this time, but decided to look nice :) Needless to say, it was the Homecoming, Winter Royalty, and Prom I missed and am going to miss this year :)

Jenna and I!
While waiting for the bus, we snapped a few! Zion, Jenna, and me striking a pose!
Zion and me!
Me, Sierra (from Washington), and Zion!
The girls! With a real nice facial expression from Jenna. . . Haha. :)

Now, I have a 20 minute presentation to give tomorrow in French class, a test on Wednesday in Swiss Law and Economy, and a test on Friday in math. Great. Wish me luck! Until then, have a fantastic week!