I found my calling.

Where I live here in Switzerland is beautiful and everything. But BALLENBERG IS WHERE IT IS!

Okay. So you all know of Williamsburg, Virginia, right?

Well. It is basically one of my favorite places of all time. I just love it! I love looking at the old building, I love the history, I love how interactive it is, I love basically everything about it.

I. Laura. Am pleased to announce that I have discovered the Swiss version of Williamsburg.

It is called. . . . . Ballenberg.

It is in central Switzerland, on a mountain.

What they did was take old houses from all over Switzerland and move them to Ballenberg! So they aren’t models or reconstructed, they are the original houses that Swiss people used to live in way back when! A lot of them were from the 14 and 1500’s! And you can walk al through the house! (I love looking at houses!) and they have it all set up like it was back then, and they have signs that explain what this was and what that was and there are people demonstrating things, like I watched a demonstration on how to make cheese, on how they made clothes, etc. and it was just. So up my alley!!!!! I love it! I wish I could live there!!!!!!

I am definitely going back when Mom comes here in June. As an excuse so I can go back!  

So, last Saturday, I went with my host family and my counselor and his family and we got there right when the gates opened at 10am and left at 5pm. I was running from house to house I was so excited! Haha. I LOVED it! I took way too many photos, so I went through and chose the best ones, so to say, (there are 88.  . . . ) and put them into a Picasa album, because my blog would freak out if I tried to put in 88 pictures.

So, if you want to look at the pictures, all you have to do is click here ------------->  Ballenberg Photos!

 

So, let’s see. What else.

MOM, DAD, AND BECCA ARE COMING IN 46 DAYS! Can you believe it?!?!?!?! I sure can’t! I mean, wow. I just don’t know what to do with myself!

It is crazy. This year has been everything I could of asked for. Amazing.

Well. My blog is now up to date. I will be gone for the next 4 days, traveling around with other exchange students since this is the last week of vacation, so after that, I will fill you in on those adventures!!! Talk to you all soon!

Laura

Shenanigans.

Last Wednesday, I went to see my big sister, Vera! If you don’t remember her, she lived with us in the States 3 years ago, and she is part of the reason I wanted to become an exchange student! So, off to Weinfelden, on the other side of Switzerland, I went!

We actually met up in St. Gallen, which is over by the German and Austrian boarder. We went to Migros, got some food and then had a little picnic lunch After, we headed to a chocolate factory! One of the plus sides to Switzerland, the chocolate factories are supreme!

Vera with free sample #1! Free samples = yes. I’m all over that. Haha.

Afterwards, we headed back to her house! We were going to have a little cook-out for dinner, so we had to cut wood. And I, Laura, am happy to say that I still have muscles! Or enough at least to cut wood! How I still have them, I have no idea. But I do. Win.  

Vera, me, and her dad, Martin!

Vera and I cooking the sausages! I am so going to miss those German bratwurst next year. Ah. They are so delicious!

Serving dinner!

After dinner, we watched episodes of CSI: New York, since I have the DVD’s and that was her favorite show back in Kansas And then off to bed!

Thursday, I was heading to Bern to meet up with Noemi, who lived with us in the States last year! So, my train was at 9:59, platform 3.

It takes 10 minutes to walk from Vera’s house.

No surprise, I had a million bags and was trying to fit everything, and so at 9:53, I was still packing and grabbing my stuff.

  So, I run out of the house and Vera had gotten 2 bikes out, because we weren’t going to make it, even running. The problem, the bikes were so tall! I mean, I am tall, but these bikes must have been 7 feet tall! So, as we are going up her street, I am trying to hop onto the bike, but I just couldn’t make it! So, I literally throw the bike to the side of the road and start running for it!

But, on the back of Vera’s bike is this little shelf type thing where you can put bags, so she is yelling at me to “Just get on!!! You aren’t going to make the train! Get on!!” So I run and jump on and make it! Haha.

( I feel it is important to mention I was wearing a dress, and sitting on a bike like that doesn’t work in a dress. So, everyone in Weinfelden knows I was wearing pink flowered underwear now) 

So we are going downhill, on a bike, with 2 people. We were flying! I was screaming, afraid we were going to crash and fall. Vera is telling me to be quiet and still otherwise we will crash, and everyone on the sidewalk and street is staring at us.

But, after that terrifying yet hilarious experience, I am happy to say I made the train!

And after, as I was on the train to Bern, she texts me saying “You know, it’s illegal to ride on a bike with 2 people in Switzerland, so if we would of gotten a ticket, I would have made you pay .

So kind of her  

Okay, so in Bern, I met up with Jenna and then Noemi, who, like I said, lived with us last year!

We walked around, went to this restaurant, which was SO AMERICAN it freaked me out! I haven’t been to a place like that in almost 9 months, and it was just wow. So American.

After, we went to the Parliament building! Which is where the Swiss make their laws, etc. It was really cool!

After, Jenna and I said bye to Noemi and then we went to Jenna’s house to get an overnight bag and then we headed back to Vera’s house!

Once there, we just made dinner and then went to bed because we were SO tired!

Another funny story. So, Jenna and I were sleeping in the same bed, and when we went to bed, we were freezing, so we had 3 huge blankets, and we obviously heated up fast. Also since Jenna is literally a human heater! So, I thought she had fallen asleep, but I was literally dying of heat, so I kick off my socks, I kick off the covers, and am sweating! At this point, we had been “sleeping” for 3 or so hours, and so I roll over and Jenna talks to me, and is like “are you dying of heat too?!” Haha. So we kick the covers off, I go and open all the windows in the room and start to cool down. Then I decide that I will just sleep on the floor since it’s cooler down there, so I make a blanket bed and sleep there. But apparently, I was snoring super loud, since I had a cold and couldn’t breathe out of my nose, and so, since she knows I never snore, I guess she thought I was dying or something. haha. So, moving on, I wake up now and it’s daylight (but it was still only 6am) and I was shaking I was so cold! But there were no blankets and Jenna was taking over the bed, and I felt bad waking her up, so I just layed there on the floor freezing. After 5 minutes, (I was staring at her hoping she would wake up) Jenna rolls over, wide awake, and is like “I'm freezing!” And I was like ME TOO! So then I climbed into bed, we grabbed the blankets I was sleeping on, and we instantly heated back up. Haha. Then we layed in bed watching movies all day Traveling around is lots of fun, but sometimes, it’s nice to take a day off, in your p.j.’s, laying in bed with your best friend, watching chick flicks and eating pasta and brownies.

Around 2, when Jenna and I finally decided to get out of bed, we moved into Vera’s room, where we played dress up and danced to Taylor Swift songs.

Graduate!!! (Vera’s high school graduation stuff ) haha.

“Oh my! I’m so proud of you Laura! You finally passed art!” – Jenna.

And with the big sis!

Jenna and I left Vera’s at 5pm then and headed to Fribourg!

Jenna!

Me! I must say, we made quite a change from our nighty with bed head and no make-up to this. Haha.

Once in Fribourg, we met up with Brandon, Cristina, Ian, and Andrew and the 6 of us were going to go out dancing. So we go to the club, but it’s not open yet, so we go across the street to this park and started playing Disney charades! Haha. Kids at heart. But Ian kept cheating and using Pixar movies, so we changed it to where it was just all children’s movies. People were staring at us like we were stupid drunk kids, I don’t know why. I mean, yes, we were jumping around trying to guess the movie and screaming and shouting out guesses, and the whenever we acted them out, we looked ridiculous, but still. . . . .haha.  

So, once the club opened, we got tickets and went inside, but it was so disappointing. The music was some annoying techo thingy that they played the whole hour we lasted in there. I mean, NO ONE was dancing. At all. Because there was no way to dance to that. So after literally falling asleep, Jenna and Andrew decide to make the best of it and go out into the middle of the floor and start dancing, and then Brandon and I decide to go, and we looked so funny! I mean, there was NO one dancing, and everyone was just staring at the weird foreigners doing weird dance moves. Haha. That’s us for ya!

Afterwards, we had to run back to the train station so we didn’t miss our train (we barely made it) and then Jenna came back to my house for a sleepover!

Going caveing.

After our Roman adventure, Becky came over to my house and we had a sleepover!

After we finally went to bed at 4am, we woke up around 10, got up and dressed and then headed out to the canton Wallis, which is where the Matterhorn and lots of other big mountains are! Destination: St. Leonard.

In St. Leonard, there is a cave. And in the cave, is a lake. And in the lake are boats. And in the boats, was us.   Hence, the St. Leonard Underground Lake.

Becky and I on our way to St. Leonard!

Shot from the train!

Warning: My pictures are all really bad, so once I get Becky’s, I will put them up. But until then, sorry.

This is the opening of the cave, and also the lake!

Me in front of the boats waiting to get on!

In the cave!

And afterwards! You can’t see it, but the cave is behind me

Going Roman’. . . .

HELLO! Guess what?! IT IS VACATION! YAY!

But first, I have some news. So, school here has been up and down all year. Some days the kids are nice to me and the rest of the days they aren’t. So, I talked to my counselor about it, and we came to the decision that it was just easiest if I stopped school (there was only a month left anyway) and take a French course, so I can perfect my French and then take the Language Proficiency Test. Which makes me so much happier! So after the vacation, I’ll spend 2 weeks studying away and then finish with taking the test! And then travel for the last 2 weeks of May, then have 11 more days, then the family comes! Crazy, right?! I mean, seriously! I basically have 2.5 more months. It is so funny to think back on those first few days here, because it seems like just yesterday. I thought this year was going to go by so slow. And boy, was I wrong. It passes right before your eyes.

Okay. Back to my “adventures”. Last Sunday, was my host brothers confirmation, so we all went to church, saw him be confirmed, then came home and ate from 11am until 5pm! Non-stop! Oh my. My stomach has never hurt so bad. It was intense. Haha.

Then, last Monday, the traveling began!

Brandon and I headed to Basel, which is up in the upper left hand corner, and boarders France and Germany. It takes 3 hours to get there though, and so, on my first day of vacation, I still got up at 6:30am, so we could be in Basel by 10. No time to sleep for this girl. Although, for the first few months here, I could not sleep on trains, at all. But now, I am ALWAYS sleeping on trains. Haha. It is quite the nice system though. Travel all day. Sleep on trains traveling to the places. Okay. Back to Monday. So, he has an exchange student friend, who is also with Rotary, that lives in France, and he figured that  Daryn ( a girl, just for clarification) and I would get along great, so he invited her over to Switzerland for the day and the 3 of us wandered! My favorite thing to do. We went shopping in all the expensive stores that exchange students can’t afford, we showed Daryn how us Swiss kids do it, we introduced her to Migros and the art of picnicking, and realized how great us Swiss kids have it with our GA’s, since in France, they get no type of transport pass, and so when we were showing her all the places we traveled in the past week, she was blown away. Once again, I feel in love with my GA. All trains, trams, buses, boats. I’m going to frame it when I get home.

Basel! On the Rhine (wait, is it the Rhone? Not sure, It’s one of them. . . . ) Where we had our picnic lunch!

Brandon and I on the bridge over the river.

On the  bridge, they had all the canton flags flying. So, of course I snapped a picture of VAUD! Yay for the canton VAUD!

This is one of the most famous buildings in Basel, for obvious reasons. Haha. It houses the “mayor” and other government offices.

So, at this point it was 2pm already, and Becky was going to come and join us. So we headed back to the train station to pick her up and then decided to head to 3 Countries Corner where you can stand in France, Germany, and Switzerland at the same time  

Directions. Makes life so much easier. Especially when traveling with boys who think they know it all and won’t ask for directions. But I’m not bitter or anything about all the time lost trying to find places. . . . . Haha.

3 countries at 1 time!  

So legit. I mean, 3 countries at 1 time. Haha.

Daryn! Our true Frenchie.  

Becky and I!

I apologize that on every post, I put up pictures of flowers. I just  can’t get enough.

There was this giant mirror on the side of this building, so we snapped a photo! Brandon, me, Daryn, and then Becky!

After our 3 places at 1 time experience (it was rather moving haha), Daryn had to head back over the boarder to France. So we said good-byes and promised that next time, we will come to France to meet up! But since it was only 3:45, we still had time to travel! So Brandon had the idea to go to these Roman ruins outside of Basel ( I had never heard of them), but we went with it and hopped on a train there!

P.S. Now do you get the post title??? Going Roman’, like roaming, just Roman because they are Roman ruins?!?! Haha. I  know. So creative it just blows your minds. Okay. Back on track.

Brandon scoping out the premise. For once, he looked at a map for directions. It was a break-through.

So this town we were in, called KaiserAugust,  was, obviously, once a Roman town. And nowadays, they have built an actual town where people live around the ruins. So you just wander all through the town and find the ruins Pretty neat!

First stop. It used to be a house. This one was the hardest for me to picture back then. . . Maybe you see it. . 

Afterwards, we headed outside the town and found the theatre! It was really cool!

Brandon and Becky in the window! Can you see those little black dots? Haha.

Giant column. Very cool.  

Shadows excite me. Like,, look, it’s me! But not really! But yes, it is! Very baffling as well. Shadows. Mystery of mankind. Ugh. Getting of track again.

Me through the window!

Me in the window!

Ah. Shadows again! Brandon, Becky and me!

Sometimes, we’ll talk about how we will remember each other after this year and we’ll mimic one another. When people mimic me, they make 1 of these 2 faces. 

I did not realize she was taking this photo. So I guess it is me “in my natural element”. Or, I look like this. . .

Laughing unconrolably, doing something I shouldn’t be but not realizing I shouldn’t be doing it. Haha. For instance. the sign says don’t climb. I didn’t realize that until I was laying on the wall. Or I am laughing uncontrollably because I either thought of something really funny, or I told someone my signature joke.

Q: What’s brown and sticky?!

A: A STICK! HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!!! It never gets old!!!! Hahahaha!

Me at the top of the theatre!

Taking a little break

Becky and I!

Professional photographer. One of my many skills.

Opera. Another one of my many skills.  

Random sculpture with no arms. So I have no arms. Haha.

We then wandered over the the Amphitheatre! But unfortunately, it turned out to be pretty run down  

And I found a boy. Haha.

Now.

Then.

You know you are in Switzerland when the Roman ruins are in the middle of a field with cows and a tractor driving right in front of it. So Swiss. Haha. I love it.

Brandon and I walking to the next ruins.

Becky! So cute  

Some more ruins!

Climbing up! Don’t worry. This time it was permitted  

Conqueror #1.

Conqueror #2.  

So, there was this random hole (my bet was it was the toilet) and Brandon was amused by it. So he wanted action shots of him jumping into it, right? So Becky’s camera is super high tech, and takes a million photos a second, but Brandon couldn’t hear to understand what we were saying, so he literally jumped into the hole 10 times and each time, the camera took 50 pictures of him jumping. End result. I think I have 2GB of photos of him jumping into that hole. It was funny at the time. Haha.

Becky on the top of the ruins!

And Brandon and I down below!

Becky’s bag, which weighed a good 15 pounds, broke. So she had to carry it like that. Poor thing. . .

This was a church the Romans built but it has been reconstructed so people still worship in it today.

 

And we finished the day chilling by the Rhine River. It was SO HOT! (Notice I was in black pants, a sweatshirt, and boots and Brandon was in shorts and a t-shirt?) No one informed me that it was like the desert up in Basel! So, I was literally sweating to death, and the river was so cold, so it felt so good.  

And that concludes Day 1 of my vacation adventures!