Number 12:

As of right now I have been in Switzerland for two weeks. Holy man has the time ever flown by! I can't even imagine anywhere I would rather be.

On Tuesday Ana and I went on an adventure with my host parents. We floated down the Aare in a "gummiboat". We had to wear life jackets for the first part because it can get pretty wavy, and you also go down a one meter drop!

 After school Ana took the train with me to my house in Thun, then our neighbour drove all of us (and the gummiboat) to the river. It took us about three hours and we ended up at Marzilibad in Bern :)

 We accidently went over some rocks along the way... and then Ruth dropped the paddle and we couldnt get it back... but other than that the whole thing was pretty chill. Ana and I jumped out of the boat and just floated down the river for a while.

At the inbound meeting on Sunday I met a guy from Zurich, and he invited me to come swim across lake Zürich (Zürisee) <-- I can change my keyboard to German now so I can do that ;) || So after language camp Ana and I hopped on a train and were there in an hour! Isn't this country ridiculously great!? 

This is where we swam. I know it looks really far but an exchange student from Australia and I did it in less than an hour. GO US! 

                    

In case you're worried we wern't just doing this for fun (although it WAS fun!). It was a big event with loads of supercision and about 2000 swimmers. Afterwards they gave us hot soup and risotto and water and we just hung out in Zürich until we went home. By the time I got home it was dark and there was a massive thunderstorm going on so I was pretty pumped that I brought my raincoat from the Cove. THANKS CARTER!!!! ;)

Gotta love exchange... here we've got a Mexican, an Australian, two Swiss guys, and me... Can you tell where I'm from? ;)

Bis bald! 

Number 11:

image from google images

I can't go outside today because it's too hot. Just riding my bike from my bus stop to the house was almost enough to stop my heart so I can't imaging what trying to go further would be like! This is the first day since I've been here that I've had "chill time" during the day though... it's kind of weird. Maybe later today I'll slather on some SPF 100 and go for a swim in the lake :)

Interlaken on Saturday was fantastic! As you can hopefully tell from the name, Interlaken is a town right in the middle of two lakes. If you look on the map you can see that Thun, where I live, is at the end of one of the lakes.

On Saturday morning my host parents' daughter picked me up and I drove with their family to a pool in Interlaken. It was beautiful right at the bottom of a big hill (mountain?) and you could see all of the big mountains when you looked out the other way.

 This is Jungfrau. I think it might be the third highest mountain in the Bernese Alps... but it always looks the biggest from where I live! I'm pretty sure the highest railway station in Europe is also on this mountain but you'd have to google it to find out for sure :) 

Probably the highlight of the pool for me (and Lynn!) was jumping off the 10m diving board... standing at the top and looking down it looked pretty friggen high, but it wasnt actually bad at all :)

After a wonderful day of swimming, and jumping, and water sliding, and enjoying the sunshine my host parents joined us for dinner at a restaurant on the lake. We had fish right from it! It was almost like being at home... except the fish were tiny. It was like the most gourmet fish and chips EVER, and they had a wicked awesome sauce for it that was so garlic-y I don't think anyone will want to kiss me for a year!! ;)

On Sunday we had the Inbound meeting for the exchange students in Switzerland right now. We were all really sad when we found out that we've been split into two groups, but it was still nice to meet everyone who was lucky enough to be in the morning! 

In the afternoon a few of us took the train to Bern and went swimming in the Aare. We had way too much fun :)

It's supposed to be 35 again tomorrow so wish me luck coping with the heat :S

Number 10:

Pfffew! It has been a busy few days in paradise. I have language camp every weekday morning from 8:45- 12:45, and the weather has been at least 30 degrees every day so I usually spend the afternoons swimming!

On Wednesday Ruth (my host mom) and Jenna (another exchange student from Edmonton- GO CANADA!)'s host mom picked us up from language camp and took us to Marzili in Bern.

   This is Marzili. To the left (your left) there are some pools, and to the right is the river Aare. I didn't go in the pools because the river was so much fun!

To swim in the river, first you have to walk down this path for like 10 or 15 minutes.

 Then you jump off a bridge (or if you're not extremely adventurous like me walk down some stairs) and float down the river like this:

When you get to the end you have to swim like hell to get to the side of the river because if you don't get out in time you will get sliced into tiny pieces and enjoyed by thirsty Swiss people. That's a bit of an exaggeration I think but I'm sure it wouldn't be enjoyable.

That night it was really hot out still at like 7:30 when we got home so we had muesli for dinner (did you know that "muesli" is actually just cereal in German?!) as well as some bread and cheese and butter. I think that's a pretty typical thing to eat in the summer.

On Thursday my host parents took me sailing on their boat in the lake of Thun.

  

It was really beautiful but there wasn't a lot of wind so we just stopped in the middle of the lake and went for a swim!

On Friday I had a super duper busy day! After language camp I scarfed down some food and left to go to Schadau Park with Miriam's friend Stefanie and some other friends from their class. We went swimming in the lake and played a Swedish game where you throw sticks and try to knock other sticks down... I didnt really understand it but I'm pretty sure that even if I did I wouldnt be winning MVP anytime soon. All of the other people stayed in the park to have a BBQ, but I had to ride my bike home super quickly so that I could get ready to go out for dinner at some people in Rotary's house. They have a daughter and a son. The daughter will be in one of my classes at school, and the son has a girlfriend from BC who's here visiting. We had the best chocolate fondue EVER and stayed up until way too late telling stories about crazy Canadian wild life.

Today I went to Interlaken but it's getting late and the pictures are still on my camera so I'll tell you about it some other time :)

Gute Nacht!

Number 9:

Ich liebe Schweiz :) Es ist wonderbar!! (yes that is a legit word... not just a chocolate bar)

Today I started language camp in Bern. It wasn't actually too bad, and I think that it will help me a lot. And I figured out how to get home all by my self! I had to get to the train station, get on the right train, get off the train at the right place, get on a bus, get OFF the bus, and then take my bike and I didn't even get lost! I don't know about you but I'm pretty proud of myself :)

When I got home my host parents said "NO MORE ENGLISH" so now we (they) speak Hochdeutch I think it's called, or high German, so that I can (kind of) understand what they're saying. It'll come eventually but for right now I'm pretty limited to saying "yes" "no" "please" "thank you" and "wheelchair"

Wohoo! Homework in August!

Sunday and Monday were pretty chill. I was super tired after Saturday night so I slept half the day away, and then I swam in lake Thun with my host parents. 

The water is really blue and you can see the whole city, plus lots of mountains.

Yesterday the weather wasn't as beautiful as usual and it rained a bit so my host mom Ruth and I did some baking. 

We made biscotti and little pastries with chocolates in the centre.

Last night I went for a run up a hill by a cow field behind my house because I had to, as my host dad says, "start my training" 

The Rotary club that is hosting me here in Thun is doing a big fundraising run on August 28th to buy prosthetics for children in Africa. I volunteered to do it so now my host dad has made himself busy getting sponsors for me! 

Oh dear, I am definitely keeping busy! 

Ciao :)

Number 8:

Hallo! My trip is just getting better and better and better. I am absolutely in love with this country!!

On Friday morning I was so tired that I slept until noon, my host mom Ruth had to come in and wake me up to have some apricot pie for lunch. Apparently it's a common Swiss lunch... maybe next time I'll take a picture. After that my host parents took me for a short bike ride into town to show me around.

My host dad with his bicycle. 

We went to the Metzerei (butcher) to buy meat, and the Backerei (bakery) to buy bread. We also tried to get me a bank account and phone but I am not allowed to do that until I have my papers saying that I am allowed in the town which I wont have for a few more days. 

"Downtown" Thun

After that I met Miriam, her friend Angi, and another exchange student from New Mexico and we all went to Bern to go to a street music festival. 

The Swiss parliament buildings in Bern

Crazy Swiss girls in Bern

This is where we ate our sandwiches for dinner...not bad, eh?

After eating we walked down the street a bit to go to see the street musicians

 There were a lot of people!

"Jimi Hendrix" in German.... awwwwwwe yeah


On Saturday morning Ruth woke me up at 9 am to go to the street market to get cheese and fruit.

After that we went to Muri with the family to go swimming. There were a bunch of pools, a water slide, and a big grassy area to sit.

 My family :)

 Lynn is my host parents' granddaughter. She can barely speak any English but that didn't stop her from taking me around to go on the water slide with her and jump off the diving board like a hundred times!

 It is also a lot of fun to swim in the river. You hop in at one place and then float down with the current and climb back up later. The first time it was REALLY scary! But you got the hang of it after a few tries. The temperature was 19 degrees but most of the people said that was too cold and they didn't want to go in.

That evening Miriam took me to ThunFest. It's a big music festival in Thun with some of Switzerland's most famous bands.

For a snack we had melted cheese on bread which is apparently a common street food in Switzerland. Stefanie had to show Sonja how to eat it. She was one of many new people we met. 

Number 7:

Flying in to Zurich

I'm here!!!!!!!!!!!!!! I was awake at 8:00 am home time yesterday morning, and three plane rides, one train, one car, and one lost bag later here I am! (in case you're concerned I got the bag... some generous chartered flight brought it with them from Vancouver to Zurich. Considering that's not a normal route I'm counting my lucky stars!) 

My fabulous host sister Miriam <3

I was picked up at the airport by my first host mom, my second host mom, and my two sisters from my second family- one of which is leaving to Venezuela when I arrive. The five of us had fancy fruity drinks at the airport and then took the 1.5 hour train ride to Thun where I live.  Miriam and Sara spent the ENTIRE ride making fun of me saying things in German. At one point I pronounced cat incorrectly so it meant something gross and I had the whole train car in hysterics. Great :P Miriam invited me to go to some festival thing tomorrow night so that should be fun! 

What a wonderful welcome! 

After that I was met by my host dad and he took Ruth (my host mom) and I back to their place.

                                                 This is my room

We ate dinner, and had the most amazing ice cream and chocolates I've ever had in my life! I also promised my host dad that I would climb a cool square mountain by our house with him, and my host mom is making plans to take me down to Italy either this Saturday or the next to go to a little market. I'm also going swimming with their grandchildren tomorrow I think. Wow it's so exciting!

But it's ten here now and I've been up for going on 30 hours so good night :)

Number 6:

So today is my last day on Savary! It's really weird saying goodbye to all of my friends and family and stuff... even though a lot of them I only see in the summer time anyways. The worst will be when I have to say bye to my sister and my dad tomorrow though :(
BUT! On a brighter note it's less than a week until I leave for Switzerland! By this time next week I should be getting settled in to my first house in Thun. I fly out of Port Hardy next Wednesday morning.
Today I also said goodbye to the family from Switzerland that I've spent quite a bit of time with this summer. I tutoured the two little girls and they taught me some German. I mostly learning how to say ridiculous things like "Kann ich meinen Rolstuhl mitbringen?" Gotta love ten year olds! They live in Zurich so hopefully I'll get to see them at some point over the next year. Want to know something cool too?! To pay me, instead of giving me a cheque they're going to deposit Swiss Francs into my bank account in Switzerland! Sooooo cool!
I've had a great time at Savary over the past almost month and I'm really really sad to go... but it's kind of making everything seem real to me for the first time! Like... I'm going to go home, do some laundry, pack my bags, say my goodbyes, and leave to the other side of the world for a year. Crazy stuff.