If my exchange year were an action adventure, I have left all of you at the cliff hanging scene, and now that I have let all of you stew over what happens next, the next chapter in this exciting story. So last time I blogged, I was about to stay with my third host family for a week and I will be the first to admit that I was incredibly nervous and worried. I have come to love my current host family so much, they have become an addition to the people I call family and I already know that switching at the end of April will be so incredibly hard. That being said though, my next host family will also be an amazing family to stay with and I am sure that my time with them will also be so much fun.
My week started on Sunday when my host parents Karin and Ralph picked me up on the way home from skiing. We drove to Hergiswil, where I would be living for the last three months of my exchange. After arriving home, my host dad showed me the route I would take to get to the train station. It is so entertaining that between my three host families, I have taken three different modes of transportation to get to school. With my first host family, I rode my bike to school, with my second I took the bus, and with my third I will experience the wonderful train system every day.
On Sunday night, I had a typical Swiss meal of bread, cheese, and meat. As small of a detail as that may seem to most of you, just that little meal dissipated so much of my anxiety. It was so comforting to know that amidst all the changes that would come with switching host families yet again, there were still some things that I could count on to be the same. I am happy to know that I will still have at least some consistency in my home life.
I have been so blessed with the host families I have been a part of this year because they are all absolutely fabulous! The Siggs are also really great and I am lucky to have two brothers that I can interact with. The older of the two is Pascal and while he isn't home that often, he is still really fun to be around. My younger host brother is Louis and I have to admit that he is a blast. My second night at their house, I was sitting at the dinner table telling them about my homework and suddenly Louis tells me that I have to help him with his German homework.Of course I was thinking to myself that it would probably just be a waste of time and I would be bored but it actually was a lot of fun. He would write down the answers and since I was in possession of the answer book, I would tell him if it was right or wrong. After we had finished our homework he introduced me to the show Gossip Girl and we watched until he had to go to bed. Over the week, that became our pattern. We would all go to school or work during the day, come home and eat dinner, and then Louis and I would do our homework together and then we would watch a show. I found myself settling in quite well and by the end of the week I was still somewhat miserable but at the same time a lot better.
Over the weekend, I went with my host family to Engelberg to go skiing but on Saturday I went with some other exchange students. It was really interesting because only eight exchange students went and out of that eight, six of them were from South America. Needless to say, I was provided with hours of entertainment watching them all attempt to ski on the rough terrain. Although everyone fell a couple times, I was blown away by how good they were since all of them had started learning here in Switzerland and snow was so new to them. I enjoyed myself so much and was disappointed when everyone had to leave. On Sunday though, I went skiing with my host family and we ended up having absolutely gorgeous weather and perfect slopes. I love Stoos, but after a winter of skiing almost every weekend had become used to the slopes so it was so cool to be able to ski on some new turf. Plus, there were so many black slopes to ski on. I had the opportunity to experience so many new slopes and skied almost all of Titlis. I was absolutely exhausted after six hours of skiing. Between Saturday and Sunday, I skid for almost fourteen hours total.I also went with my host parents into the glacier caves that can be visited at the top of the Titlis. The ice was so beautiful to touch and see. You would think coming from Alaska, I would have been pretty disinterested by the ice but I actually found it pretty fascinating. Afterwards, I went with my host family to pack up our stuff at their apartment and headed back towards Hergiswil.
I sat down with my host family to eat for the last time of the week, just before they took me home. The next time I sit down to eat with them I will have switched host families and will be nine months into my exchange. I think I am panicking just a little bit thinking about it. I wish that I could just track Time down, knock it out, tie it up and throw it in the closet so that my exchange would never, ever end. Sadly, Time is very hard to pin down, so I will just have to deal with it. Nevertheless, just because I have almost finished this chapter of my life, the book isn't over yet and I still have many more adventures ahead of me.
Your contemplative writer,
Grace
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