Wonderful Wanderwoche

Hey everyone,
       Recently I got to spend a whole week with my class from school, climbing in the mountains. When I first heard that I would be spending a whole week hiking my first thought was that there was no way I was going to survive a week of intensive hiking. But after getting to think about it, I realized how lucky I was to be getting the opportunity to become better aquainted with my fellow classmates.
       The two or three days before we were supposed to leave, I spent preparing for a week in the wild. I didn't have much trouble with that part though since, being from Alaska, my whole life is spent living in the wild (just kidding). I must admit though, I found myself listing pointers that my dad had given me in the past, such as no cotton and plenty of chocolate. Being in Switzerland I had no trouble with the chocolate part. I have to admit that is one of my favorite aspects of Switzerland, the chocolate. Although I have to admit that the transportation is pretty incredible too.
        One Monday, we all arrived at the bahnhof at about 8:20 in the morning. We then proceeded to get on about five different trains and travel for about four and a half hours before we finally arrived in Andermatt, our starting point.From Andermatt, it was a five hour hike up into the beautiful swiss mountains. I actually found myself singing songs from The Sound of Music. I wanted to start dancing and singing Do, Re, Mi . Sadly, I restrained myself. I also found it curious how many little cabins there were fpr people to stay in, all along the trail.

When we arrived at the place where we were staying for the night the first thing I did was peel off my wet rainclothes and then stand in front of the blazing fire for the next five minutes. After I felt sufficiently scorched, I went to get situated in my bed, then trotted downstairs to find out what everyone else was doing. I spent the next several hours enjoying the company of my classmates playing card games and learning to play a game called Die Werwölfe von Düsterwald. I enjoyed the food and the warm, inviting bed at the end of the night.
         The next day we had pretty horrible weather. It was like Switzerland was trying to prove to me that it could get as cold as Alaska if it wanted to. I got really frustrated when I had to take off and put on my jacket, like twelve times throughout the day. Everytime we started hiking I would heat up and have to take of my jacket and then everytime we would take a break, I would immediately freeze my tushy off. I am a little suprised I didn't get hypothermia. Needless to say, it was a blessing when I finally saw the place where we would be staying for the next two days. It was a cute little hostel (for a lack of better words) up in the middle of the mountains. After securing a bed for myself, I went to obtain some food for my poor stomach. Unfortunatley, that meant walking uphill for five minutes, in pouring rain and strong winds. The meal was so good that it ended up being worth it. After hanging out with my classmates, laughing and talking, I finally curled up in my bed and slept.
        The next day was nice because we didn't have to go hiking at all. After breakfast, we all came back to the hostel so that our teachers could outline what the plan was for the day. For the most part, we would stay inside. However, for two hours we were supposed to go off by ourselves and have alone time to think. As much as I had enjoyed my classmates, I welcomed the opportunity to be by myself and just let my mind have a rest. So I went off into the woods to think. At first I was a little bored because I had nothing to do, but once I settled down, it was nice to just think about home, what I missed, what I would do when I got back, how happy I was in Switzerland, and I even started reciting sentences to myself in German. After getting back I sat in front of the fire driving the cold from my bones. We had a brief moment where we panicked about the exchange student from Mexico who hadn't returned yet. When she got back, she calmly informed us that she had fallen asleep. I still chuckle when I think about it. That night, one of my classmates had a fever, so the next day he went back home.
      On our fourth day we were back on the trail, heading to the next hostel that we would stay at. The scenery was absolutely beautiful and even though it was cloudy, at least it wasn't raining.

Once we arrived at the hostel, all of the girls took a well-deserved bath. Once everyone was settled into their rooms and had indulged in a nice shower, we all went downstairs for dinner. Afterwards, the chores were delegated and I ended up working in the kitchen cleaning up after everyone. I loved it though. For some reason, doing dishes is such a great job for me to do when I want to relax. Later in the evening, we all had a talk as a group about what we had liked about the week so far and what we found difficult. After that we played a couple games and then everyone went upstairs to our rooms to sleep.
     The next day we were blessed with beautiful weather and I mean absolutely gorgeous. There was not a cloud in the sky and there was only a slight breeze to keep us cool as we hiked. After about three hours, we were in the valley where we would catch a train back. It was really cool to be in the italien part of Switzerland and the other exchange student kept pointing out words that she understood because of her spanish. One of my classmates ran around with no shoes and we all enjoyed a nice meal. I really enjoyed the architecture because it was slightly different from what I had seen so far in Switzerland. After catching a train back to Nidwalden, I took a bus to get to Stans and was there picked up by my host parents after having said good-bye to everyone. Once I got home, I had dinner and then excused myself to go get some well-deserved rest. For the next two week I would have fall break and I knew that I would need my rest because I had a lot ahead of me.


                                                                                                                                              Grace Mullins

Rigi Weekend

Hi again,
        So these past two weeks have been so jam-packed, I have so much to tell you. Last week, for the most part, I only had school. That in and of itself was both enjoyable and intense. However I did have two events that I enjoyed immensely.
        On Wednesday evening I went to a candlelight dinner with my host club up on the Stanserhorn, which is the highest peak in the area. Early in the evening I got some incredible pictures of the surrounding countryside as we traveled up the gondola to the resturant where we ate. The gondola itself was very special because it was an open-air gondola with an observation deck. It is the first of its kind in the world.

         The evening was great. I listened to the history of the place in german (very interesting to try to understand). Then we headed up to the resturant for food. The meal itself had three courses and I got to put to use the table ettiquette my host sister taught me and correctly used all eight of the utensils that I had set before me. The first dish was the salad, which was very delicious. Then we had our main dish, shich was a type of pork smothered in gravy. My favorite dish was dessert, a type of pastry. It was all wonderful and the rotarians were, again, wonderful. My table companions had were excellent conversationalists and made sure to try to include me in the conversation, sometimes even speaking english when I had trouble.
        That weekend I had a big get-together with many of the other exchange students living in my district. The rotex had arranged a weekend of hiking and archery, as a way for us to experience part of swiss culture. To be honest, I have to say I enjoyed the archery the best because it reminded me of home a little bit, since my sister and I often practice archery in the summer in our yard. That practice helped me place second in the archery competition. 

 The hiking was amazing too because I got some beautiful pictures.

 I also made some new friends from all over the world.

 Earlier that day I got to go to the visitor center for the Victorinox swiss knife company. I saw some really cool knives there and got to watch a video of how the knives were made. That night I stayed up till almost three talking to another exchange student from texas. By the next day, I was exhausted and went to bed early that sunday. I had a great week and looked forward to my hiking week with my class that began the next day.
  
                                                                                                                                   Tschüss and bis bald,
                                                                                                                                                        Grace

Information Overload

      It has now been about three weeks since I last post and I am feeling the pressure. I knew my procrastination has gotten bad when my own sister, who I haven't seen in a month and half, decided to ignore my emails until I had written a blog. I apologize for letting my lazy nature get the better of me. However, I do have so much to blog about! Since I last blogged about my trip to Basel, I will now inform you of every major thing that has happened since then.
      As some of you may know, I will have three families over the course of my stay in Switzerland. Recently, I went to a dinner where I actually got to meet them all! It was wonderful! We went to a cozy little Italian resturant in Hergiswil, which is where my third host family lives. I enjoyed the opportunity to meet everyone that I would eventually live with, in person. It brought home the fact that, for a year I will be a member of each one of these peoples' families and that I have been invited to share their lives with them, even if it is only for a short time. I must say that this had a huge impact on me, because it made me realize that this time that I have here in Switzerland should not and can not be taken for granted.
      I also went to the Welcome meeting in Osten where I got to meet many of the seventy-four rotary exchange students living here. They also went over the many rules of an exchange, which includes the four D's. While the meeting itself was a good refresher on the rules and benefits of an exchange with rotary, and also the opportunity to meet the rotary exchange officials, it was even better to go out for dinner with my host family later. It seems that italian is popular here (we are close to Italy after all) because that night we went to another italian resturant for dinner. I order a pizza, thinking  I would get a nice slice for dinner, but instead they brought out a huge family sized pizza. I was obviously more hungry than I thought because I finished almost the whole thing. It was nicely decorated though. I do appreciate food that both tastes and looks, good.
       Halfway through my Deutschkurs, I had to go to school for the opening ceremony. I was at first just excited and a little bit nervous to go, because I was told I would have to write and give an address to my class. My little bit of nervousness went to full out panic when I realized that my address wouldn't be just to my class but to my whole school. To make matters worse, it was in the church. My class sat in the balcony. That meant that when I was called up to give my address, I had to get up, go down the stairs and then walk up the aisle, past all those staring eyes. That was one of the few times I felt like the foreign specimen that I am. Luckily, I didn't do it alone and the other exchange student Camila, from Mexico, went up with me.
       Two weeks later, after a rigourous test and a nerve-wracking presentation, my Deutschkurs was finished. I have to say that doing the german language course was defintely time and money well spent. I learned more about the german language in one month, than I had over the past year. I also met nine great new people. I learned about thongs from Australia, the meaning of upside down Canadian flags, the strange coffee drinking habits of certain Latin Americans, the way Brazilians write multiple K's to show laughter, and many other interesing things. But since my Deutschkurs is over, it is time to go to school, where I will learn many more lessons.
      Last Monday, I had both my first rotary meeting and my first day of school. I have to say that both went off pretty much without a hitch. At my rotary meeting, I was required to give a presentation regarding my life in Alaska. At first I thought that I would do horrible, but after giving my presentation twice and practicing it for an hour before, it ended up turning out just fine. The rotarians were attentive, interested, and I was able to put myself at ease long enough to not stumble through my presentation. I have found that I enjoy talking about Alaska and dispelling some of the popular myths. When someone asked me if I see polar bears I calmly told them yes, then almost as an afterthought, I clarified by adding... in the zoo. I also enjoyed telling people about my family, which as some of you may know is quite large. Despite our size, and sometimes I think because of it, my family is an interesting, interdependent, and close-knit group, who all love each other very much, and I enjoy being able to make a little more real to the people here, the people who are important to me back in Alaska.
      School was fabulous and after I was introduced to all of my teachers, I settled right into getting to know my classmates and my school. I am proud to say that I now know all the names of everyone in my class, although on the first day, I thought it would take me forever. The second day of school, we went on a hike, which lasted the whole day. As much pain as I was in afterwards, it was so worth it to be able to go. I got another glimpse of the people that I now call my Kollegi, being able to get to know them better. I also got to enjoy the beauty of Switzerland and the alpine landscape. It was amazing and even a little bit comforting in its similarity to Alaska. For once since I got here, I felt like I was home. But after that nice little reassuring taste of home, I am ready to jump right back into the newness and the differences of living here.
  
                                                                                       Tschüss und bis bald,
                                                                                                     Eliya Grace
       

Marvelous Mittwoch

    On  Mittwoch (or Wednesday) there was a religious holiday in the canton of Nidwalden and I was given a day off from school. I was not sure how to spend this unexpected free time. However, my host family stepped in to save me from certain bordem and despondency at the lack of schooling. Instead of laying by the pool as I might regularly doing on such a hot day (35 degrees celsius), instead we went to Basel for a shopping trip.
      Instead of taking the train like I had anticipated, we drove to Basel, with the top of the car down and the wind whistling in our ears. After what seemed like an less than ten minutes (but really was closer to thirty-five) we arrived in historic, but beautiful city of Basel. Before we could go shopping my host family and I had to stop and say hello to my host father's parents. I really enjoyed meeting them. They seemed a little eccentric in their old age but at the same time they were very sweet and kind, showing me where their son (my host father) had used to sleep and speaking to me in what little English they knew.
      After that my host mom, host sister, and I all headed into the shopping district of Basel. For a while I just walked along gawking at all the fancy stores and experiencing the big city stereo-type. We first went into a department store called Zebra, where I enjoyed myself further by choosing random clothes and trying them on. After much deliberation and careful selection, I purchased a couple shirts, a tank-top, and a pair of shorts. Satisfied with our shopping endeavors, we went to meet up with my host dad and brother before we all went swimming, in the Rhine.

      After having experienced the grueling heat, it was a blessing being able to just slip into the river and let the current carry us back to where we had parked our car. I, at one point swam past a huge barge that had been making its way up towards Germany or France. When I drifted under a bridge I yelled at the top of my lungs and listened to my voice echo back. As we were walking back to the car, I witnessed a group of young men jump of a bridge into the water. It must have been a twenty foot drop. I was absolutely stunned! At the end of the day I was very happy to crawl under my covers for some well deserved rest.

Wonderful Welcome Week

      As of today, it has been almost five days since I first arrived in Switzerland and it has been absolutely a whirlwind of fun and excitement. I got off the plane in Zurich, after thirty-three hours of travel, completely exhausted. However, the fun wasn't over  for me yet. First of all six other students and I had to get our luggage. I ran into a problem there. After going through five different airports, four different flights, and three different airlines, one of my bags had inexplicably disappeared. Let me tell you that that is one of the worst feelings while traveling, especially if it is the luggage with all your clothes in it. For a girl, it is horrible. But I digress. After reporting my bag missing I finally headed into the welcoming area where I was warmly greeted by my host brother and sister, with lots of hugs and huge grins.
         After driving for fourty-five minutes, I arrived at what would be my home for the next four months. Right after getting settled into my room, my host sister Linda offered to take me swimming on Lake Lucerne, in their boat. As tired as I was, there was no way I was going to say no to a swim, especially since it was 30 degrees celsius outside. Later that day I laid down for a nap while dinner was being made. What seemed like minutes later, my host father Stefan was knocking on my door and telling me it was time to eat. Well, I dragged myself out of bed and down the stairs where a delicious meal of noodles and curried chicken awaited me. I have to admit, as delicious as the meal was, I had a hard time even keeping myself awake. Later I laid down and slept for a full fifteen hours! Talk about jet lag.
       The next day I woke up late in the day and had breakfast/lunch. After that we went to the train station to get some pictures to go on my GA ID. This ID allows me to travel on almost all of the public transportation systems. Later that day, my counselor's oldest son Oliver picked me up and took me to his mom's house where I had another lunch with her family. A couple hours later my YEO's wife, Karin Sigg, who is also my last host mom this year, picked me up to get my GA, bank account, and phone. We also had to go to the police and get my passport verified. I needed to let the police know that I was there as well. Finally, I was able to go home relax a little bit. In the evening I helped my host family prepare a truely swiss meal of Röschti, raclet cheese, bread, and salad. Yum, it was absolutely delicious. After cleaning up I went up to my room to go to bed for the night.
      On Saturday, or Samstag in Deutsch, I spent a lot of time outside enjoying the sun, since it was such a beautiful day. I was lucky enough to go shopping for groceries with my host mom and got a mini vocabulary lesson. Instead of Fred Meyers, they have a grocery store called Coop's. I really enjoyed going with my host mom and getting to know her a little bit. I also went swimming in the outdoor pool in the back yard. Later, Linda offered to take me to a local bar/hang out where I follow the time honored tradition and ordered.....apple juice. I have to admit that it was absolutely delicious though. I found it very interesting to meet some of the youth in the valley that congregated there. I also was able to watch the Olympics in German, a very fun experience itself. Finally, all tuckered out we biked back home in the dark.
      The next day, Sunday, I was given the privilige to be given a tour of Engelbergerton by the esteemed Stefan and Pia Schmid. I have to say that I enjoyed myself very much. Our first stop was the train station and then the town center. I got to go into the church, which was absolutely beautiful. When I walked in there I was blown away by the architecture and decorative monuments. I also was able to see in the town center, the statue which Stans is famous for. Next we stopped by the transportation museum and then we went on towards Bouchs, on Lake Lucerne. Once we got to Bouchs we stopped to get a drink of delicious, refreshing water. After that it was back home. All together we biked for forty-eight kilometers, or 30 miles.  It was a great day.
        Today was my first day of language camp. I woke up at 6:30 this morning and got ready. I was downstairs and eating breakfast at 7:00. I then made my lunch and did my last minute preperations for my class, just making sure that I had everything I needed. At 7:40 we left for the train station and met up with Linda. Together, she and I traveled all the way to Luzern, where we arrived at 8:20 and met up with my Lehrerin (teacher). Linda then left to go shopping and I stayed with my teacher. After the other six students arrived we all boarded a train to Emmenbrücke, where we had our language classes. Today I learned about time, colors, numbers, and school supplies. However, the most helpful thing I learned today was about verb conjugations for both regular and irregular verbs. That was something that I realized I have a lot of trouble with. I am so happy I am learning German though! I can't wait till I can speak it fluently. I love it here!

Just Crazy July

Hi everyone,      
          It has been awhile since I last posted and since so much has happened since then, I thought I would tell everyone about it. First of all, I finally turned in my last installment a month ago and am now just working on raising money for the trip to Italy and the trip to France. Both of this trips are offered by Rotary Youth Exchange Switzerland and will take place next spring.
          The month of July was absolutely jam packed, as I was getting ready to go. Up until then I had not gotten together much of what I was taking with me to Switzerland and I still had a lot of things on my to-do list that I had to take care of. I still had to get some of my clothes and host family gifts, as well as spend in time with people that I wouldn't see for a very long time.
           During the first week of July I celebrated the 4th of July with my family and even took part in the town parade. Just two days later my family and I had a party for my older brother's 22nd birthday. In that same week I also spent time at youth group with some close friends of mine enjoying fellowship in the Lord. On top of all of this I still had work at least three times a week and language lessons.
           The next week, lucky for me, was a little more relaxed. I did celebrate my younger sister's birthday on the 11th and then that weekend I stayed at the home of a Swiss couple that I met through my rotary host club. At their house, I had my first real swiss meal of potatoes, cheese, and bread. It doesn't sound very swiss I'm sure but let me assure you, they eat bread and cheese at every meal: breakfast, lunch and dinner. Within that same week I also worked on language and packing some more.
           In the third week of July, the biggest thing that happened was my birthday on the 22nd. I am now seventeen and I don't feel any older than I did at sixteen. I just had a nice quiet party with my family and our neighbors with chili and then carrot cake ( my favorite!). That same day I went to youth group where they sang me happy birthday, much to my embarassment.
            During the last week of July, two very exciting things happened. First of all, on the 28th I had my going away party. even though it was cloudy (and since it was in Palmer), windy, it was still a wonderful time spent with close friends and family. The 31st was my last day of work, and I can't tell you how happy I was about that! I also finally got my learner's permit, which allows me to know operate a motor vehicle (under adult supervision of course).
          That is my crazy, hectic July in a nutshell. Seven days later I was on the plane and heading to Seattle, with my final destination being Stans. Switzerland here I come!

Fabulous Families

I recently was contacted by the host families that I will be staying with while I am in Switzerland and I must say that I am simply ecstatic about the prospect of staying with each of them. 

My first host family is the Schmid family.  There are four members: my host parents, Stefan and Pia,   and my host brother Reto and host sister, Linda. They live in the middle of Stans, practically on Main Street. I will be living with them for the first three months of my exchange. 

My second host family is the Schmidli family. They also have four family members however, my host sister, Bianca, will be going on an exchange to Ecuador while I am staying with them. I will be living with my younger brother Nico and my two host parents Urs and Brigit. They also have a horse Rishan and a dog Nela. I will be living with them from December to March.

My third host family is the Sigg family. Their family consists of my host parents Ralph and Karin, as well as my host brothers Pascal and Louis. I will be living with them for the remainder of my exchange. My host father Ralph is also my YEO (youth exchange officer). He is my main contact within my host club.