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.

Super Exciting Spring Orientation

          Towards the beginning of April I finally attended spring orientation. It was just three days long, but my head is still whirling from all we were informed about. Throughout the week each of us had to present the presentation that we would give to our host club. The first day we did a couple of talks about culture shock and ways to make that transition to another country more easy. We also met with the travel agent that will be coordinating all of the tickets and visas for all the students. During the second day, we did some simulations on what it is like to be exposed to a country without understanding it.
          That night we watched a movie called Outsourced, which was used to show the process that each exchange student goes through. We were told that there would be four stages. Initial excitement and the honeymoon stage was the first step, then frustration and homesickness were the second stage, excitement about finally starting to understand was the third stages, and being able to fully integrate yourself into the culture was the fourth stage. On the last day, we were presented with our rotary blazers, which we would wear on our exchange and would mark us as rotary exchange students.

Really, Rad RYLA

I know that it has been a while since I last posted something. I went to the RYLA  conference towards the end of March and it was one of the best weekends of my life. People from all over Alaska and some from Whitehorse came together for three days to teach how young people can cultivate leadership skill within themselves and others. The food was great and our lodgings (Solid Rock Bible Camp) were phenomenal. The people and workshops were very interesting and stuff that I learned there I still use. One of the greatest things I learned were the types of leaders and also the types of leadership styles. If you want to know more you can visit these two websites.

http://www.truecolorscareer.com/index.html
http://psychology.about.com/od/leadership/a/leadstyles.htm

Cool Country Contacts & Other Creative Stuff

       I was just recently contacted for the first time by someone who lives in Switzerland. She was a inbound to District 5010 (my home district) last year and lived in Canada. Now that my application was sent to my host country I will be hearing from my host club any day now. I am also starting to put together my powerpoint presentation that I will be giving at my host club when I get to Switzerland. The German language has been eluding me thus far but I have made a resolution to be relatively competent in my language skills by the time I leave. I will persevere!!
                                                     
                                                                                                                                          Auf Wiedersehen,
                                                                                                                                                           Grace