One Month

Hello People of the World,

I was busy on Monday, so I didn't have time to post. I then realised that it has almost been a whole month that I've been abroad, so I decided to post on the month anniversary of my arrival date. Now I can officially say that I have been in the beautiful country of Switzerland for one whole month. It seems like just yesterday I was looking out the plane window, seeing Switzerland below, and the one thing I wanted more than anything was to land and meet my host family. On my way home from orientation camp on Sunday, the train passed by the Zurich airport and the memories of my arrival just flooded back. So much has happened in such little time, I can't even imagine what the future holds. 

That was a nice sedimental moment. Anyways I've been fairly busy since the last time I wrote on here, so let me fill you in on what I've been up to.

Side note: I know my last post I promised I would take more photos. Which I actually kept my word to, but something went wrong with my CF card and the pictures I took no longer load on my camera or to my computer, which I'm really sad about because I took cute pictures that I was so excited to share. However a friend of mine also took pictures and was nice enough to give me some photos. Other photos were taken with my Iphone and will continue to be taken on there till I figure out how to fix the card.

School:

So I'm starting to understand German a little better. Speaking the language is the harder part. I still learn German at language school. This upcoming week will the last week. Then after that I will be on my own in normal school full time. It's bittersweet because I will miss all the people at my language school, but I'm excited to spend more time with my classmates and get to know them better. 

Friends from language school.
6 countries in this picture:USA, Mexico, Dominican Republic, Czechs Republic, China, and Thailand 

Schoggi Land:

So last week, I went with my language class to the Maestrani Chocolate Factory also known as Schoggi Land. It was so heavenly. When it comes to chocolate, Switzerland wins. They gave us so many samples, by the end of the tour I was so full. They wouldn't allow photos in the factory because the chocolate making process is a "secret".  Either way I wouldn't really have photos because my of the CF card that is acting up. The factory was really cool though. Throughout the whole tour it just smelled like chocolate which was the best thing ever. Afterwards, we went to the gift shop which just sold every chocolate the company had to offer. Even though I wish I could buy the whole store, I just bought a couple things to send to my brother for his birthday coming up. I'll probably return later in the year because the chocolate is sold cheaper than it is in normal stores.

Schoggi Land with my language school classmates

AFS Orientation:

Last weekend, I went to an AFS Orientation which was really fun. I think there were about thirty kids who attended. They were from all over the world, which was really cool. We played a bunch of games, and stayed up really late getting to know each other. I think I got like seven or eight hours the entire weekend, so when I came home I looked dead. It was just a great experience to be with everyone and all the different cultures. I can't wait for the next AFS event.

Group photo from the camp 

Taco Tuesday:

On Tuesday, I decided that I wanted to make dinner for my family, and I thought tacos would be a good choice. Grocery shopping was slightly easier than my first time grocery shopping. I think the butcher who spoke English made it a lot easier to buy the meat. I was really scared that the tacos were going to come out terrible because I rarely cooked at home. I always baked more than cooked. Anyways, I made the tacos, and the whole time I was just worrying that they would taste bad or would be undercooked and I'd just give my whole family food poisoning. Making tortillas was the hardest because the stores here don't sell the special flour and no one has tortilla makers. My "tortilla maker" was two cutting boards that I wrapped in wax paper, and I just pressed the tortillas with all my force. In the end, the tacos came out a lot better than I thought they would. My family ate them and by the end of dinner all the tacos were gone, so they must've liked them.

I didn't poison anyone and I didn't burn the house down, so I think it was a job well done.

Upcoming Events:

Well next week will be my final week of language school. After that I will be going to regular school for the whole week. I'm starting to understand German a lot more than I did a month ago. I'm trying my best to speak more German around the house. In two weeks I will be going with my class from regular school on a study week where we go to a camp and study German and English. Then after the study week, we have two weeks off for fall holiday. 

It's been a great month here, and can't wait to see what else is in store for the next 10 months. Anyways I'm off to go bake some cookies. Hope you all have a great weekend!

Until next time,

Tschüss, (for non German speakers this means goodbye)

May