Merry Christmas

Celebrating with Christmas music.

And grandmother of the year goes to...

But really. Switzerland... Europe in general has a smoking problem.

Early christmas

So this year I celebrated christmas slightly unconventionaly, we celebrated yesterday. In the morning I selpt in then made a mac and cheese brunch for my self, decorated the small Christmas tree (with... get this.... reall candles!!!) Then I went to Bern where I met up with about 5 other exchange students and we looked at the christmas market. Came back to Thun and went to town for a half hr then back home and people came over for christmas. My host mom and her sister played songs on the flute. There was even a bernese mountin dog. It was a great day.

Slipping it under my host sisters door.

Happy birthday host dad

Host dads birthday yesterday so we went to an American western bar for burgers and then upstairs was a small bowling alley. Had a great time. Turns out real bowling is harder than wii bowling... Who would have thunk?!

Lets just not safety first #2

Same kids back jumping on the frozen pond but this time someone had the bright idea to throw big chuncks of rock at it.

#darwin'stheory

Chem class

Made chapstick and lotion in chem class today.
Guess what your Christmas gift is Laura!!

Email #2

Hope Im not jinxing this but..... Email seems to be back working!

Great quality

Here is a great quality picture of the moon this morning. Totally instagram worth! My phone take the best pictures.

Only human

You cant bring a sweet cute dog to class and expect me to to pay attention to it!!!

Test taking

So in my two hr physics class we had the last test. After 30 minutes i had finished translating all that I could leaving an hr and a half. So I drew my teacher a picture with a snowman, jesus in the stable, a gingerbreadman, and a christmas tree and I wrote Merry Christmas on it. I Aced that test OBVIOUSLY!

Sledding

Host sister took me sledding in a famous town with an hr long sled run! Unfortunatley the weather was very nice and that means little snow cutting the run to half an hr. We still had a great time.

Mondays

Mondays in the states and mondays in Switzerland mean the same thing: work and school. Unless we are talking about this week where it means the first day off with vacation and for me in switzerland it means still school.

Six calls one txt

So yesterday Im in grman class and my phone keeps ringing. After like the third call I slip a peak to see who it is. My host sister! this must be important! She then txted me saying to pick up my phone. After three more calls i ask my teacher if I may get this call from my host family. (me thinking something must be wrong)

Well, my host sister called because she forgot her key to the hause and needed mine. (grrrrrr)
lucky for her i have a half hr left of class then i was going home for lunch anyways.

So we go home (me slightly peeved) and I tell her she is lucky I dont know how to explain what happened in german to my host parents.
(back round anytime I do something emberessing she tells my family and they tease me! so its like a game now)
She tells me she DARES me to tell them (thinking no way in hell i know that german)

So i come home after school and host mom asked if i had seen my host sister and like God giving me the words I told her the story of the forgotten key! I dont even know how i did it!

Laura 6
Elizabeth 1
(not that I am keeping score)

Lets just not "saftey first"

So yesterday saw there kids playing on the frozen school pond. There may or may not also have been some jumping.

email

Email is down. I dont know why, when it shut off or when it will be on again. Facebook messages are suggested untill I post that my email is up again.

Sigh

Wake up at six to go to school for english. Get there and the teacher says to leave because they are taking a test. So no first class which is an hour and a half and my second period is free meaning I could have slept in like three hourse hours today.
Well then.

Christmas in/to Italy

So I leave Christmas morning and my host family (the second family now) and I are going to drive to Italy. We are going to Santa Maria Italy. Crazy! (If you know me then you know why the name is important). Yes spaghetti and pizza for Christmas dinner. No thats not  joke.
:D

A winter day, snow to play

Little bread people

Host mom and I cooked specail christmas bread. She made a sort of santa and I made a little girl

Old. Mexican food.

Made my host sister.Enchiladas and fresh salsa. I got her thumbs up to cook when ever I wish haha. For me it was pretty bad because in Switzerland I had to replace cheddar/ Mexican cheese with pizza cheese. But my sister doesn't know better!
;)

The salsa was great though!

Busy elves

Today my new host mom and I baked two kinds of traditional Christmas cookies and two of the traditional Swiss bread Sopf.

Then we went for a walk by the lake because the weather was so nice. Dont let the sunshine fool you, it was still very cold haha

Hair straightener

My hair straitner while pluged in but not on more or less just exploded.
WHAT
Thats what I get for not using it since my graduation.

Happy Thanksgiving

So I am actualy celebrating Thanksgiving this Saturday but this is a post for all my USA readers!
I hope you have an amazing Thanksgiving surrounded by the ones you love and you truely realize how fortunate we all are.

I am most thankfull this year for my exchange opertunity and all the friends and family I have aquired in just 4 short months.

Happy Thanksgiving!

Turkey Day

I am sorry. I just had to.

Packing #2

So 4 months ago I was packing up my room in Cali to move to switzerland and let a girl from Italy move in.
Today I am packing because this saturday I move to my second host family.
I got the feels guys!
And gosh I honastly didnt think I had baught so much while here.... My suit cases and excess things that cant fit are proving me oh so wrong.
I cant imagine packing to go to the third family.... Let alone back to USA....

Parent teacher night

Well this is actualy a really boring post.
The night was not a big deal except I had to talk infront of everyone in german. No big deal haha

American style chocolatechip cookies

Thank so much Hotchkiss family and Donna once again for my package and the cookie ingrediance!!!! They tasted like home!!! Incredible!

Onion Festival

I woke up at 4:30am and met a girl from school in bern at 6:00 for the yearly onion fest. Its huge and crazy. They sell all kinds of stuff like a big festival/ famers market celebration!!!
We took tons of pictures, froze our butts off, drank coffee and mulled wine, ate garlic bread, and baught candy necklaces.

The venders were selling huge bags of confetti so people were running around throwing confetti at you (once got in my nose and mouth and everyone laughed at me... Even myself)

watched a bird hit a window

Was ordering my mulled wine in german (a language with 3 main ways to say "A" ((like... I would like a.....))depending on the word) and i didnt know exactly which to use so i guessed and said
"ein wine"
and the vender looks and me and says "einE??!!!" i nodded feeling silly
Then the guy pooring the wine says to me "einEN wine....(long pause....) UNO"
i just about died of confusion, emberasment, and laughter!

soooo tired but a great day and a great weekend!

Matterhorn

Saturday- Sunday I along with over 100 other rotary exchange students went to Zermatt and got to eat fondue, have snowball fights, give away pins, go for walks at midnight with fire torches, go to the Klein Matterhorn and "chill" in -15degree C. go for a scavangerhunt, take pictures, freeze, shop, and have fun.

This weekend was amazing.

Not even December

Bus stop meetings

Today I had to wait a half hr in the snow for my bus and I met this girl at the bus stop and we spoke german together and then she said something that I totally didnt understand so I just gave her a confused look and she asked if it.was better to speak English I said yes (the fallowing said in English)

"was i that obvious???"

"no your german is very good. Do you come from Holland?"

I guess I went from hurt to flattered in a matter of moments hahaha!

(pic from my bus stop, you have all hopefully seen the pics from summer)

Snow snow snow

Today the snow reached the lower hills around my area meaning it was snowing at the train station. Yes I am pretending I am on the polar express. No I dont feel childish about it!

:)

Host mom

So I come gome at 5:30pm to an empty home..... Very unusual for this family at this time for an empty house. I call my host mom but no answer. I call my host dad and he tells me he is at the hospital with my host mom who broke her ankle!!!! Nonweight baring for 6weeks!!!! And I leave here in 2 weeks so I wont we around to help! Prayers and best wishes to my host mom and family!

Oh train life

So there is a special train after language school going to my station every week, this week a lady sat next to me and spoke weird slurred german and I admitted to only speaking english and she admitted to being drunk and not sure if this was her train (but in english). I told her it was the wrong.train and she thanked me. She was a funny lady hahahahahaha.

So happy

So today isnt going amazing.... I went into the city to shop and meet friends today and braught a small contrainer of my liquid medicine with me for lunch and it opened and spilled and theres no way to go home for more. Then I broke my host brothers phones that he lent me for my exchange.... Just the.screen and it still works but I feel so bad!

But
I am just so happy to be back feeling better!!!!

let it snow let it snow let it snow

A period of absents

Hi readers

As some of you may or may not have know. Since October 26th I had a flu like sickness where I couldnt hold any food I ate and even drank. So for weeks I have been very sick and very week. I went to the dr twice, got many tests done, and finally on this past saturday my host family took me to the hospital. I went to the hospital because my body was so lacking fluids that if I continued this way I would have organ failure. So for four days I have been in the hospital but I just checked out and i feel great. I am on a medicine to help me hold food so I can eat.
I didnt make this public knowledge because when a person says they are in the hospital it is assumed they are dying or having surgery. Well I was completely not in serious condition (just if it had been left untaken care of would I have been in trouble).

So I am sorry if I have been ignoring messages. This past month has just been too overwelming and I look forward to replying to you all know that I am healthy and back home!

Thank you everyone who also sent prayers my way! It ment alot!

P.S. My room had a view of the Thun castle. I was a happy camper!!!!