Je peux!

The other day I was talking to another exchangie here in Switzerland, and we hadn't seen each other in a while so we were catching up on stories, all in french. She stopped me half way through a story to tell me that my french has improved a lot. She reminded me of our second day in Switzerland. We met for the first time and she asked "comment t'appelle tu?" (what's your name?) and my response was a blank stare. I had no idea what she asked me and I told her that I couldn't speak french.

Recently, I've had numerous people telling me that I haven't progressed, that my french sucks, that I'm not trying and the list goes on and on. and sadly, I believed them. I was disappointed in myself and began to think of all the things I still couldn't understand. But all I needed was a slight reminder of where I was on my first day, completely lost and understanding nothing. I couldn't conjugate verbs, I could only speak in the present tense. I had no idea what I was doing. So for all the people telling me I suck, please keep in mind that although I'm nowhere near to fluent, I can still do it and I've worked so hard to be where I am. I just read a 400 page book in french and understood it all. If that's not improvement, I don't know what is.

Let’s make life so big, make sure it can’t be missed

This is why March is going to be the most awesome month ever.

The week of March 7th there is no school because it is Carnival time in europe! I'm not quite sure what to expect yet, but it's a bit of a mix between Mardi Gras and Halloween. We've got parades, street parties, costumes and just pure madness for days on end! I'll probably be in my town of Fribourg for a day or two, but I also want to travel a bit to experience other towns. I'm really hoping to go to Milan, Italy for a day, because it's only a 3 hour train ride away.

March 16-19 I am going to Dublin, Ireland for St. Patrick's Day and I couldn't be more stoked! Nothing beats drinking a Guinness at the famous parade :)

Thennn the next day, March 20, I will be celebrating my 7th month in Switzerland, my 19th birthday, and I'll be picking up my sister at the airport!!! 6.30 in the morning I'll be anxiously awaiting our reunion. Could I get a better birthday present? So the whole week my sister will be chilling out in Switzerland with me before she heads off to France for her own exchange.

Friday the 25th I'll send my sister off on a train, and then hop on a plane to go to Amsterdam for the weekend for the Matt & Kim concert. SO EXCITED!

So that is why March will be awesome. Try not to be too jealous :)

Nothing too interesting to report. February has been a long and boring month, and it's only half way done. On thursday we had our Journée de Sportif, so instead of school we do an outdoor activity. I signed up for sledding, but sadly there is no snow, so instead I went on a 5 mile hike through Switzerland. Exhausting but fun!

About 2 hours into the hike

I finally got to meet some of the newbies who arrived from Australia and New Zealand! It's really weird to be sitting here giving advice to them when half the time I don't even know what I'm doing. They're asking if the french gets easier, if the homesickness goes away, if I'm happy here. and of course my answer is yes to all of those. but it's a hesitant yes. Of course the french gets easier, but I still don't expect to understand everything or be able to truly express everything I want to say. Homesickness never really goes away, you just get used to the feeling of missing someone or something. To say "i miss you'' in french you say 'tu me manques' which literally means "I lack you" which I think is very fitting. When you're missing someone you're lacking their presence in your everyday life, but after awhile it becomes normal to have that small hole in your life. and the main question they've been asking, "are you happy here?" Sometimes it can be frustrating here, when you sit at school all day with the teachers speaking rapid french and the students joking about something you don't understand. Those days, I get frustrated and angry at myself for coming here in the first place. But then all I have to do is step outside and see the mountains and I start to smile again. Because they still manage to amaze me after all this time. So of course the answer is yes. Yes, I'm happy I'm here. It's different and harder than I thought, but still amazing. I spend my days staring at snow covered mountains, taking trains and reading books in french. How can you be unhappy with a life like that?

Graffiti near my favorite bar

homes empty, prisons full

Randomness

-There is no such thing as over-dressing in Switzerland. It's literally impossible. You want to go to school in stripper heels and a tight black dress? Go for it!

-Contrary to popular belief, the Swiss drive on the right side of the road, not the left.

-In french they call the funny bone a petit juif, which means little jew.

-The smallest coin here is 5 cents. They don't have anything equivalent to a penny because all prices are in multiples of 5.

- The word cul-de-sac literally means 'ass of bag'. So when you say that you live on a cul-de-sac you're actually saying you live on an ass of bag. nice right?

- The traffic lights turn yellow before they turn green.

- When you get a drink at a restaurant it will always come in a glass bottle. Water, coke, rivella, sprite, you name it, it's in glass.

- The Swiss are intense about gym. For example, last week my teacher tried to get me to do a back flip.

- I no longer flinch when I have to pay 4.50 for a glass of diet coke. Which is terribly sad, because in the US nobody would stand for that nonsense.

- Today I saw a car that had a bumper stick that said "baby an board." Poor folks probably don't realize that it doesn't make any sense.

Same with when I saw a shirt that said "to feel like a queen is a simple as believing you are one" first of all, stupidest shirt ever. second of all, i think they meant to say 'as simple as' but hey, it's fine. no one will notice.

It's weird, because people here always have stuff in english, but I honestly don't think they know what it says half the time. Prime example: my host brother has a shirt that says "alcatraz psycho ward, outpatient." Last time I checked, the hospital on alcatraz didn't have a psycho ward, but that's beside the point. Because he didn't even know what it meant until I explained it to him. Why would you buy a shirt without knowing what it means, and then continue to wear it even though it is basically saying you're mental?

that's all i've got for now!

ciao!

Here, have some pictures!

It's been crazy warm here recently, in the mid 50's most days. So we've been doing our best to soak up the sunshine!

With Grace and Mylisha in Gruyère

Wearing dresses in January, it's madness!

Grace!

Failed attempt at rollerblading. It resulted in stained jeans and bruises.

I was deeply missing Lake Erie, so I took a little trip down to Geneva to visit the water.

and just a little side note, I love my host family! One of my friends is going through a rough time with her host family, so she came over to my house for a bit. She was in my room crying when my host sister Pauline walked by and noticed she was sad and said "don't rain your eyes!" (an attempt at saying "don't cry.") She then preceded to tackle her until she stopped crying. Then Guillaume came in and he and Pauline were juggling and throwing skittles into each others mouths and making fools of themselves until we were all laughing again. Love it :)

Maybe we're not supposed to be happy. Maybe gratitude has nothing to do with joy. Maybe being grateful means recognizing what you have for what it is. Appreciating small victories. Admiring the struggle it takes simply to be human. Maybe we're thankful for the familiar things we know. And maybe we're thankful for the things we'll never know. At the end of the day, the fact that we have the courage to still be standing is reason enough to celebrate.

~Grey's Anatomy

Oh baby we're half way there

Today marks my halfway point in Switzerland. The countdown has officially changed from how many weeks I've been here to how many weeks I have left. for your information it's 23 weeks in, and 23 weeks left. I honestly don't even know how I feel about it. I have a little bit of every emotion swimming around my brain right now, including happy, excited, sad, proud, frustrated, scared and everything else you could possibly imagine. I'm proud of myself for making it this far, sad that I'm halfway done, yet happy at the same time that I'll soon(ish) be reunited with my life in America. And sometimes I'm frustrated that I'm only halfway done. This has been an amazing 5 months, but seriously, another 5!? Sometimes it seems impossible. A lot of the time I am so happy with my life in Switzerland, and proud of myself for making it this far. This is really the only thing I've ever done by myself. I have built a life all on my own, coming over here without knowing a single person. But now those strangers have turned into best friends, the unfamiliar town of Fribourg has turned into a place I could navigate if blind, and that family who welcomed me on my first day in Switzerland has turned into my home. I also have plenty of off days when I get a little nostalgic about the past, when I miss being in Bay Village with my friends and family, the people who have seen me through everything important in my life. Because in all honesty, nothing beats the people you grew up with. I look forward to seeing them in July and have already been planning things to do this summer. But I need to keep in mind that as much as I am looking forward to going home, i have to live in this moment, because I know the second I leave there will be a Switzerland shaped hole in my heart, and I'll begin to miss everything more than thought possible. Even though french stresses me out, I know I'll miss hearing it everyday. I'll miss taking the train home from school everyday and taking the same bus as Meredith in the morning. I'll miss the people who have become my friends and family, and I'll look back on our year together and want to return to it. I'll miss the mountains, and the fact that after 5 months they can still take my breath away. So I'm going to go out and live my next 5 months to the fullest, and hope that when I finally return to america I'll have a million amazing memories to take with me.