This is most likely my last post on Blogger before leaving Switzerland. For all of you who are wondering, I'll be in America on Wednesday around noon. I think I am going to steal Christine P.'s idea, and post bits of my year.

Our Geology excursion was actually amazingly cool. We got to see the devil's bridge, a part of Switzerland that belongs in name at least to the Russians, Vierwaldstättersee, and the Gotthard (which is high, and filled with beautiful little ponds that are worse than freezing), oh, and we also had to search for 3 different kinds of rocks in a freezing river. I forget which one. In our bus, there were 3 exchange students, Irène from the Welschschweiz (aka almost part of France, but not quite), Sicong from Beijing, and myself. I was the only one to really say "woohoo!" when my country was mentioned. Just so you know, I never touch up my photos; it does actually look like this here.

Yesterday evening was my goodbye party, a lot of my friends couldn't come, but it was really awesome anyway. I walked my friends to the bus and we said goodbye and hugged and such. Fabia reminded me of my first day in school, how our Geography teacher's first question to me was "Do you support Bush?" The last thing he said to me, for the record is "I wish you every sucess, don't forget you swiss german, and soon Bush will be gone and everything will be alright again." Hilarious guy.

I've spent the whole day today packing and sleeping. Tomorrow I think I will be going to SihlCity, which is the new shopiing center in Zürich that I have yet to visit. I have 140 CHF left, which won't do me much good in America. Tuesday will be spent with Zoe perhaps, finishing cleaning, and Paula's homecomming. Then I will leave, at 4 am for Zurich Airport, and the whole thing is over.

August-

September-

Oktober-

November-

Dezember-

Januar-

Februar-

März-

April-

Mai-

Juni-

Juli-

End.

Well hello

I know, I don't write, it's evil.

I currently have 26 days until my homecomming, which I am quite looking forward to. There comes a certain point where I realise that my future doesn't lie in switzerland: I haven't got a Matura, I can't study here, plans are being made for Sonafe, Praktikum, and class sleepovers without me in them because I won't be here. My host family is looking forward to having their daughter back at home (never mind that it isn't the same daughter they sent away, but try explaining that to them, Rotary in America really really prepared us well, and keeps doing so, whereas here...)

Theater week at the Schiffbauhaus from Schauspielhaus Zürich was amazing. I got to see 7 plays from different schools, some better, some worse. Worst of all being the Orestee, a greek saga that the group decided to put on in the style of ancient greek theater, which entails a lot of standing still and talking. The best being (besides ours, ;) ) Die Kannibalen, which is about a group in a concentration camp that has to decide whether or not to eat one of its fallen members. A hilarious piece. So funny right up until the tiny nazi comes at the end and they all decide to die rather than eat the most disgusting human soup I have ever seen. Then there were the workshops. I was in Basics of Acting, which lead to a lot of being silly, improvisation, and funny walks. Our teacher was really amazing too. She's a director and theater teacher at the ETH in Zurich. The jury also gave away an oscar to Orestee unfortunately, which is a rip if you ask anyone else, mostly because we couldn't even hear the dialogue. The Oscar we all got to vote for went to Comedy Life, a piece about two comedians and exfriends, one of whom decides to help the other commit insurance fraud, only to be turned in by his ex-exfriend and find out that is life is in ruins. It was fantastic.

Then there was the Rowing Championships, where we came in last because during the final sprint, one of my teammate's seat fell out of its track and she couldn't keep rowing. Ah well. It rained, so the whole day was spent slopping around a muddy field. Our Steering Man was hilarious though, and Tabea brought a cake from the bakery where she works, so all was well.

Last Wednesday, my class to a trip to Bern in order to sit in the Congress, which was fairly cool. One of my classmates was even quoted in a newspaper article. Some journalists were there to follow our tour leader when Beat (pronounced Bay-aht) asked about corruption in Switzerland (to which the only answer he got was "It isn't as bad as Italy!" which is only oh so true...) Other than that, I played chess on one of those HUGE ourdoor chess sets they have in cities with Corrine, but I lost famously.

My Geography teacher sort of flipped out yesterday when he heard I don't have a 6 in english (a 6 is perfect, 4 is passing). Apparently, no matter what the teacher thinks, I should have a six just by being born in america, regardless of the fact that my teacher speaks british english. He is without a doubt my coolest teacher, and he's taking us on a field trip next week into the Alps to talk about rocks, which is what he is currently teaching us about. If he weren't so cool (by swiss standards, not american. He's sort of a Mr. Brodt type...) I would never forgive him for such boring lessons.

Which reminds me, on Tuesday, my class went to see A Midsummernight's Dream for english, none of which they understood. Poor kids. 2 and a half hours of hell when they could and by allrights should have been studying biology. I found it amusing. I got to have a Spitzbeub (picture of said cookie), and two new Kinder egg things that are more delicious than the normal ones. Anna, Fabia and I spent the entire Pause trying to figure out how to work the magic trick toy I got, but we never figured it out. Then there was the amusment of waiting at the train station in Lenzburg after walking through literally the whole town to get back from the castle where the play was held in hopes of catching the train, which we missed anyway. I love being at trainstations after 10pm, there's always some weird drunks asking for cigarettes. No mom, I wasn't alone, and I was quite safe I assure you, my english teacher was there, for what it's worth, even though her german (and especially her swiss german) is fairly horrendous. Now for pictures.

One pic of the rowing team, one of the tent Platz at OpenAir Hoch Ybrig, one of Alpermaccaroni (which is macaronni with cheese, cream, applesauce, potatoes, and onion bits), and the Yodel group that sang Ewigi Liebi, which is basically THE swiss song of the century.

Time for a post for the month of May, or well at least this half...

So I have been up to a lot in the last few weeks, and hopefully I can find the pictures to corroberate that story.



well as of today, there's no photos of our Dido and Aeneas concert. It was fantastic. I really almost cried when Dido died. One of our friends told us that she doesn't believe in God, but whenever we sing in the church, it's really something magical. And this time we were all in white (the dentist choir, as our director liked to call it.) One of the soloists is the head of the Swiss Youth Choir, and she invited us all to join after hearing us sing. The second night, I heard there were even two newspaper reporters there. People were apparently expecting a school concert and not whatever it is they saw. Anyway, it was amazing.



I've joined the rowing team. I am apparently something of the captain. I love rowing. Physically, it's not that draining, but it takes a whole lot of concentration. Our Championships (1000 m, women's team) are June 2nd, aparently somewhere very beautiful.



I went to the Kanti-Ball, which is a sort of prom thing. Well, really, it was more of a dance and music exhibition. I met up with another exchange student purely by accident, which was cool, then we lost each other at some point. Anyway, nothing compares to Swiss German Rap. It is hilarious. I have pics and videos.



I've also started crocheting a small kitten, but I cannot for the life of me find Polyfil stuffing in switzerland. It is like it doesn't exist. Like no one has even the slightest hint of a thought about its existance.



Other than that, I've been sick, I am looking forward to this Theater week, which is the week after next, my room is a mess, and I am exhausted.

Pictures!

A Vacation in pictures. The beautiful city is Dresden, which was basically destroyed in WWII (Where Kurt Vougnet nearly died and was saved only by the meat locker of "slaughterhouse V".) The beautiful chocolate thing you see above is a Schoggigipfelli, which I eat fairly often at the school. The town by the lake is Ligerz, where I spent my time singing Dido and Aeneas or "Di beschte Musig di Wält" and jumping in and out of the freezing lake (which the picture testifies, that day I was in for half an hour with Tanja). A picture of Carla, Uli ( a friend of the host parents, who is completely awesome), and I after doing a weird obstacle course thing that was great fun. there's also a picture of my Chorus book, which is filled with such faciful doodles. Oh, and a picture from a train that goes from biel to Zurich illustrating the correct way to use a telephone, in case you didn't know.

My foot hurts, I think I killed it in Ligerz, where I got to play Dido, who dies, which was cool. I am apparently good at the death thing.

FANTASTIC NEWS!!! My Theater Group gets to go to Schauspielhaus Zurich for a whole week and do workshops and such because we rock (there was a contest, and 7 of 30 groups get to go). I miss a whole week of school to do theater. The best part is that we get to do the whole play one last time. I am excited to play Hamm. Hopefully this time someone will get the whole thing on a working recording.

Other than that, not much is going on. Birthday party tonight, mountians tomorrow, school monday. My big MP3 players buttons have decided not to work, so I am back to the small MP3 players that I love so much (LeighAnne's to be more specific.) I am once more completely in love with Inspector Lynley, though I must say it is impossible to watch in German; it just doesn't work. I am planning to hop off to Zurich sometime to buy another book (I bought A Suitable Vengence, which is a Lynley Mystery, and the biography of Katharine Hepburn for my trip to Germany).

I don't have much time left. It's basically summer here. Until next time!!

OH YES! MY TIME HAS COME!!!!!

I just want to report that today, the score in the game of Alyssa vs. the public transportation system of Switzerland is offically 1 to.... 8 (or so) BUT I HAVE SIEGED! I AM ViCTORiOUS!


Yes. I feel I must set the scene. This morning, as I went to school, I forgot basically everything that I needed to remember. Flute. Keys to get back into the house once I realized I had forgotten the flute. Most importantly, I had forgotten my wallet.

Now normally, forgetting my wallet here isn't such a big deal. Have to borrow lunch money from a firend, but it really isn't a problem, except that today it was. My english teacher decided to take us to go see Animal Farm at the theater. Therein lies the problem. I would be going home after 8pm, which means that the driver checks the tickets. My ticket is in my wallet. Ha, the plot thickens.

So school on tuesdays is over at 5pm. I walked to the trainstation as normal, mentally preparing for what I had to do. the 5.19 train to Dietikon, arrival: 5.30, then the S17 from Dietikon to Berikon Widen, then the bus to Widen Dorf, arrival: 5.51....then the fun part starts. I knew that to get to the play on time, I'd have to take the 6.04 bus back to the trainstation. That of course, leaves about a 14 minute window to get home, get my wallet, find my keys, find away out of Juana Lydia talking to me, and get back to the bus stop....had my bus been on time. It was however, due to the normal dinnertime rush, 2 minutes late. The plot thinkens.

So I get on the bus, press the button to stop, adopt a sprinter stance, and despite my schoolbag, manage to make it home at 5.56, just one minute after I planned to. Sweet. I "borrowed" my host sister's keys, raced upstairs, grabbed my wallet, managed to have an unusually short exchange with Juana Lydia, and made it out of the house at 5.58.

I then managed to run all the way back to the bus stop, making it there at 6.02. 2 whole minutes before I needed to be there. The bus was once again 1 minute late. I made it to Baden at 6.42, tried to buy a Shinkengipfeli, but they were out, and got to the theater, dinner in hand, at 5.55, just 10 minutes after I should have been there.

ALYSSA WiNS AT LiFE!!!!...today.


Pictures from Endspiel (scroll down a little, and there is a link with pictures of a girl and boy in pjs and sleeping hats), please ignore the really weird closeups of my head. I think I was in front of the photographer during my "story" bit... ^.^;; ( I like the pic of us with the doggies....)

verdammt geil

Hallo miteinand.

I no longer have to miss half of music everyweek in order to go to German for the German Impaired aka Exchange Student German. now I just have to go every other week, I don't have to do any more boring grammar exercises (YAY!) and I just have to read a whole lot and write essays about it.

I am back in school, and the scedule is honestly not that bad, except for the waking up early bit... and the staying until 5 bit (which means I get home at the lovely time of 6.17 because my train comes in at the same time my bus leaves...)

3/9 Other than all that, life is good. I have another drama workshop weekend. I get to be all angry and so. Unfortunately, I am missing what will possibly be the last ski weekend I would have had here.

Spring has sprung as all that annoying premade crafty stuff says.

Too lazy to arrange those pictures at the top. One is of Takahiro and Melissa, from Japan and Malaysia respectively. Three are of my school (well, old remodled monestary). One is from my sled of Ruby sledding in front of me. Funny story. We were all sledding down this track, and suddenly, there was no more snow. Not a flake. Melted. Gone. Just road. Then I hiked all the way down the hill with my sled, because I was in front. Good times. And the last one is me doing crochet. Nothing much intresting has happened, so I'll wait to post this and see if something does!

WOOHOO INTRESTING THINGS HAVE HAPPENED!

Tonight (3-22) Was one of the best nights of my life. We did our play (Endgame by Samuel Beckett) for the last time and everything was perfect. Then afterwards, there was an apero and we got to hang out with Gary and Stefan because we all wound up missing our trains. And it snowed as we were walking to the train station. I am now soaked. There's even a tape (minus the last 10 minutes or so ;_;), so you'll all get to see. Stefan told me I absolutely have to keep doing theater. Then, they were amazed as I did as much of the play as a one man show as our short train ride allowed.

Normal Insanity

So I have been temporarilly rendered insane by a sudden love of "airport literature" especially that of Micheal Crichton, so forgive whatever crazyness seems to spout from that. (Read so far: Jurassic Park, Prey, Timeline, State of Fear)

I woke up at 7am today in order to call Leighanne up, because we haven't talked in forever. It was really intresting to talk with her, as she is the only one who really makes an effort to talk to me here, or well, does so on a regular basis. I don't know how the others are finding their communications with their friends from America. I mean, I just try to have as little internet chatting going on as possible, because then I start to get intrested in the life I left at home and not the fantastic one I am leading here, as frustrating as it can be at times. But anyway, going on exchange is a great way to find out which of your friends are really truely addicted to talking to you...

So I'll back track two weeks to Drama Week, and no, there was not a whole lot of drama going on. The Drama class at school is putting on Endgame, which I have mentioned before. The week before "Sport Vacation" is devoted entirely to drama, the rest of the kdis have regular school, but the drama class has drama all day, everyday, from 8am to 5pm. It was probably my best week here yet. Someone told me that they were happy we had a drama week because they got to know me better. Before, this person said, people would just look at me and think "An american...oh" and go on their merry way, but after a week together, they actually get to see that I am fun and cool and don't really overly fit into their perception of america. (Which of course, I do, in someways, but not in others.) Anywhoo, Zoe stole my camera, so I have about a million pictures of people taken 6 inches away from their faces.

Other than that, I spent the last week (aka first week of vacation) in the mountains, where there is no snow. I was supposed to go skiing with my host sister's boyfriend's class, but we had to cancell a second time, as this time there was even less snow. I find that unfortunate, as I was forced to kill 9 days, in the middle of the mountains, where all there is to do is sleep, read, or hike. I wound up hiking 8 miles one day. I miss skiing weather, and I hope it snows at least once more so I can get back to hurtling uncontrolled down a mountain, while still being outstripped by small children. Nothing beats being laughed at by 4 year old skiing savants. ;-)

We also went on a day trip to Lugano (aka capital of the italian switzerland) and Italy. We had pasta, which unfortunately for us, was just a heated up frozen meal. but italy was pretty, despite the lake being dirty than Luganosee.

This week I am once again at home. Yesterday I went to Zurich to buy a cool hat, well not in order to buy it, but I wound up with a hat. And Yarn. And A new Micheal Chrichton book (Prey, which is shaping up well after the less creature based State of Fear). And Stitch n' Bitch: The Happy Hooker (a crochet book, for those of you who don't know...) So I hope to spend the rest of today trying to keep my crochet looser (cause I seem to crochet like someone with nervous tension...), reading, and planning my trip to Genf (aka Geneva) Thursday.

Happy Valentine's day everyone!!

See, Wilhelm Tell IS really the national hero, there's a big staute and EVERYTHING!!