on the ninth day of christmas

on the ninth day of christmas

 my exchange gave to me
long christmas dinners
swiss weihnachtsmärkte
seven for a family
six lovely months
five languages

four advent days

three families

two traditions

and a new look at bloomability

swiss dinners can go for an exceptionally long time. however, swiss christmas dinners are unbelievable... yesterday i left the house with my family at 4pm and got home at exactly 12. (of course, that's including the commute... altogether it wasn't THAT long, as european dinners go. It probably lasted only about 6 and a half hours for us, because my little host sister and I needed to go to bed.)

the entire process of a swiss dinner is too long to explain here, so i'll refrain from describing it in full. basically all you need to know is that europeans enjoy talking and food and drink and talking and chocolate and talking and gifts and talking and they could probably happily have dinner for the rest of the week if it were possible.

yet at the same time, i'm beginning to get used to the long mealtimes and the community atmosphere. because for swiss people, dinners are an opportunity to be together. to celebrate. to enjoy each others' company. and so for once, time does not matter.

and that is good.

october and november's lovely links

yay. i'm so proud of my country. Look how informed we are.
but i guess that the British people are pretty bad at this too. ta da.

my friends and i went to go see this at the Bern Bundeshaus the other day... it was a giant projector on the BUILDING, and it's even cooler in person than it looks. If you ever go to Switzerland while the Bern Bundeshaus Lichter are on display, they are something you NEED to see. (The video is about 25 minutes long... but warning, it's all in Swiss German and the story is very strange. the light effects are lovely, though.)

I'm not sure if this is true, but it's interesting: Choose the Best Airplane Seat.

and this. this is rather scary. maybe when i get home i'll just ban myself from eating... because here are 10 foods eaten in the USA that are banned in other countries...

Okay, these maps are just cool. (note: there are two that are sort of strange and in my opinion unnecessary. so maybe check before you show this to your little sister or something.)

I. LIKE. THIS.

how to pronounce the cantons in one easy map. (except not exactly right if you ask me. but oh well.)

that's all for now! ciao!

days > 70 -- appreciating

advice for future exchange students #13:

when you're on exchange, you have the chance 

to do things you've only dreamed about.

do them!!

(Note: guess what, I actually procrastinated enough to catch up with my 80-day report... sorry, these past weeks have been crazily busy, plus I didn't have much internet access in Austria. Anyway. That means that these updates are coming one after the other, and that my blog posts won't necessarily be in chronological order. Whoops.)

In the past month, I have been enjoying life to the fullest. Switzerland is amazing, Austria was amazing, and I've gotten to do things I never, ever thought I'd have the chance to do.

Exchange is awesome like that. 

things that happened in the last 10ish days (before the 17th):

• Austria. Vienna. Need I say more? (Actually, I will say more, just because I can.)
• Those of you who are friends with me on Facebook know that my host family and I went to a musical in Vienna... it was called Elisabeth, and it was absolutely beautiful.
• I thought I had grown out of princesses and kings and crowns and beautiful castles, but apparently I haven't. The real thing is even better than the fairy tales. (In other words, my host family took me to Schönbrunn and the Hofburg palace. I think I want to be a princess when I grow up. :P)
• Traveled to the Prater [big amusement park in Vienna], took a ride on the Riesenrad [really big ferris wheel in Vienna], and went on the scariest carnival ride of my life [story to come soon].
• Ate my first official Wienerschnitzel! It's a flat breaded piece of calf-meat that takes up the whole plate and is eaten with lemon and salad. Sort of like a giant flat chicken nugget, actually. But that's okay, I like chicken nuggets.
• Saw the white horses of Lipizza.
• Developed a possible obsession with Empress Sissi. (If you don't know who that is, look it up.) History is way more interesting when you've actually seen the places, walked on the same ground, touched the walls of castles... all that to say that if you think you don't like history, go to Vienna and change your mind. :)
• Went back to school. Mehhhh. (but actually not really, I'm sort of glad that I can see my friends again.)
• Oh yes. I bought a CD from Elisabeth and I'm currently in the process of learning all the songs. You have no idea how good this is for my German. Anyone else feel like taking me to a German musical? it's educational!!

(to be continued, because I'm putting up the next post in an hour or so)

hannah

a day in augusta raurica

(note: this is the second of a series of posts I'm writing about Switzerland and the places I've been. Solely for the purpose of having fun (and to exercise my travel writing skills) I'm going to write about it in second person. Which means you, the reader, are semi-virtually coming with me. bring good shoes.)

You've just come from dance class, and your host mom wants to know whether you'd like to visit some Roman ruins tonight. To be completely honest, you aren't particularly enthusiastic about the idea. Instead, you're tired, hungry, and ready to sleep... but Switzerland waits for no man, and you don't want to miss a thing here. So you dig out your Converse and your trusty camera. Augusta Raurica, here we come!

Augusta Raurica is the oldest known Roman colony on the Rhine (according to all-knowing Wikipedia, that is) and was founded around 44 BC. The entire colony encompassed all of Canton Basel and a bit more, but it was significantly damaged by an earthquake and some other Roman troops. The parts you're going to are the theater and the main forum.

 Later on your host parents will take you to an Italian pizza restaurant. You'll eat some really delicious pizza, because of course no one makes pizza like the Italians, and you'll have your first drink of Rivella. It's like soda, but with the faint tang of Smarties and the fizziness of sparkling apple cider. (Your enjoyment of this drink will dip slightly once you read the label and discover that it's made of milk serum--what IS that??--but it's pretty delicious.) Meanwhile, you've got all the Roman ruins to explore.

You walk around, take pictures, pose in front of the baths, do all the normal touristy things that touristy people do in touristy places. And then the sun starts to go down and everyone leaves. So it's just you, with the stones and the ivy and the thoughts in your brain.

The fact that you're standing in something so big and old... walking on stones that were laid way before your time... touching the same walls that people touched thousands of years before... it's crazy. Something so long ago and far away.

And yet standing in the half-light of dusk, the night beginning to settle around your feet and the hum of the city lost... you feel so close.

And so you close your eyes.

and you listen to the stories around you.

days > 20 -- adapting

advice for future exchange students #9:

at the beginning of your exchange, you will probably have nothing to do. fill that nothing up with food, language practice, traveling, and getting lost in cities. oh, and more food.

things that have happened in the past 10 days:

• After my first 10 days, my host family stopped speaking English to me. Now it's about 90% Deutsch (and 10% of what my host mom calls "emergency English": explanations, clarifications, etc.) Not surprisingly, I've learned a lot of German in the past couple weeks.
• In fact, I've learned more German in the past 20 days than I did Spanish in the first year. And my Spanish class was exceptionally good. I think this has more to do with the constant immersion than it does with my actually being good at the language or learning anything from the German class...
• On the 18th, I had my first Rotary Youth Exchange conference in Switzerland. We had the introduction, some rules, and the D-lecture (which I have basically memorized by now, haha) but it was fun to meet the other exchange students. Plus... PINS.
• I successfully went shopping in a Swiss mall. Granted, I didn't say much except for "hello" and "thank you", but I did teach myself the names of a lot of new trends. No idea how that could possibly come in handy, but hey, it's language practice.
• My Deutsch Kurs "field trip" was a trip to the Basel zoo! It was fun. Pictures to come, but there are quite a few so I have to sift through them (unless you'd care to see several hundred pictures of depressed-looking fish).
• I started dance classes officially last Friday... and I'm constantly amazed at the generosity of the wonderful people around me. 
• It's now my third week of German class. Not exactly sure how I feel about this?
• Watched Ich-Einfach Unverbesserlich 2 (translation: Despicable Me 2) in German in Deutschland as part of my little sister's birthday party. She turned 11!
• I don't understand how anyone, anywhere, could possibly dislike Swiss/German/French bread. Have they no tastebuds???
• Speaking of which, I have now had multiple Swiss foods including Biberli, Leckerli, Luxemburgerli, and Apfeltaschen. They're a bit hard to explain, so I'll save that for another post... but all you need to know right now is that they're delicious. :)