days > 180 -- seeking

piece of advice for future exchange students #22:

sometimes if you really want something,

all you have to do is ask.

yes, i know i haven't posted in a while.
but unfortunately exchange means that you sort of have a life beyond blog posting... ;)

one thing i've learned here is how to be way more upfront about what i want and how i want to do it. swiss people (well, at least the ones currently in my life) tend to have LOTS of rules and LOTS of ideas and LOTS of opinions on the way you should do things. which, seeing as i'm used to more laid-back Americans, means that all too often i don't know exactly what i want and so i get slightly run over.

guess what?
i don't really like getting run over.

so i've learned to decide what i want quickly and to communicate it right away, which is something i never really had to do in the USA. if i have an opinion here and i want to be heard, i have to MAKE myself heard. and while that sounds sort of rude, it's just what i have to do to keep myself as a person.

things i've done in the past 10ish days (well, 20 days ago... it's been a while, sorry)

• went to a chamber music concert with some artists from Prague. we sat in the FRONT ROW and it was amazing... also, the cello player's instrument was older than the United States of America. I know that's not super impressive in Europe, but for some reason I couldn't get over the fact that this cello, older than the Declaration of Independence, was being played in a concert hall right in front of me. Oh, Europe. :)
• Charivari (a pre-carnival show) with my friend Faith! they spoke REALLY strong Basel dialect, which was super difficult to understand, but the show was good anyway. they played flutes and horns and drums and sang songs and acted out skits and it was fun.
• I saw my first host mum again! we went to a "Nacht der Musicals" because my first host family bought me tickets for Christmas... they know me well ;)
• snow day with my class in Gymnasium Muttenz. The whole school reserved a train and went to the ski resort and spent the day skiing/snowboarding/hiking/walking/snowshoeing/sledding. (I went sledding.) why do American high schools not do this.
• met our newbies in Basel-- Vinny, Demi, and Barbara. it feels like such a short time since we were newbies, and now all of a sudden we're oldies with language skills and travel experience and I FEEL SO OLD NOW WHAT IS HAPPENING TO MY EXCHANGE. :)

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