Europa Park in Germany!!

It was my first time in Germany ever, so it was very very exciting..

We started off on the famous German Autobahn, with no speed limit. It was so different for me to see cars doing around 180 - 200 km/h and that's allowed!! We were doing 140 km/h and other cars were flying past us like I have never seen before! It was incredible, and apparently a non-speed limit highway is really safe.

Then we arrived in Europa Park! It's similar to Canada's Wonderland, same type of Roller Coasters. However, Europa Park is divided into different sections using all the different countries in Europe for each section. For example, here's Russia: 

                            

And here's Iceland ...

                           

I learned a lot about the different countries in Europe because each section showed what it was like to live there.I went with another exchange student, Ana,  her host brother Ramo, his girlfriend Michelle and her younger brother. We were lucky since the weather stayed cloudy all day, it didn't rain at all.

There were so many people there celebrating Halloween, and it was neat to think about where all these people possibly come from. There was a group of people that wore big Portugal flags on their backs, chanting Portugal songs and many people had small flags on their clothing which was usually telling people where they were from. You could hear every language there as you walked through the crowds of people and everyone was totally different than the next. It was amazing to see all the people from different parts of the world, I really enjoyed it. Some may have hated the waits in the lines, but I enjoyed it a lot, I loved to see all the different people and the way they are.

Once again, the roller coasters were fantastic and I had SO much fun.. Here are some pictures..

As we left, a sign was over our heads and it read :

"Time goes by, but the memory remains."

A weekend in the alps !!!

There's nothing like waking up to mountains at your window..

Ana is another exchange student in my village from Mexico, and we spend EVERY second with each other !! So her host family is like a family to me here and they invited me to go to their cottage in the alps this past weekend. I knew it was going to be beautiful but I had no idea what it'd be like, and it was jaw dropping.

We arrived Friday night and unpacked all our stuff, I couldn't see the views since it was dark when we arrived which made it even better to wake up to in the morning. It felt like Christmas morning when I woke up! We woke up to mountains in EVERY window we looked out of. We ate breakfast while viewing mountains, with the sounds of a big river in our back yard and a beautiful old church very close to the apartment. Life can't get any better than this, I'm convinced of that. View from kitchen window:

At 10:00 a.m we left to go on a trek through the mountains and did about 5 hours of walking...  We started out my taking a chair lift to the middle spot! woo!! Then walked along through paths along the mountains. Ana's host family has two dogs, a golden retriever and a black lab and it was so amazing to be with dogs again since I miss mine SO much! Here are some photos of our walk:

It was the most beautiful walk I have ever taken.

Once we got home we all snuggled into the couches in the living room and talked to Ana's host parents about the trips they have been on, they have been to the coolest places!! Different countries in Africa and such, I loved hearing about their trips. It opened my eyes to all the possibilities this world has to offer. We looked through National Geographic magazines and I kept dreaming of touring to these places I kept hearing of. As a kid I always wanted to tour to Ireland, that was my ideal dream and don't get me wrong - I will go there one day. However, I have so many travel dreams now, I have a list of the top 5 places I want to go to now:

1) Alaska

2) Egypt

3) South Africa

4) Australia

5)Brazil

Meeting people from these parts of the world and talking to people that have traveled to those countries, makes me really eager to go there. I've always dreamed of becoming a teacher and I think that's probably what I'll end up doing, which is great because it leaves lots of options open for me: I can teach in those countries! I can find jobs there through teaching, and if not, if I stay in Canada and hopefully find a job (there are no teaching positions!), then I have summers off and I can travel then. I am a girl with many huge dreams now.. Sorry I got sidetracked..

On Sunday we sadly had to pack up and head home, and on our way home we went to an indoor water park for a few hours. The slides were so fun and it was my first indoor water park that I've been to!! It was so great, I loved every second of it.

I know I keep saying this was the best weekend yet, but it just continues to get better and better, I didn't think that was possible!!

I LOVE SWITZERLAND SO MUCH.

               

"One's destination is never a place, but a new way of seeing things. "

Last weekend I went to a place in Kanton Bern, a village called Interlaken. We arrived and took a special train that took us 2000 meters up a mountain and my jaw was stuck open the whole ride. I couldn't believe everything that I was seeing, as I got higher the houses got smaller, the mountains became closer, the snow became more visible, my views of the world rapidly changing. Every time I see sights like this, I get more and more impressed with how magnificent this world truly is.

I went with my host family, host family's friends, their parents from Germany, my host grandma and my friend Ana. The train ride up the mountain took about 30 minutes and this is one of the sights we saw on our way up:

                                
                             

When I got to the top, I was surrounded by beautiful mountains - snowy ones and non snowy (lots of trees and rocks) mountains. This is what it was like when I first arrived at the top, at the train station:

So after we arrived we split into different groups, I was with Ana and my host mother Gabi. We decided to walk to the highest point of the mountain we were on, which was quite a trek!! I couldn't stop taking pictures of everything I was seeing around me and of course I brought my Canadian flag with me in hopes to get cool photo with it:

                              

Once we finished walking up to the top we sat and enjoyed it for a little while and did some more walking around. The best moments are the ones when you can stop walking, sit down, enjoy the view and just think. I saw sights that I'm going to remember my whole life. The pictures in my mind are what I'm always going to look back at whenever I'm having a rough go with anything, it was absolutely gorgeous.

So then Gabi left to go have some coffee with everyone else while Ana and I continued to walk around, sit and enjoy the day. We thought we found the perfect spot to sit, and we were really enjoying it. I looked over at Ana and saw that she was absolutely COVERED in red ants, that ruined the moment for a second! It was a big panic but I managed to get them all off and we moved to a concrete slab and sat there, viewing the mountains surrounding us and having really good talks.

There was a little candy shop near us and we just had to do it - we ate a Toblerone (Swiss chocolate) and sat there in shock as it was too beautiful to believe.


                                  

Each time I see these different sights, my thoughts of so many things continue to change. The way I see the world, the way I see other people, the way I see myself, everything is constantly changing and it's a wonderful thing.

Here are some more pictures from my amazing day in the mountains: 

tassin !

Well once again I am making the most of my school holidays by doing more traveling!

Last Thursday I went to Tassin with a few other exchange students:

and I have never been so in love with a place in my life !! It was really odd for me because I instantly felt at home although it was a brand new place, brand new culture, brand new language, everything was new. Tassin is in the south of Switzerland, the Italian part. Once I arrived I instantly fell in love, maybe it was the palm trees or the very friendly people, or the huge market with Italian buildings surrounding me, or the fabulous pizza!! Whatever it was, I LOVED it !!!

Ana and I went for a boat ride on the lake and it was gorgeous. It was a tiny paddle boat and we just went out and floated in the middle of the lake with my eyes not being able to focus again because everything was too beautiful.

It's a really beautiful place and I suggest to everyone to add Locarno, Tassin, Switzerland onto your Bucket List, you won't regret it.

This weekend I had a Rotary Fall weekend with a bunch of other exchange students, we started out by going to a cookie factory - unbelievable. We tried all the samples then left, I felt a little bad but hey I loved the cookies!! Then we stayed at a place that usually boy scouts stay at, it was really relaxed and you just did your own thing. We played cards and sat and had nice chats with other exchange students. The next day we went to a big mountain/hill thing and overlooked all the mountains in Bern.. it was beautiful. I'm so lucky to be seeing the sights I see, having the talks I have, meeting the people I meet, I love exchange.