The FINAL post!

July 18th, 2011 was one of the most emotional days of my life. It started out so hard but ended so amazing. Two weeks prior to this date, it sounded like the only word that came out my mouth was 'goodbye.' As difficult as it was to go, I was so relieved to stop saying goodbye. Finally, that elephant wasn't in the room anymore - there was no more enjoying the moment but remembering in a couple days I won't be here anymore.

I couldn't have been more excited as I landed in  Toronto Airport. I knew my three best friends, my grandparents, my uncle and my dad were on the other side of the arrivals door and I had goosebumps the whole time. It was a rainy day when I left Switzerland so I wore jeans, long sleeve shirt, big sweater and my Rotary Blazer. Not only was it a little cool in Switzerland, I had no more room for those clothes in my suitcases. As I arrived in Canada I realized how warm it was, it was 38 degrees Celsius!! I waited in a very long line to go through customs to enter into Canada. It took about an hour to get through this long but slowly constantly moving line. I was sweating buckets!! Since the line was constantly moving and I had two big and heavy carry-on's, it made it quite difficult to attempt to take off some layers so I wasn't so hot. Luckily the family in front of me saw my struggle, and helped me carry my bags and layers as I started taking off the Blazer and the big sweater. I finally got through customs and was thinking I was so close to the arrivals door, think again. I had to wait for my suitcases, then wait in another big line!! So there I was with 2 giant carry-on's, two giant suitcases, and sweaters and blazers hanging off me in every direction.. it was nearly impossible!! I finally saw the glass sliding doors that was keeping me from some of the most important people in my life and the people I have dearly missed. I was finally there, the doors opened, and I was in the same room once again with these amazing people. I scanned the crowd quickly while focusing on all that I had to carry. I pass the crowds and find my family there and my three best friends with a big sign that says WELCOME BACK KATIE on a big cardboard Canadian Flag. I dropped my suitcases and couldn't feel my legs, my three friends started screaming on the tops of their lungs and I stood there and embraced them as they ran to me. I was in shock and it was the most exciting moment ever. I stood there crying my eyes out, once again in the arms of my three best friends. It was great to be back home.

The one question I always get asked is "how was your year?"
Honestly, it is great when people ask and are interested to know how it was. But also, it is so hard to answer. How can I possibly sum up a whole year into a simple sentence as to how it was? If I could answer it the way I wanted to when they asked, I would jump up and down, run on the spot, run in circles, throw my arms in the air like a maniac and scream WOOOO HOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!!

Instead, I give a huge Katie smile and say "My year was simply amazing."

I can't sum up my year, even if I had days to give an answer. In my heart, I will know all the things I've done, the things I've seen, the good times, the hard times, the moments of complete happiness and the moments of trying. I will always know the things I learned and I will always remember the people I met and I will bring those special people and moments with me in my heart, everywhere I go.  When I close my eyes and think of Switzerland, I will always get an instant smile on my face.

Deciding to go on this one year exchange was the best decision of my life and nothing will change that. Even if I have to repeat a year in high school because I didn't get enough credits, doesn't compare for a second to the year I had. I won't complain about having to repeat a year because in the long run, I experienced a year that will be very competitive to one of the best years of my life.

I have learned so much over the past year, and I didn't start realizing it until I arrived back home. It has just been over 2 weeks but I am noticing how extreme this year has impacted my life.

I find myself a lot more independent, mature, adaptable and spontaneous. Before I left, I was nervous whenever I was in big cities even when I was with friends. Whenever I'd go to Toronto I'd always be extremely alert and never let my guard down, I understand that's okay to do, but to a certain point. On exchange I spent many days in bigger cities and learned it's best to simply be alert and aware, just not scared. Now I feel comfortable to walk around during the day alone in a bigger city, which is a big step for me. Also, I react a lot differently in situations than I ever have. I am a lot more calm and take it all the way it is and go from there. I have met a lot of different people and families throughout this year. Living with three host families for at least 3 months each, makes your learn a lot about the various personality types this world has to offer. I learned how to deal with many, many different people. Harder things don't seem to phase me as much as they used to, I don't react as much and don't really give it the time of day. I've learned to go with the flow and always look on the sunny side, because everywhere you go and everything you do, you can look at the shady side or the sunny side, and life's a lot better on the sunny side.

Many people are sad after their exchange year claiming that it's all over. For me, it's the exact opposite. Of course I miss Switzerland, and I will continue to have a few hard days here and there missing the people I met and the busy lifestyle I had. However, this year was not the end. This year was that spark to my fire that shows me life can be so exciting if you set yourself up for that.  So, when opportunity comes knocking at your door: answer! embrace it! You may just surprise yourself at what you can do, how much you can handle, and how amazing life is.

I would like to say a HUGE thank you to absolutely everyone that supported me along the way. Throughout the year there were a few times of trying that really got me down, and it was so amazing to see all the support that I had in Switzerland and in Canada as I faced the rainy days. To my Rotary Club of Bracebridge - Muskoka Lakes here in Canada and my Rotary club of Augst-Raurica in Switzerland, two amazing clubs with  amazing people, that supported me along the way and made sure everything ran smoothly, I am so fortunate to be sponsored and hosted by these two amazing clubs. To my Rotary Counselor Peter Bieri and Rotary Officer Hanspeter Brandt, who made sure everything went well throughout the year and made sure I was always safe and smiling.  To my three host families: the Leunenberger's, the Geiger's and the Casanova's, I have learned so much from each family, each family was very different than the next and I can't even begin to give enough thanks to you for hosting me in your houses. And to the friends I met in Switzerland and the friends I have here in Canada, all were huge supporters in my life and made huge differences. Also, a huge thank you to my family here in Canada for always being there to listen to anyhting I had to say and to allow me to share everything about my year with them and attentively listened the whole time. Thank you everybody, you are all amazing and changed my life.

This may be the end of my exchange year, but this is just beginning. I am 18 years old, my name is Katie O'Hearn and I'm going to accomplish big things.

BARCELONA :D

I spent July 4th to July 8th in beautiful Barcelona, Spain. I knew it was going to be fun, I knew I was going to love it like all the vacations I have been on, but I didn't know just how much I was right - let me tell you, it was AMAZING.

I was a little nervous about this vacation, because I heard quite often how dangerous it was and how careful I have to be. Of course coming from such a small town, I got quite nervous. When I was there, I realized how much Rome taught me, you don't have to be scared just aware. If you're aware, you make smart choices and in most cases don't have any problems. I was really scared in Rome and literally hugged every bag I had on me, and I eventually got more comfortable and realized that was the wrong thing to do. Just stay calm and be smart. Once I arrived, that fear that I had went away and I just made smart decisions like keep my purse in front of me, etc... I had absolutely no problems!!

Monika and Martin Rohner were kind enough to allow me to come on their trip, along with Ana. The Rohner family is Ana's host family, and they are amazing people.

On Monday, we arrived in the evening. Four years ago, I had an exchange student at my house named Cami Bocca. I see her as my sister and one of my best friends. She lived with me for two months, then sadly had to go back to Spain. Two years later, she came back to Canada and lived with me again for the summer. Throughout these last four years, we always stayed in such good contact mostly by phone. I miss her a lot because we don't see each other very often, and I never had the chance to go to Spain. She's from Madrid which is pretty far from Barcelona, but I told her a few months ago of my upcoming trip. She got really excited about it, which I didn't understand because I didn't think it was going to be possible that she would fly to Barcelona. She asked when I arrived and which flight, and I wasn't 100 % sure she was going to Barcelona but nonetheless I was so hopeful and excited to see her. I also have really close connections with her mom, but I never have had the chance to meet her. We talk on the phone whenever I call Cami or when we are talking on Skype, I have always wanted to meet her just never had the chance.

When I walked out of the arrival doors, I searched everywhere to try to find Cami. Not only was Cami standing there with flowers and balloons in her hand, so was her mom!!!! Her mom also flew to Barcelona to surprise me there, I was close to tears of excitement because I didn't expect that in a million years, it didn't even cross my mind! I went screaming to them and leaped in their arms, it was a really special moment.

Once we arrived, we all went out for dinner together. My life now and the people that are a huge part of it this year, got a chance to meet the people are are a huge part of my life in Canada. They all got along very well, Ana is from Mexico so she was able to speak fluently with Cami and her mom, and from what I know, they really connected. Also, the parents got into a good conversation while us three girls chatted, I was so happy with how well everybody got along. After dinner, Cami Ana and I went out to the discos, while the parents went walking in the city together. 

It was amazing to see Cami again, and to be with two girls that mean so much to me at the same time. I love the Spanish discos, they are so fun and it was also right near the beach. There was a row of different bars, clubs and discos and we went partying there.

Tuesday we got up early and Monika, Martin, Ana and I went on a bus tour of the beautiful city. It's a bus tour that you can get on and off at different stops, and a new bus comes like every five minutes. So we were able to see many, many things and also go touring a lot. The famous architecture Gaudi is huge in Barcelona, with so many famous buildings, houses, markets and gardens. He is an idol there, a genius and it was so great to see some of his work and just wonder how does someone think of that. He puts "thinking outside the box" to shame. He thinks way out of the box, and everything he did was so beautiful. We stopped at the famous garden, and got to see the beautiful things he designed.

During the tour we also stopped at the FC Barcelona stadium, a museum of artwork to fight against AIDS and also the Olympic stadium when Barcelona hosted it in 1992. 

Then once again Cami, Ana and I went out to the disco at night. Cami has many friends in Barcelona, so we met up with a group of people and went to a disco that was right on the beach. It was not only beautiful, but also hilarious. The group of people were so friendly and it was so great to meet them. 

On Wednesday it was my final breakfast with Cami's mom, she had to fly back to get back to work. I was so happy to meet her, she is such an incredible person; so friendly, open and happy.

Throughout the day we did more touring and walking around to see many places, and went on a Gondola that went over a part of Barcelona so you could see the beautiful old buildings and also the beautiful, blue Mediterranean Sea.

Sadly on Wednesday night, Cami and I had to say our goodbyes. It was so amazing to see her and I know I'll see her again, knowing our pattern I'll probably see her in about two years. I would love to come to Spain again, and go stay with Cami in Madrid.

Thursday was another day for sightseeing and of course shopping! We went to the huge and famous St Josep Market, which had a building also designed by Gaudi. I have never seen so many fruits, vegetables, candies, animals and seafood in my life. It was amazing, and the fruit was SO great. We also went to another house created by Gaudi, and got to tour his thinking once again. 

In the afternoon Ana and I went to the beach, and got to spend a few hours soaking up some sun and listening to the waves crash against the sand. There are people selling things on the beach, everywhere and all the time. You learn to just tune it out, except one thing kept catching my attention. Asian ladies were everywhere selling back massages, five Euros for ten minutes. To me, that sounded pretty great. So of course, I got one and it was possibly the best back massage I've ever had. It was so relaxing and felt so great, with the sun beating on me and the sounds of the ocean beside me. Beautiful.

At night Monika, Martin, Ana and I went for dinner and ate Tapas!! So great and SO much food!! Our table was too small for all the food, but we sure cleaned the plates. I felt like an advertisement for the restaurant, so many people would walk by, see our table, stop, think, look, think, think then walk in and eat dinner there as well.

Friday was sadly our last day and luckily we had a full day since our plane was at night. Ana and I slept in for once, which was so nice to catch up on some sleep!! Monika and Martin gave us the option, if you want to wake up and go have breakfast with us you can do that or you can sleep in .. if you're there at 9 then we can go for breakfast together, if not then we'll assume you decided to sleep in. Our plan was to get up and go have breakfast, alarm set and all. The time came, and we both decided in about 1 second that we wanted to sleep in. It was so nice to sleep in!! Afterwards, Ana and I did some touring then spent the rest of the day at the beach. Luckily I always had a thick layer of sunscreen on me all week, and didn't get burnt. I have ver sensitive skin, so I usually get very bad burns. The sun is really strong in Spain and so I made sure to be super-extra careful. When we spent the afternoon at the beach, you could see the tiny spots that I missed with sunscreen. All over I was tanner, except some spots were very bright red because I missed that one spot, welcome to the skin of Katie!!

Our time came to say goodbye, but this is for sure: Spain, it was not goodbye, it was see you another time.

Klassenlager F1C !

This past week was once again, a very memorable week of my exchange. I know I say that a lot, maybe because it's always memorable and amazing weeks. This one, was once again another really special week.

At the end of the year, each class has a trip for a week. Depending on which grade they are in, is how far they go. The first class stays in Switzerland, the last grade goes on trips like to Barcelona.

I am in the first class so we went to a little house in the mountains, near a famous city called Interlaken.

At the beginning we had very hot weather, which was about 33 degrees Celsius. The nights were pretty hot and sticky, but nonetheless hilarious. Our little house consisted of 2 bathrooms and rooms made for 8 - 10 people. On each side are matrices on the floor, where everyone slept together.

Near the end of the week it cooled down quite a bit, which made our night consisted of a big snuggle group to keep us all warm on the cold mountain nights.

The week, was so busy and so great. Since we were a class of 22 girls with 2 female teachers, it mainly consisted of things like back massages, manicures, facials, hand massages, etc. Since the two teachers are athletes, we did a lot of sports if you chose to join them. Of course I did, since I absolutely love sports and I had a great time with the other sport lover in the class, Alex.

We also spent a day hiking, of course, we are in Switzerland after all! We went to a waterfall, and walked and of course talked, talked and talked.

The HUGE different between this trip and a Canadian trip, was that alcohol was allowed! The two rules, were that it had to stay in moderation and after dinner. You were allowed to go buy alcohol or bring your own, it was so funny to see people drinking together socially and not having a single worry, because it's allowed!! In Canada, they will search your bag to make sure you have nothing, here you are allowed it. It's so different, and so exciting!!

Such an amazing week and an extremely hard goodbye on Friday. I stood at the train station, waiting by the train that was going to take me back to my home here in Switzerland. As the clock ticked away, the time came when it was time for me to say goodbye to my class. The people I saw 5 days a week for almost 9 hours a day for the last year, and it was my last time seeing them. I have such good relationships with these girls that I met, I have learnt so much from them and I hope they learned a lot from me. I spent so much time with these people over the last year and they were all a big part of my exchange. So we stood in a group, hugging with tears in every eye, with the big hug and the final goodbye. It was extremely painful, and I will miss this amazing class a lot and I wish them good luck throughout their next years in FMS Muttenz.

I'll miss you ladies.

Goodbye.

Last day of school..

Today I had my final day of school, and I didn't know it would feel this strange.

I admit, school wasn't my favorite thing of my exchange. In fact it was a little difficult, but what I realized was that I just found it difficult sitting in class all day as an exchange student which doesn't get any grades throughout the year so isn't taken very seriously when it comes to work, test or anything for that matter. However, there was much more to school than just sitting in class. It's the people that I met, the lunches I had and the people I ate with, the breaks between classes and the friends that I spent all of that with.

At the beginning of the year, it was a little awkward with the HUGE language barrier between every person in the class and I, but somehow we managed to make it work and we even had SO many laughs over it. Looking back 11 months ago, I would sit there and act everything out trying to simply get the right word out that I wanted to get across what I was trying to say. My life was a game of a charades.

Now, I speak German with them constantly, rarely saying a single word in English unless it's them imitating how funny they think some words that I say are, when they hear me speaking with the other exchange student in the class in English. They always say to me "holy moly!!!" They just love that phrase and how hard or weird it is to say from their German speaking tongue.

Throughout the day, there can be up to 9 hours of classes. Every 45 minutes we get a break of either 5, 10 or 15 minutes depending on the schedule. Throughout each break I went over to my group of friends that I became very close with throughout the year. They are such an amazing group of women and I have had so many tears of laughter over things that have happened or conversations we get into.  

Next week we have our final end of the year trip, we are going to the mountains for a week and all staying in a little house together up the mountain. 1 little house, 2 bathrooms, 24 women .. this is going to be interesting!! Nonetheless I am really excited for it and excited to be with everyone together for a week.

So as I walked out of my school today, I got a pretty sad feeling inside me knowing I won't be with this same class next year. the school system is really different here, the class doesn't switch around every period, it stays the same people, every subject and they stay together for their full  four years at that school. I will miss this class a lot, I have had so many moments and memories that I will never forget with them, and this class will be forever in my heart.

Love you F1C .

Frauenlauf, Bern!! :D

Sunday June 19th, I ran 10 km race called Frauenlauf (race for women) completely covered in Canadian flags and it was one heck of an experience!

I went with a friend of mine, an exchange student here in Switzerland also from Canada. On the train to Bern at 7 in the morning we got our race gear ready, ready as in full of Canadian flags and then we decorated ourselves with Canadian tattoos. We weren't expecting many people to say much because we assumed there were a tonne of people from other countries as well.. I was very wrong!

The whole entire 10km, I had a lot of people that either a) ran beside me for an amount of the race telling me that they've been there before and that they absolutely love Canada or b) people at the sidelines watching the race, seeing us then all of a sudden jumping up and down yelling GO CANADA GO !! CANADIAN GIRLS!! WOO HOO !! GO CANADA GO!! It was such an adrenaline rush, it felt great. I feel proud to come from Canada, always have and always will.. but at this moment it gave me that warm fuzzy feeling in my heart for my country.

There were a lot of special moments throughout the race, that stood out even more than people cheering very loudly for us. At one point there were a group of about five guys the same age as me, on the other side of the barrier where people stood to watch the race. They saw my Canadian flags and started running right beside me for a few minutes screaming at the top of their lungs GO CANADA GO !! GO CANADA GO!! It was startling but I couldn't help but have the biggest smile on my face!! Also, a number of people ran beside me for parts of the race like people from Alaska and Afghanistan! One girl from Afghanistan ran with me for the last half kilometer of the race, it was really interesting to talk to her and hear about her life over there.

Who would have thought that one 10KM race would be so meaningful and bring so many people together? I enjoyed this special rainy, sunny, rainy, sunny day in Switzerland's capital city, Bern.

The purple t-shirts we got after the race!! 

Sigriswil!!

Last weekend I was lucky enough to spend another weekend in this Swiss Alps! This time, I went to a little village called Sigriswil, with my Rotary Counsellor Peter and his wife Christine.

After school last Friday, Christine and I drove to Sigriswil to meet Peter there. Once I arrived, I was in shock at how beautiful the whole place was. It was a log house over looking a lake and a bunch of mountains, really close to us. They showed me my room and I instantly ran onto the balcony in my room, took a huge breath and looked around realizing how lucky I was. From my balcony, I had an extremely beautiful view. This is a picture from my balcony!

After settling in and having nice discussions, it was time to go to bed. Usually I am not looking forward to going to sleep, but this time I was so excited! Instead of jumping right into bed, I got snuggled into my pajamas, brushed my teeth, grabbed my diary, turned off all the lights then sat out on the balcony and just wrote away. Then afterwards, I sat there and just enjoyed the moment.. The moon shining over the mountains and the reflections bounced off the water, and the loud crickets filling the silence in the background. I literally had to talk to myself to convince myself to go inside because I needed to sleep.. Here is a picture at night!

On Saturday we woke up and relaxed for a bit then Peter and I went fishing!! Before I get started, let me clear some things up.. It's a place with a man made lake with a lot of fish in it, like a fish farm where people can go and catch their own fish for food! As a kid, I have gone fishing before at my cottage. But I more mean, standing at the end of the dock with my bright pink fishing rod and never catching a thing. So I was excited to have a better story to tell when people asked if I have ever been fishing before! So I put my rod in the water and I caught 6 fish! Little did I know, they don't just die on their own. You have to hit them on the top of the head with a wooden stick, that shocked and disturbed me.. So of course after catching the fish and reeling it in, I plugged my ears and ran for my dear life so I didn't have to hear or see that! Peter took care of business!

 Afterwards we decided to go for a boat ride on the lake (Thunersee). A really cool thing about Switzerland as I have mentioned many times, is the transportation here. They even have big boats on the lakes to help with transportation and of course for tourists as well. Boats that look just like the Muskoka's Winona, if you are from the Muskoka region! We went to the city of Thun, explored for a bit then came back home by boat.

Once I got back, Peter and I went shopping in Sigriswil. When he asked if I wanted to go shopping for food, I automatically pictured driving to the local Coop (that's the grocery store here like Megros or Zehrs) and picking up what we need then heading back home. Not in Sigriswil do you do that!! We went to the local cheese shop that looks the same as a bakery, bought the cheese that we needed, went to the local butcher and got the meat that we wanted then went to the local bakery and got the bread that we needed! It's so special to go shopping like that and know that it's completely normal to all the locals! It's special there are still towns in this world like that, with everything completely local and so fresh.

After that, we went back to the cottage and I made Fondue!! I LOVE SWISS FONDUE!!

On Sunday my Rotary officer Hanspeter came with his wife Ruth for the day. We got up early, had breakfast then headed on our way. The plan for the day, hiking up a mountain of course! On our way up, we stopped at a little house in the mountains, Peter knew them and we went in and sat and had a coffee with them, it was a little private cheese factory!
So we continued our hike, and Peter had a cave in mind that he wanted to go to but I didn't quite understand what he meant but of course I just kept walking! We arrive at literally a cave in the mountain! He explained to us how it was used in the second world war as Switzerland prepared in case Hitler sent the troops over to attack them. It was a pitch black cave and we all had our own little flashlight, the cave still has broken telephone wires going all through it, in use during the Second World War since the soldiers lived in there. It was so eerie but so interesting!

So then we went left the cave and went on, climbing up this mountain. I really do love hiking through the Swiss Alps, and Switzerland makes it so easy to do so with so many wandering paths. Sometimes it gets a little scary because the hiking path can be pretty extreme!! Consisting of ropes to hold onto so you don't fall off the ledge !!

After a full day of hiking, we got home around 4 pm, and Peter and I noticed there's still a long time of sunlight left and some wind. Something that I have missed a lot that I do a lot at home, is sailing. In Canada my family has a bought and we spend many weekends on it throughout the summer sailing around Georgian Bay. Peter has a 12-foot Lazer and allowed me to go onto the lake and take it for a sail! So we set the boat up, I got the wet suit on (because it's Swiss Alp water so it's really cold!) and then went out for a few hours. It was so beautiful, the lake was so blue and it felt so good to be out sailing again!

On Monday we played a bunch of games like Rummi and Scrabble, we went over and I practiced my Rotary Presentation, and we had a nice tea party with the neighbors. Afterwards, it was my time to catch the train and be headed on my way back home since I had school the next day. I had such an incredible weekend in beautiful Sigriswil, and a lot of beautiful time in the evening underneath the moonlight in the Alps to start preparing myself to leave this beautiful country to go back to my beautiful country.


BIG NEWS!
Yesterday I had my final Rotary presentation about my year here in Switzerland !! It was about 15 minutes long, consisted of me talking for about 10 minutes and then a 5 minute slideshow. I was really nervous since I spoke only German!! Other than that, I did the best that I could to sum up my WHOLE AMAZING year into just 15 minutes.. it was challenging emotionally to know it's my final presentation, but it went well and I got great feedback! Man, I can't believe this is coming to an end!!