Uh oh...

I knew schooling in Europe was tough, I didn't expect this!!

I thought they'd put me in easier classes .. this is my schedule for school

:* note: the times are different, some classes are 2 hours long and some are just one hour long.

Monday - 7 55 am - 9 40 am = Gym

- 9 40am - 11 30 am = Economics

- 11 30 am - 12 25 pm = Study hall

- 12 25pm - 1 20 pm = LUNCH :)

- 1 20 pm - 3 10 pm = Math

Then I get to go home.

Tuesday - 7 55 am - 9 40 am = German

- 9 40 am - 10 40 am = Chemistry

- 10 40 am - 11 30 am = French

- 11 30 am - 12 25 pm = LUNCH :)

- 12 25 pm - 2 15 pm = Biology

- 2 15 pm - 4 05 pm = Music

Then I get to go home.

Wednesday - 7 55 am - 8 45 am = German

- 8 45 am - 9 40 am = History

- 9 40 am - 11 30 am = English ♥

Then I get to go home !

Thursday - 7 55 am - 9 40 am = CA (Not sure what that is yet, I'll change this once I know)

- 9 40 am - 11 30 am = Geography

- 11 30 am - 12 25 pm = LUNCH :)

- 12 25 pm - 2 15 pm = Gym

- 2 15 pm - 4 05 pm = Biology and Chemistry Disections

Then I get to go home.

Friday - 7 55 am - 9 40 am = German

- 9 40 am - 10 40 am = Math

- 10 40 am - 12 25 pm = Biology

- 12 25 pm - 1 20 pm = LUNCH :)

- 1 20 pm - 2 15 pm = English

- 2 15 pm - 3 10 pm = History

- 3 10 pm - 4 55 pm = French(long day!! )

Then I go home.

I think it'll be really hard to get in the swing of things at my school.

It's very different than in Canada, I only have 4 subjects per semester and it's a LOT smaller. Gymnasium Muttenz is on a campus, almost like university. There are 3 different schools on this campus from what I understand: a college type school, my school and a school that people go to if they know what they want to do after the age of 16. It's more specific, like if you want to go into engineering, you go to that school. I guess that's like a university for younger people?? It's really confusing. Nonetheless, it's HUGE!

I'll give a few examples, the cafeteria is not only MASSIVE, it's its own building. Upstairs cafeteria is for snacks with a bunch of homemade yummy stuff, and the downstairs cafeteria is for meals. It shows different plates and you choose which plate you want, or you can do make it your own salad (I hope I stick with that, or this will be an interesting year! ) The gyms are nice, not sure how many there are but it also has it's own building with different stories (and it's just for my school.) There are TEN gym teachers!!!I can't even begin to explain it!!

I have only been there for one day since I had a free day from my German course. I am still attending my German course until September 9th or something like that. To be honest, I'm really nervous for when I actually start going to classes. Every day is TOTALLY different and I have to not only travel from class to class aimlessly, I have to travel from building to building!!!It's going to definitely be an interesting few

weeks when I start school, atleast Lily taught me how to say 'help' in German, before I left- that's going to be VERY useful! I'll keep you updated with my first days of school once they start!My German is coming along nicely, luckily. I am starting to understand it and I have come to the point where I told my family to only speak German when talking to me, and I try to answer back in German. If I don't understand, they help me out (which is quite often) but more and more it's getting easier. German is NOT an easy language to learn.. some words may be similar but the sentence structure is so hard. Every noun is either die, der or das and you have to memorize each thing !! For example, die Ture is the door... EVERYTHING is one of the three and you just have to memorize it. Also, the endings are different just like we learnt in French class. The endings of the verb change... ahhh!!

I'll get the hang of it eventually !

Everything is still AMAZING here, I'm just living the dream :)

"Imagination is more important than knowledge"
-Albert Einstein .

I'll use this one a lot during class ;)

Deutsch, Deutsch, Deutsch.

Although I am always busy seeing new things and meeting new people, there is always one thing on my mind - the German language!!

Coming here, I thought a lot more people would be fluent in English than what there really is.. I guess it's better this way! I am learning it a lot faster than I would if everyone knew English, so in the long run it's a good thing.
I go to a German course 5 days a week for the next four weeks!!

I'm very excited to be able to understand and speak German, it'll make life a LOT easier.

I'm still LOVING it here in Switzerland! The people are amazing, the food is amazing and it's such a beautiful country. I am starting to get in the routine of things and it's all coming together. I have great news- I finally know how to use the train, tram and bus by myself now! I take all three just to get to my German course every morning. Luckily, I travel with three other exchange students for the majority of the time but I feel comfortable to go alone if I ever need to. That is a HUGE step for me!! When I went on my first train here, a couple days into my exchange, I thought I was NEVER going to be able to do it alone. I am already becoming a lot more independent and it's only almost 2 weeks into my exchange. I can't imagine what it will be like in a year!! There is no yellow school bus that picks up all the students and takes them to school, many kids have to start taking the train and whatnot, by themselves at a very young age! The independence is awesome here and it's teaching me a lot.

This Saturday I get to see my first mountain ! I'm going to Bern which is the capital of Switzerland and I'm seeing the Parliament and also going to the giant mountains. I can't wait !!

I will continue to keep you updated. :)

I already call them my family.

Once again, another amazing day here in Switzerland. I'm always so busy here, whether is be visiting / meeting people, touring the beautiful villages/cities or other typical Swiss things. Yesterday I went to a friends house, she owns a farm and I got to see all her cows. It was the first time I heard a cow moo in person!! It was really fun, and I also went to Muttenz and saw my school.. yikes!! It's really big so I'm really nervous for it. I know it'll be okay, but it's still a little nerve wracking. It's a really cool school though, everything is automatic doors and it has a separate building just for sports and gym class, with basketball courts outside as well. There are other exchange students there so it'll be okay, I just hope I don't get lost.. it's massive!!


(my school)

Today I went to my Gruzzi's house (my host grandma) with Isabella and Tamara. She made us a giant Swiss lunch, it was SO good! It consisted of wiener schnitzel, and this stringy eggy & flour food (can't remember the name), and vegetables. It was delicious!! I had a really good night, I met a lot of people that live in Buus. They had a street party/barbecue and everyone brings food and my sister Linda, introduced me to everyone. Everyone has lots and lots of questions about Canada, I love it! People also enjoy telling me lots about Switzerland, politics, history etc.. I really enjoy that also! It's really different here. Every man has to go into the military and train for 21 weeks. They usually do this between the time they finish university and start a new job. It's really interesting, and if you don't want to do it then you have to pay LOTS of money! They pay you like 1200 Swiss Francs a month to do it, and its obligatory.

I met some new people that were around my age, a little bit older. So after the barbecue I went with my sister Linda to their house and we sat and talked for hours! They are all very nice people and although the language barrier is still pretty tough, I can understand a lot of what they say. However, I only understand it when they speak German. I don't understand it when they speak Swiss German, it's very difficult. I go to language camp starting Monday, so that will be very helpful for me and everyone that tries to talk to me.

I need to talk about the people here for a second - they are unreal! Everyone is always happy and so friendly and welcoming. My family is amazing, my parents are hilarious and they are always watching out for me. My host sister Linda is not my 'host' sister, she is my real sister. Her and I are so close and it has only been 5 days, we always say we're 'shwesters forever' (sisters forever.) We're together a lot and she's always making sure that I am involved in the conversations, and tried to translate everything for me. My family constantly reminds me that if I ever feel alone, I'm not. They're all here and will be here even if it's 5 in the morning and if I feel alone, I can just go to them.

I know there are going to be hard days but it feels like I have lived here my whole life, they feel like my family, this place feels like my home. I LOVE IT.