Amarette's Adventures

Wednesday, June 18, 2008

Es tut mir leid.....

.....aka im really sorry contact has been horrible lately. ive been super busy. sorry...i havent been able to put photos or anything up...part of this has to do with my host family doesnt have wireless so i dont have internet access on my laptop...and the host fams computer is rarely free. lol i have been trying to write an update note for the past couple of days but facebook hates me.

anyways....so what ive been up to lately:

had my rotary presentation...did it all in german and it went pretty well too...just glad its over!! =)

went swimming in a freakin cold lake...it was 11 degrees celcius!! which is freakin cold for water!! but it was awesome!!

went on eurotour with the exchangers....an awesome trip...even though it wasnt really a eurotour...lol but wahtever...its not always about where you go...its about who you are going there with.

sport day with my class!! an awesome experience!! had soo much with them!! =)

went to genf to see the united nations. sooo awesome!!!! =) another great experinece with my class. we even got first class seats on the way home!! =)

rotary district conference...flag parade....not so much fun....roatary didnt even feed us...they kicked us out...literally....im not lying...but i still had a good night with the exchangers in zurich. lol

training and working for the euro 2008 in austria and switzerland. this is HUGE!! its pretty much like the superbowl in america but BIGGERRRR wayyy bigger!! like mega huge!! lol but the whole experience with that has been amazing. lol

i also was able to attend a swiss wedding. it was an awesome experience. i wanted to cry bc it was sooo beautiful =)

i finally was able to observe what its like in a swiss hosptial. which was also a really cool experince. lol met some coool people.

so ya....thats life in short...oh and ive been going to school in between that as well. school doesnt end till the 4th of july. lol but ya. this experience has beeen awesome. im starting to get excited to come home to see all of my family and friends again. although...its gonna be mega hard to leave my life and friends and family here. i dont know when ill see them again. and thats tough. i know ive grown as a person while ive been here...but i dont feel like it totally...and thats kinda scary about coming home...bc then ill realise really how much ive changed. that scares me tremoundously.

well enough for the gushy stuff....so a brief overview for the next four weeks:

rotary farewell weekend in glarus. =(

22nd-26th going to deutschland to see Madeleine!!! wayyy excited about that!!

go to some going away and welcoming home parties.

solate in burgdorf...a typisch event for the area.

end of school

hang with friends and just enjoy my time left here!!!

ohhh....so for those of you that dont know....ill be returning on the 15th of july in san antoino at 1130pm. i would love to see your faces there!! =) bc then on the 17th i have to go to orientation up in austin..till the 18th...and then the weekend im doing family things...i think...but i have no idea...you should talk to my mother! =)

well i love you all and miss yall like crazy!! see yall soon!! =)
♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥

Thursday, March 27, 2008

The Third Quarter of My Exchange

So last thursday i changed host families and am now in my third and finally family. but i am really happpy to be in the new familiy. the have 6 kids!! ahhh...thats a lot for america....so thats like A MEGA family for switzerland. lol well so far its been lots of fun. this family is really open. and always asks lots of questions. it was lots of fun to spend easter with a family. oh and it was a white easter!! i had snow!!! hahah the kids are as follows: Auerlie, 5; Gabriel, 14; Noel, 16; Timothy, 17, Camille, 19 and Niko 21. Niko is in military right now and is only home on the weekends. thats all of them. and then of course my host parents beatrice and pascale. the fun thing is they speak french at home....well actually its a mix of french and swiss german and now high german bc of me. haha but its lot of fun getting to know a whole new family. its veryy interesting.

so other things going on, been taking another german course to help with the german and prepare for a german test. the test is on the 22nd of april. my german is actuall pretty good. i sometimes forget which language is which. its all mix to me now. haha i even think in german too. thats amazing. last year, i couldnt even imagine speaking german, heck i could barely say my name in german. haha

tomorrow starts frühlings ferien. aka spring break for 3 weeks!! i am really excited about that. so far, i might be going to a chocolate facctory, maybe to france and then maybe to ticin, the italian part of switzerland. then maybe something with some girls from school. and probably something with some exchange students. ahhh...but im excited.

in may i go on eurotour or austria and italy trip. i am excited to be able to travel with exchange students. they have been truely one of the best parts of the exchange. i have made some awesome friendships that ill never forget.

in june, i will be a volunteer for the UEFA EURO 2008. which is the europe equaivlaent of the superbowl. im wayyy excited. it should be an awesome experience. i dont know for sure what exactly ill be doing. but im just excited to be part of it.

ohhh so a little about easter, on friday and saturday i was with a rotarian on Lake Thun. He was helping organize a sailing commpetition. He needed my help so i went with him. our job was to set the buoyies in the lake. it was lots of fun. friday we didnt sail bc the weather was really bad and stormy. however saturday morning, the weather was awesome for sailing. the sun was out and you could see the mountains. absolutely GORGEOUS and BREATHTAKING!!!

then on sunday, was easter!!! we had brunch with another small family. they had 3 kids. in the garden, there were boiled eggs and chocolate bunnies hidden. the kids had to find all of them before we could have brunch. they found everything and then we had brunch. it was delicious. bread and all kinds of goodies. the hard boiled eggs are colored and then they play a game where you hit the other persons egg and the person whose egg cracks loses...once both ends of your eggs are cracked you are allowed to eat your egg. its lots of fun!! ahh..and my host brother niko made the BEST hot chocolate ever!!! ahhh!!!

welll ya thats all for now i think...oh and please pray for me guidance about college. i dont know whats gonna happen. i need to make a desicion and fairly soon too.

thanks i love yall!!

and email me and update me on your lives!!! i love getting emails!!!

Tuesday, February 19, 2008

FULL MOON!!!!

so its been about 6 months since ive been in switzerland, and tonight was by far one of the best of so far. wanna know why???

well too bad im gonna tell you anyways! haha so tonight i went on night snow shoe tour (side note: i had to kinda think hard just then to write that last part in english...wow....) with my first host rents, erika & urs, my second host mom regina and regina's friend, her name just totallly left my mind. lol anyways, we started our adventure around 7 pm. we drove for about an hour to the schwarzsee area, in the near from fribourg. it was an interesting car ride bc they mainly talked in swiss german which now im beginning to understand so its worth my time to listen. its like a game i play with myself. who's saying what? haha its fun and it keeps me occupied, otherwise my wonders, which isnt always bad but sometimes it wonders too far.

anyways, we finally arrived at our destination at around 8. we drove up a good portion of the mountain on this little road. you really arent supposed to drive on this road, but since it was night time, my host dad drove on it anyways. he said there wouldnt be any people around and he was actually totally right!! so we just parked in the road. haha there wasnt that much snow. but enough for us to do our tour. so we put on our boots, by the way i have officially worn Swiss Army Boots!! ha beat that!! :) and then we put on our special snow shoes basically made of plastic and metal. they look rather funny!! haha

the weather was GORGEOUS!!! it was clear and crisp and as always rather cold. but luckily i had several layers on, including the infamous bright purple snow pants that i borrow from my first host fam. haha as always i didnt match but ive learned to get over that bc i basically have no choice!! haha for the first bit it wasnt too hard. but after about 30 mins or so, it got really difficult. i had to go behind my host dad in order to make it easier to walk. i got a little scared because it was sooooooooo steep!! i then started tearing up, being on your period doesnt really help the situation either. but i quickly got over that bc then we were almost to the top and the worst part was finally behind me.

everything was breathtaking after that. we were in the same area as the first time i went snow shoeing. i cant even begin to describe how amazing the mountains look in moonlight. i had tried to get a good picture by playing around with the settings on my camera. but was just getting nothing. it kinda made me angry bc i wanted to share god's beauty with yall. however, it then donned on me that god wants me to just take in his beauty for myself. i know that sounds selfish but thats what i thought. i guess more or less i thought of it in the sense that god wants us to simply enjoy his creation, nothing else. no photos or anything. so thats what i did. i enjoyed the beautiful full moon, snowy mountains, and shining stars.

so then we walked down the other side of the mountain to where a house was, and there we had CHEESE FONDUE outdoors on top of a mountain!!!! sooooo gorgeous! and gemuetlich!!!!(pleasant) like it was just amazing!! it was a little cold but thats okay, i have pretty much have gotten used to the cold now. we had warm tea as well. and then for desert we had fruit salad which was delicious!!

i just couldnt stop loooking at the scenery bc it was sooo gorgeous. then my host fams started singing german songs....so naturally i just listened bc i didnt know the songs. but it was nice listening to them. haah then i tried calling mom to wish her happy birthday from a mountain but she didnt bother picking up her phone and i tried several places...work, cell and home. crazy!!! by the way....mom did you get my messages??

so then we made our way down the mountain which is always the fun part!! i even led the way....which wasnt too hard!! haha i basically just kept walking and i figured if i did something wrong my host rents would say something. haha

but all in all this was a good evening.....something to definetly remember!! and i also had a good convo with god. gotta love those!!!

well hope all is well with you!!! much love!!! ♥

Wednesday, February 6, 2008

half a year....

wow...6 months ago today i arrived in switzerland!! wow that seems soo long ago, but yet at the same time it seems just like yesterday that i couldnt speak a word of german. its amazing what 6 months in country does to you!! nothing bad of course. :)

i have really enjoyed my time here so far! its absoultely amazing!! :) the experiences are truely unforgettable!! i know i know... that sounds cliche but its the truth!

so an update on life.....

i have been in my second host family for about 1 month now. its really different from my first host family but im enjoying the change. i now live in a old apartment. its absoulty adorable!!! its sooo old and just cute! haha i love her decorating style too! so its just me and a host mom! which has been absolutely fun! she has a GA too(its the card that allows to travel all over switzerland with the public transportation!) so she goes lots of places!! she has two daughters, however Magdalena is in ecuador on exchange, and Meret lives in solothurn which is about 30 mins from burgdorf. Meret is currently in brazil doing some kind of work camp or something. and then she will go visit Magdalena as well. Meret is really nice, i have gotten to know her just a little bit before she left. Regina, my host mom will meet up with the girls in march in ecuador. Regina will be gone for a month so I will probably go back to my first host family or something like that.

i learned to ski as well in the swiss alps!! it was amazing!! i only fel twice...once while actually skiing and the other while on this small sit lift. i dont know the word in english...its sessellift in german though! :) haha anyways...my first host brother's girlfriend is ski instructor and so she came with me and taught me stuff!! it was soo much fun! ill never forget that! skiing isnt that hard either. its really enjoyable. you go faster each time which is the best part!! haha but i did almost run into several people...but somehow i was graceful enough to avoid them!! haha but when i did fall, i wasnt graceful...i was stuck in the snow for so long bc i couldnt figure how to get up!! its harder than you think to pull yourself up out of the snow! haha but anyways...it was truely an experience to remember!!! something ill probably never get to do again in my life.

recently i have been going to ICF(International Christian Fellowship) with a friends from my schoool. i didnt really like going before because everything was in Swiss German and i could barely understand high german so it wasnt really beneficical to me. However, now i understand German completly fine and even understand a little bit of Bernense German, so i started going with my friend again. Well this past sunday, they had a speaker named Bill Wilson at the service. and omg he was amazing!! it truely felt like home! He started a huge sunday school service for children in the ghettos in New York. His story is amazing. Anyone else heard of him? just curious. His ministry is called Metro Ministries and they have ministries all ove the world i think. but it was soo awesome bc there were sooo many people there!! it was nuts!! i think they even had to turn down some people bc there simply wasnt room for everyone. So it was a cool experience, he spoke english with a person translating everything he said. it was really funnny, bc my reaction was earlier than most peoples. haha but all in all his message was good. god uses ordinary people to do extraordinary things. i would love to go to new york to visit his sunday school and maybe even work there or something. but ya it was an amazing experience. im really glad God put it on my heart to start going back there. plus it also gives me a chance to get to know my friend deborah better. she's really cool and i dont know what id do without her. she's been the one person who has helped me the most in class and what not.

wow i wrote too much...haha well i havent written in a while so i guess thats why...well i will try to post some pics up maybe. haha but not with this post! srry!! haha

well hope all is well in texas!

much love! ♥

oh and im gonna be 19 in two days!! crazyyyyyyyy!! man time flies!!

Saturday, January 5, 2008

CHHHHAAAANNNGGEESSSS!!!

today is the official last day with the schneider family and tomorrow is the 5 month mark!

wow i cant believe its already time for me to switch host families. the past 5 months have beeen amazing. the schneider family has truely been amazing. i feel like im part of their family which means a lot! i was lucky enough to have a big brother. he always teased me but despite that i really do like him!! urs and erika are so great too!! my host sisters theres and kathrin were great too although i didnt nearly see them as much bc they live and go to schoool in lausanne. im rather sad to leave them bc they're so awesome. however i know my next host family is going to be great too. im ready for a change now. it feels like this is a turning point in my year. my german is improving, although its not perfect. im learning more and more each day.

so it was so weird last night finishing packing. it made me think of when i was packing baack in august. this time was a little bit easier bc i knew i had to take everything. haha but i have accumulated so much stuff since then!!! ahhh!! i dont know what im gonna do when i have to pack to go back to the states! ahhhh!! dont wanna think about that right now!!!!

well thats all for now i guess...my next post will be from my second host home!!! whooo!!!

i love yalll and miss yall!!!

Friday, January 4, 2008

Christmas with Family Schneider!!

its late but here's an update of my chirstmas holidays....

CHRISTMAS CELEBRATION!!!!

Christmas in Switzerland was very enjoyable!! However very different from back home. The big event was on Christmas Eve Day. We put up the christmas tree on christmas eve day which is really weird bc back home the tree goes up soon after thanksgiving!! so it was weird not seeing the tree for a whole month! hah well it was a real tree with only silver and white decorations. my family likes to have just silver and white to make it kinda look like snow or so they say. :) My host sister, Theres and I decorated the tree. oh and they dont put lights on the tree, they use candles! which i think is sooo cool!!! Anyways, then the rest of the day i helped my host mom get the food ready for dinner. i mostly watched and helped when i could! haha For dinner, we had some kind of meat along with this pastry thing...kinda complicated but ill put a picture up. Plus a salad and a bell pepper soup!! sooo delicious!!! Guest present at dinner were: Urs(host dad) Erika (host mom) Theres (host sister) Kathrin (host sister) Stefan (host bro) Laura (Stefan's girlfriend) Marianne ( Urs' sister) Sonja (Urs' mom) Honey (host neighbor) and Erika's mom. After dinner, my host sisters lit the candles on the tree and then we sat around the tree while Urs played the piano. then we sang some christmas songs. Urs then read the Christmas story from the Bible which i thought was really cool even though they arent very religious. Normally, the family waits till the first candle burns out to open presents, Erika's mom couldnt go home too late so we opened them before the first candles burnt out. My host sibs gave me the board game Eile mit Weile which is similar to Sorry. My host rents gave me a puzzle of a switzerland map. soo cool! i even got some chocolate from Sonja, which i totally didnt expect! haha and i gave some things to my host family too. thanks to my mom for getting it for me too!! and avery helped too!! haha so ya the night was really nice. i liked the swiss christmas. it was more relaxed and not so commericial and greedy. i think thats why it was soo enjoyable! :)


^ the table, i helped decorate! ^the main dish of dinner!!! i helped with it too!!



^the chirstmas tree lit!! soo pretty!!
On actual christmas day, we didnt do much. we played some games and watched some movies. i dont think i changed out of my pjs! hah but i did get to talk to family back home!! avery called me first then my host family let me call mom so that was good. i got to talk to her and alyssa then everyone at granny's said hello to me on the phone. later i suprised my dad by calling him on his cell phone. he sounded really suprised and that was the first time i talked to him since ive been in switzerland. pretty weird!! but it was good to hear his voice and i talked to emily of course too! i sure do miss my family!! they're sooo great!!!!



days between christmas and new years:

im just gonna shortly summarize bc its too long to write about!

26th december
went to St. Gallen with Alice and saw the Stiftsbibliothek, Abbey Library, its really old and really cool to see!! then spent the night with alice in Bottighofen! and it SNOWED!! sooo pretty!! we even went sledding!

27th december
left bottigofen early to come back to burgdorf to take a shower and get new clothes before heading to basel to see my twin jessica!! she's amazing!!! i love her!! so we did a little shopping in basel...but i didnt buy anything. then went back to her place. later that night we went to a club to go dancing!!! SOOO MUCH!! dont worry, no alcohol involved! we both dont drink and thats why i love her so much! we slept in the next day and read!! haha it was sooo nice!!!

29th decemeber
went to saas-fee to take package for my host rents. and jessica came with and spent the night! so much fun!

30th december
went to zurich to see jessica(different from early this one is from south africa) off. she was going back home :( the first person i've had to say bye too!! it was sad!!! then hung out in zurich for a little bit


NEW YEARS!!!

so i slept in a little bit on the 31st. always good!! but i went with Deborah, a girl from my school, to her church for a new year's party. it was soo much fun!! so much happened. lots of games!! haha it wasnt overly exciting but it was rather enjoyable. i was really glad to get to spend some time with deborah. she's sooo sweet and is christian which is really cool!! but i cant believe its already the new year!!!! ahhhh!!! sooo crazy!!! that means i come home this year!!! ahhhhh!!
^deborah and me. its not the greatest pic bc she wasnt feeling that good that night. this is my first pic of 2008!!
So ya thats a brief update.....

Sunday, December 23, 2007

brit brat visits swiss miss :)

So wow! its been a busy last week!!!

My favorite cousin chloe came to visit me!!! It was amazing!!! we didnt do a whole lot, but definetly talked A WHOLE LOT!! it was really nice to see a family member close to the holidays. She flew into basel and i met her at the airport!! it was..ahh..amazing! haha well we came back to burgdorf and she met my host rents and host sister....then me and chloe had fondue for dinner...my parents were going out for the night. so we had some delicious fondue...and then we went to B5, a local cafe/bar to have a hot chocolate with a friend from my school. ahhh!! it was fun. on sunday...we went snow shoeing!! oh so much fun!! haha then went to a classical music christmas concert in bern with my host rents. it was really cool...it was in munster which is the big church in bern. and then after the concert me and chloe went to dinner...we had some yummy italian!!! ahhh! sooo good!! then i showed her around bern a little...not much though..it was sunday...lots of things closed..and it was freezing cold!! haha monday....we slept in and then had lunch with the host rents, i showed her around burgdorf...and then we had dinner and played eile mit weile. lots of fun! then tuesday she left :( it was soooo nice to have a visit from her!! its hard to describe! it was also cool to show someone from back home into my life.


^pics from Chloe's Visit!!!


so thats about it from chloe's visit. so this week was the last week before christmas break!! so not much was happening in school!! i made chocolate chip cookies for my whole class and i also gave everyone a boerne pencil!! haha it was fun to do little gifts for them! this batch of cookies i made turned out to be the best ive made so far in switzerland. my host family really likes them too!! and even my councelor!! haha


so yesterday was pretty uneventful...i had an exchange friend over....we just watched movies..and hung out...it was rather pleasant!! haha
So today was the family dinner with Erika's family(erika is my host mom). I didnt have much time to get ready bc i wasnt really informed about what time we were leaving..so i had like ten mins to take a shower and what not...(side note: YOU MUST dry your hair before leaving the house...its wayy too cold to not dry your hair). however, i managed to get ready in that short amount of time...even with dried hair! lol oh and i was also informed that my host dad, me and my host sis kathrin were walking to my host aunt's house which is in Hasle-R-something...haha anyways...its not exactly super close to our house either. but whatever i wasnt gonna complain...the walk started out cold...but quickly got really warm..i had to walk super fast bc my host dad and kathrin both have rather long legs and i dont! haha so ya...but the walk was really pretty....it took us like an hour to get there....but it was a good walk!! so there were lots of people there that i didnt know....erika has one brother and one sister. erika's brother is named peter and has 2 kids....erika's sister is named regina and has 4 kids i think...haha so ya...it was cool to meet all the family. i really love my host family they're sooo amazing!! it was soo cute today...bc my host dad said that i was now from Burgdorf!! haha oh...man! im really gonna miss them when i change families!! so today included lots of eating...lots of christmas cookies and lots of family. we can home and then watched a cute movie..it was in bern german, high german and a little bit of english. it was really cute though!!

i probably could write about every detail of today...but that might get boring. haha

so its weird....there's a certain air of change lingering right now!! like its really weird!! but im glad!! im ready to begin a new year!! can you believe that i'll be home in just about 7 months!! CRAZY!! time sure does fly!!!
much love to everyone!!!!