Amarette's Adventures: August 2007

Sunday, August 26, 2007

Adventure with Natasha

So Saturday 8/25 my host parents were working, so they suggested that i go on a train ride since im able to with my GA. So my host dad planned a route for me and told me to invite another exchange student. So i invited Natasha, she is from Canada and lives about 10 mins from Burgdorf. However, her host parents said that it wouldnt be a good idea to take the train on the route we were going on bc it was such a pretty day and its still tourist season so the train would be packed and hott!! they dont have ac here! well they do but its not a very common thing! anyways, her host parents suggested that we go to Gurten. Its a hill in Bern that you take a tram up to the top and then you can see all of Bern from the top. We even go to see the alps!! Which was my first time to see them!! They're AMAZING!! God has created some pretty amazing things on this earth and im glad i am able to enjoy them! There was also an aweosme playground up there too!! I wish i was little again!! haha So we walked around the hill and saw all the sides of it. There was even a cool field, which would be PERFECT for ultimate frisbee!! I need to find a frisbee and a group of people to play with! Well after we walked around we decided to head back to the train station. We decided to go to Thun, which is about a 2o min train ride. We had to stand up though bc there was soo many people on the train. We got off the train and then went to COOP and got a sandwich. But we were gonna try to find a cafe and then after a failed attempt, we decided it would be much easier to just buy a sandwich and then just sit along the river. The river was soo cool there. I want to go back to Thun. It seems like a really cool place. After we ate, we went to find a gelato place. Natasha had been to Thun before so she knew where the gelato place was. We were successful at getting gelato. I even used my german to ask for a spoon!! haha The gelato was sooo GOOODD!! haha it was italian gelato!! haha and it was only like 3 franks which is REALLY good!! but then we headed back to the train station to head back home. I had lots of fun on my adventure. I felt like i accomplished a lot!

Later Saturday night, my host sister took me to this festival going on in Burgdorf. It was fun. It reminded me of Berges Fest minus the beauty pageant and parade! I just wish I could've gone with my people my age. I went with my oldest host sister who is 25 so everyone was a lot older than me. But thats okay i still had fun and i got out of the house for a little bit.

^me and natasha on the tram!! ^the city of Bern!

^the alps!! ^THUN!!!

if you want to see some more awesome pics, go to the following url:
http://hs.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2001312&l=b0327&id=1517040103

hope all is well with everyone! love yall!!

Calf Birthday!!

Sunday August 26, 2007

So i finally got to sleep in a little bit today! I was really excited about that!! haha I didnt do much today. My host families neighborhood was having its Quartirie Festival which is pretty much like a Block Party. I went with my host dad, my host mom was sick. :( But the block party was really fun though. They had good food! BBQ!! but its nothing like BBQ from texas!! haha but its still tasty! They also had potatoe salad but its not the same either. haha They had these really cool toys for the kids. Me and my host sister, Kathrin, played on them!! haha We also played Fussball! it was lots of fun even though im not good!! haha But after that i went home and just relaxed at home. I had homework from my language course that i worked on as well.

Well around 5, a farmer called my host dad saying that a cow was in labor. He asked me if I wanted to go with him, and i said why not. I didnt have anything better to do. Plus i thought it would be a good chance to see the country side. So i went along on the adventure, and it was definlety an adventure. haha I have never seen a calf being born before. I saw everything. My host dad even asked me to help! So i not only saw something amazing happen, i was a part of it as well. I was really suprised i didnt pass out or anything because im not an animal medicine person!! haha My host dad says that im gonna be a coffee drinking, big animal vet by the end of the year. haha maybe a coffee drinker but probably not a vet. haha i dont have any pics of this so sorry!! haha but the country side is amazing! ill have to go again so i can get some pics!

Well thats all for now. This week is gonna be my last week of language course!! whoo!!! Ill start real school after this week! Im really excited about it because im ready to meet people my age but im nervous at the same time. The language is still hard, its getting better though.

Well ill right again soon! and maybe put up some more pics!!

Monday, August 20, 2007

Mt. Gantrisch

Yesterday, my host parents took me hiking on Mt Gantrisch which It is 2160 m or about 7086 ft. We had to drive about an hour to get there. We left early in the morning too so i was super sleepy because the night before I was out till 1200 with some other exchange students. It was absolutely amazing!! Suprisingly, it wasnt very hard either. The weather was kinda bad though. My host mom had packed us a little lunch. Once we got to the place where a local farmer sells locally made cheese and other foood, we decided to stop and take a break. However, my host dad went to get the food out of the backpack and it wasnt there. He said it was my host mom's responsibilty to put it in the backpack. So we just bought some cheese, bread and chocolate from the farmer. I didnt really like the cheese, and thats like all we ever eat!! haha Anyways, well when we got home we loooked for the packed lunch and couldnt find it in the house. My host mom looked in the backpack and it was in there the whole time! haha It was hilarious!! The mountain was absolutely amazing! I didnt get to see the alps though! :( i havent really seen them yet. The mountains i see are the Jura. and then there are hills around my town. My host dad says that this is the flat part of switzerland and i was like really?? it doesnt look like it!! haha But we didnt make it to the top bc the weather was getting worse and we needed to get down the mountain before it started raining. We took a different way down and went by a lake!! It was GORGEOUS!!! On the way home, we stopped at a restaurant and we ate bread with melted cheese on it and salad. it was actually really good. I am sore today, but its really not that bad! well i have to go. i wanted to put pictures on here but i ran out of time. so here is the url that you can view all of my pictures that i took. if i have time later ill come back and put some up but for now just go to the link!
http://hs.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2001287&l=e56a2&id=1517040103

ps you can leave me a comment if you want...you dont have to have a blog account to do so!

love yall!!

Friday, August 17, 2007

I HAVE ARRIVED!!!!

hey everyone!! okay so i have been in switzerland for 13 days now!! i absolutely LOVE it here!! its sooo pretty!! the people are really nice. My host family is sooo nice!! they're really helpful!! well my host brother likes to trick me!! haha but its fun! the family has a good sense of humor too!!! i had my first official Burgdorf Rotary Club meeting the second day i got here! It was actually more social then a meeting. It was a birthday party for a Rotarian that is a Farmer. It was really fun. I had rachlet!! Its basically melted cheese served with potatoes! They eat sooo much cheese!! Other than cheese, they also eat a lot of sausage, bread, fruit, yogurt, and salad. haha but i really like the food for the most part!!

ive been to bern several times. my language crash course is there. i ride the train everyday!! its sooo cool!! public transportation here is sooo AMAZING!! like i cant believe it! and i also can ride the train all over switzerland bc i have GA!! its so nice! i can ride boats and buses too! haha the language course is helping a whole lot! im learning lots each day.

my host family took me to a play that was on a working farm. it was really interesting!! i didnt understand very much because it was in high german but i liked it! i understood what was going just based on the actions. it was about a love story. it was set back in like the 1600s or something. tomorrow they're taking me to a mountain!!! im really excited.

i think thats prettty much all i've done here. im still trying to get used to the time change. my biological clock is still set to texas time!! haha but my room is reallly cute much smalller than mine at home! haha but i like it.everything is so much smaller!! haha im really glad i dont have to drive here bc the roads are SUPER small!! i open the windows like every night!!

my host dad also gave me a bike to use. it was one of my host siblings old bike. its really nice. i get to ride my bike to school everyday!! whoooo!!

my rotary counselor is super nice!! i like him a lot!! hes been very helpful!!! actuallly everyone has been reallly helpful.

oh and today i made Zupfe (pronounce ZOOPFUH! ) haha its like braided bread. illl take some pictures when its done! its baking right now!!! my host dad said it looks really goood, especially since it was my first time to make it! haha

my host parents liked the BBQ sauce i brought them. We hate it with pork chops, so it wasn't exactly like at home, but it was still very goood. oh, and i have eaten horse too!! i know what you're thinking, how can i do that? haha its really goood actually!! my host mom says that horse is happy meat but cow isnt hahah!!

well thats all for now...i'll try to be better about writing on here. maybe like once or sometimes twice a week!

i love yall and miss everyone! but im having a BLAST!!

here are some pictures:

my house!!!