Grades

Today we got our test results back for English and math. Our class average for math was 3.4 (on a scale of 1-6, which is how grading is done here), which is pretty bad. No one understood what the math teacher was even talking about during most of the lessons. I had a "bad" grade, but if the grades were based off of class ranking, I would have definitely gotten a way better grade. Basically, 3/4 of the people failed miserably and 1/4 got lucky and passed.

My English test was much better. I got a 5.5. :)

Tomorrow I get to sleep in because our history teacher is doing a "Projekts Woche" (project week) with another grade. And after school Lara and Aunt Claudia and I are going shopping for winter boots. Yippee!

Super eventful Monday!

Today I got up early and had an uneventful day... School, homework. That's pretty much everything. Except that it was 72 degrees Fahrenheit and I was wearing long jeans. That was not cool. 

Goodnight! Here's a picture of some flowers I took a few days ago:)

Homeworkkkkkk

Today I went to church with my grandparents, spent 2 hours learning French grammar with my aunt, and most of the rest of the day doing homework and studying. Hip hip hurray.

Also tonight the moon was really really big and I tried to take a picture. I failed.

Chocolate

Today I went shopping in Zurich for chocolate and such for my friends back home. It was fun, although having a bunch of chocolate in my room makes me constantly hungry.

I also Skyped with three of my friends:) I miss you so much Kiley, Rose, and Stephanie. And everyone else. Only about two weeks until New York! 

Tomorrow I'm going to church with my grandma and then doing more homework. Yay only one more week until vacation!

Friday! Week 6!

Today I had school... the usual... and after school I went to Lara's. Her friend Leah grows really fast and is really tall so she gives a lot of hand-me-downs to Lara, and if Lara doesn't like them, she gives them to me. So I got some new clothes! Yippee!

Tomorrow I'm going to do homework and go buy chocolate and presents and such to bring to New York in a few weeks to give to my friends and family. :)

Thursdayyyyy

So I don't have to do my English  presentation yet, I'm doing it next week. That means I have time to add more stuff, so I'm not complaining. 

Also, I got invited to a birthday party! Yay friends! People! Things! Parties!

It's a rare occurrence, but tonight I had no homework. *Insert horrified gasp from my mother here* Yippee!

Sunny Wednesday

Today was fun, because on Wednesdays we have a half day. Also, it was gorgeous outside, which made for a really nice walk home. Now that it's dark out it's raining, but that's totally ok with me.

Tomorrow I get to sleep in and we have another half day because the teachers have to go to some conference thing in the afternoon. So much free time! And I'm not sure if it's tomorrow or next week that I get to do a presentation in English class about the schools and such in America... But that'll be exciting :)

Random Happy Tuesday

Today we had school and it was a girl named Shanelle's birthday, so everyone had a little gift for her, and when she came into the room we all started singing and we ate cake. It was really fun. 

Also, right when school got out I suddenly was randomly super duper happy. It was awesome. It also inspired me to buy gummybears, which made me even more happy. Yay!

Monday.

Today I got up early and went to school, the usual. Here, have a random picture I tried to take of Lara on the tram:)

I discovered during history that in German saltwater is called salt water (Salzwasser), but freshwater is called Süßwasser, which means sweet water. My friend looked at me all weird when I started randomly laughing. She didn't think it was all that funny, but to me it was. 

Yay for sleeping in tomorrow!!

Rainy Weekend

On Saturday I went to blau ring (a girl scout type thing) with Lara and a few other girls. We made "brannte mandelen" which means burnt almonds, which are almonds and caramelized sugar. They're so delicious and take almost 3 hours to make. Yay for cooking stuff!

I also downloaded ios 8 this weekend, and it's really cool. I recommend it to anyone with an Apple device :) the only thing was it took forever to download and then it crashed the first time I tried... Oops.

Sunday it basically just rained all day. It was gorgeous. I spent lots of time doing homework, especially math, because I have a test on Tuesday... And only two more weeks until fall break!

 

Friday! Week 5!

I still have the plague. Ew. I had choir today, which was a complete waste of time because I sound like a dying elephant when I sing. But at least it's the weekend! Yay!

Update on the comment thingy: Apparently you can post a comment anonymously, you don't need any sort of account. And for my technologically challenged mother (or anyone else) I present: 

Isabelle's amazingly precise guide to submitting a comment:

Step 1: Scroll to the bottom of the post you wish to comment on. 

Step 2: Observe the row of social media sites you can share this post on (google +, Pinterest, tumblr, etc.). Notice the small blue underlined word or words to the right of the social media buttons that say(s) "1 comment" or "no comments" or "476 comments". 

Step 3: Click on the blue underlined word(s). 

Step 4: Type your comment and choose who/from what account you would like to submit it as. 

Step 5: Press enter or click "submit button". 

Step 6: Congratulations! You did it! *clapping*

The school trip and the plague

Tuesday-

Today we met at the train station at 7 am, which meant I got to get up at 5:45. Then we were on a train until 10:30. We arrived in some little town and rode the gondola thingy up to the top of the mountain where there was a little restaurant. Then we spent 6 hours hiking 14 miles. It was fun, except my feet feel like one big blister. And there was a ton of fog the entire day, so we couldn't see more than 50 feet in front of us, which was a shame because we were on the border to Italy and Switzerland, and if the skies are clear, you can see super far into both countries. But at least it didn't rain, and it was pleasantly chilly. 

We got to a big building right next to anther gondola, then played card games and watched soccer until we went to bed. Then we just sat and talked and listened to music until about midnight. It was an exhausting and awesome day. 

Wednesday-

We got up at 8 to eat breakfast, and then we just sat around listening to music and talking again until we had to leave.

We went down the mountain in an adorable little gondola thing again, and then took the train to a city called Lugano and spent the day just messing around there.

We then hopped on the train and went home. I got home around 8 and didn't feel so good... I went to sleep around 9 and had to get up for school the next day and that's when I realized: I had the plague. (A.K.A. I have a useless cold.)

So that's what I've been enjoying the past two days at school. Everyone gets to enjoy the lovely sniffling, coughing Isabelle. Joy. *cue confetti shower*

But on the bright side, I had "Dönner" for lunch on Thursday. It's this type of meat... That's really yummy... Almost like bacon. With fries. It's hard to explain. Anyways, that was delicious. And apparently all my classmates think it is horrifying that I've never experienced different Swiss specialties, so we have a mini lunch menu thing planned for the next couple of weeks, so that I try new stuff every few days. I'm excited!

Monday half day

Today we had a half day of school encase if the Knabenschiessen. It made my Monday so much better. 

I also forgot to mention yesterday that I was ordered by my mother to buy "rahm-tafeli" (cream-pieces) which are heaven in edible form that only exist at the Knabenschiessen.  They're caramel type things in little pieces like chocolate. Yummmmmm. 

And walking home from Dominic and Lara's house was an adorable little hedgehog! The picture isn't very good (it was dark) but it was the cutest little thing ever!

Also, tomorrow and the next day is a school field trip, and I don't know if I'll be able to post anything, but we shall see. And if not I'll just take lots of pictures and post them when I get home:)

Yay for hiking! (All my stuff that somehow fits into one backpack) 

Knabenschiessen

On Saturday my aunt took me, my grandma, and my cousin Lara to "Tag der öffnen Tür" at a music hall, which means "day of the open door", which is basically a fancy way of saying that you could go listen to the orchestra practice for free because there was a new conductor. The music was very good, but what I found more interesting was the hall that we were in. The whole giant building was decorated in the same fashion:)

On Saturday night Lara and I went to the "Knabenschiessen" (literally translated means boy-shooting) which is a giant fair that comes every year that originally was a shooting contest for young boys. I don't know how old the tradition of the Knabenschiessen is, but I'm guessing it's relatively old. The whole fair thing is a newer part, along with the fact that even though it's still called boy-shooting, girls can participate as well. It was super fun. 

The shooting part didn't go so well, I learned that I'm not good at shooting while lying down... Oops. 

The fair part, however, was awesome. Except for the giant crowd, really really loud music, and cigarette smoke so thick it was illuminated by the light from the rides. I'm making it sound like it was horrible by saying that, but somehow it was still really really fun...? I don't know. 

(In this picture you can see the smoke and dirt better)

We went on lots of rides and ate yummy foods. (Did you know cotton candy is called "Zucker-Watte" here? It means sugar-cotton)

 

Also, we got to go on the biggest operating Ferris wheel in all of Switzerland. It was epic. According to a sign, it had over 15,000 tiny lights all over it.

Friday! Week 4!

Another week! Yay! :) 

Today I walked home right before a giant rainstorm... I love rain! It's so pretty:

And I Skyped with my mom and Kayli...

And apparently the school has decided to make sweatshirts, sweatpants, and tshirts with the school logo and name on them. They look really cool! I'll try to find some pictures:)

Random Thursday

Today was unexciting except that we had to run 4 kilometers in p.e. and I went to lunch with a girl in my class and we talked about teachers and people who do drugs...

Tomorrow's Friday!! Yay! And next week is a field trip with my class-I'm already excited. 

There was a solar flare yesterday/today and apparently if there are clear skies Friday through Sunday you might be able to see some northern lights! So go take a midnight stroll! I just moved my entire desk so I could lean out my window but there are too many clouds this evening to see anything...

Did you know that you can leave comments on these blog posts? Now you do. All you need is a google account (gmail, youtube, etc.) and then you can write things or questions on the posts... :) Just FYI. 

Rain

Today was gorgeously rainy. Which means all the slugs come out. I have never seen larger slugs than there are here. They're everywhere. (My hand is for size comparison)

School was school, only I got out super early! Yay! Tomorrow p.e. is moved to a different time, so I get out early again! Woot!

And all my classmates seem to be under the impression I live in a place like Alaska after seeing the video I sent them (see post "Monday"). I had to explain a bit that the video was made in the winter and that yes, we do in fact have relatively warm summers sometimes. 

Rain and selfies

School today was fun because we had a teacher who is gone on a trip with another class so we had a random period to just hang out... Except it was raining so no one really felt like leaving school.

It was my friend Marlene's birthday today, and she brought cupcakes!!! Yay!

This is my new friend Ivana stealing my phone and taking pictures... How rude. :p

Monday...

Happy Monday! Today was the first day I wore one of my crazy pairs of leggings to school here. Yay? People gave me a lot of weird looks, it was pretty hilarious. And also fun. 

After school, instead of doing my homework before dinner and getting it out of the way I decided I'd play just a few minutes of piano. By a few minutes I mean 3 hours. Whoopsie! 

Lara and my aunt and I were walking home yesterday and we thought our shadows looked really cool. So here's a random picture!

Also, this weekend Lara and I went shopping, and I got more crazy leggings (and other stuff)! Woot!

Today I saw this video on Facebook and it made me think about another piece of Montana I'm missing... Enjoy! 

https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=FIJvkw8oeOA

Cousin time!

This Saturday Lara and I went shopping (I needed jeans, mom, I promise)

Ate the most delicious ice cream

And biked to a poetry slam-type event. It was super awesome. 

Sunday we watched movies (until 4 am, whoops!)

Did some math (literally 3 hours)

And went to the pool because the weather cannot decide if it's summer or fall. 

Friday! Week 3!

Yesterday I had school and then went to Dominic and Lara's for dinner. Then Lara slept over... We watched movies until 2 am, and we plan on doing the same thing tonight! Yay!

It's funny how at home I never really spend time looking up. Here every time I'm in the train, I go up into the upper level to look at the sky. #sohipster

I love the advertisements in cities. 

I actually can sport!!!

Today was "sport day", and it was super fun. In the morning we went swimming outside (it was coooold) and ran races and such. In the afternoon we had a volleyball tournament against the whole 3rd grade (freshmen). There are a bit more than 100 third graders, and my team won 1st place! It was super fun. 

Something that I was thinking about the other day on the train was Swiss-German. I think a lot of people don't understand what it is. German is an official language, and is what is spoken in schools and is written in textbooks. Swiss-German is a dialect, which means it is only spoken. Technically. It's really strange to try and read Swiss-German, because it theoretically doesn't exist. But all the students message each other in Swiss-German, just like we use abbreviations and shortened words (Like r, u, omg). It's really difficult to understand sometimes.

Apparently I can sports

Today we had p.e., or "sport" as it is called here, and we played lightning. Lightning is a game where you try to get the basketball into the hoop before the person behind you does, if you don't make it you're out, and if you do make it you go to the back of the line. Literally everyone at home knows how to play and everyone is really good at shooting hoops because basketball is a "cool" sport. Here, no one knew how to play, and I was basically the best player in class. It's pretty hilarious because at home I'm not one of the sporty kids. 

Tomorrow is a "sport day" and it's all the 3rd year classes (freshmen) against each other. We are swimming in the morning and playing volleyball in the afternoon. I'm really excited because I'm on a team with three girls who actually know how to play volleyball (unlike most of the other girls) so I think we have a good chance of winning! 

Pretty day

Today I noticed when I was going home how gorgeous the sky looked. So naturally I had to take a picture. I also just missed the train, so I had 15 minutes to burn, but that's totally not why I took a picture. 

I'm pretty sure since it's no longer summer vacation the weather has just decided to be gorgeous. 

Tonight I Skyped with Katie. I miss everyone!

Rain Randomness

Yesterday it was super rainy, and of course that was the day we decided to fix up all the bikes. On the way back home Lara decided to come with me... So we had some fun. 

Apparently I'm hilarious when I'm struggling to get a bike up or down stairs...

I ran out of memory on my phone so I imported them all to my laptop and then to a USB drive and then deleted them from my phone. I think I take too many pictures...

I didn't go by the baby bottle today, but I edited a beautifully professional picture:

Today for dessert at lunch I had chocolate because I'm so addicted. Chocolate is so freaking good here!!!

Tonight the sky was doing its usual beautiful thing so I had to take a picture.