Happy Caturday

Today I hung out with Lara and did homework. We played Mariokart and watched The Perks of Being a Wallflower. I've watched it about 5 times now and if highly recommend watching it. It's funny, I tried reading the book but I hated it. But the movie is excellent.

Friday! :)

Today half of our Spanish class was gone, so we didn't have to do as much work as we normally do. Yay!

I'm so happy it's Friday and the weekend is ahead:)

Piano Lesson:)

Today I had my first piano lesson in half a year! The teacher was super nice, which makes me excited to see what new pieces I can learn this semester. To get to the music building, however, I have to walk up a hill... And today I noticed how gorgeous the field under the building looked. A zillion little purple flowers are growing and they look so cool from far away. 

But we also had p.e. today... And we played volleyball for two periods. My arms aren't used to that, so they got all red and I'm pretty sure the little spots are burst blood vessels. Fun, right?

Springgggg

Today was awesome because p.e. was canceled so we got to go to the mall and hang out there & talk. I love the grapevine of gossip in schools. I learned so many interesting things about my classmates. 

But after school (half day!) I went with my friend Anna to the Zuri See, or the Lake of Zurich, to take pictures and hang out.

We found so much gorgeous street art. 

Plus we went to Starbucks. It was so unbelievably warm today. I think it's springtime?

Brains

Today was fun because this semester we have these half classes, where half of the class goes to one class and the other half to another. It's supposed to allow the teacher to interact with us more and such. But only for three periods on Tueaday... Idk why either. 

Today we also got a little lecture from our "Klassenlehrer" (class teacher-meaning we are class 3D with him as our main organizer of activities and trips and such) about motivation and why we are in the Gymi (higher level school) instead of the Sek (lower level school). He talked about training your brain and stuff like that, which I found really neat. Did you know your brain perceives over 10,000,000 stimuli/bits of information per second? And we only physically notice 16. And after an hour we only remember 1-2. And after a few days we only remember 0.5. And years later, if we experience something that somehow is similar to that 0.5 bit of information, we might make a connection to it and our brains will have a little imaginary string connecting those bits of info. But if you never received or studied that information, your brain never has the chance to make that connection. So even if you don't remember much of what you studied in 10 years, if you somehow make a connection, your brain has the opportunity to grow and make new imaginary strings connecting stuff. If you never trained your brain by trying to remember stuff, you won't ever make that connection and you will be scientifically not as smart. Weird stuff. Brains. But fascinating. 

Tomorrow after school I'm doing a mini Photoshoot with one of my friends:) I'm excited to see if we get any good pictures!

How do I school

Today I went back to school. It was really nice to see my class again, and I think this semester will be even better than the last one. :) It's so nice and bright out when I wake up! It seems closer to summer than it actually is. Idk. 

Tonight I was randomly inspired by a picture and I wrote a little story that I haven't finished yet. I've forgotten how lovely and therapeutic it is to just let words flow onto the page. I need to do it more often. 

Grandma

Today I did homework and got ready for school because it starts again tomorrow! Agh! I also spent a good hour with my grandma looking at laptops online for her to decide which one she wanted. My grandma doesn't really like the Internet and cell phones and such but wants to be able to communicate with her friends via email... It's pretty adorable. I also helped her prepare tonight's dinner, which was fondue! :) I'm excited for school to start again. Goodnight!

Hello NSA

Today I went to the grocery store and the cheese store with my Opa. It saddens me how slowly he walks. He hates going outside and literally spends all day on the couch watching television. It follows logically that he's not in exactly the best shape. So what takes me five minutes to walk took us 25 minutes today. Including breaks. At least he isn't in a wheelchair yet.

I spent the rest of the day helping my grandma around the house & doing homework. Then my grandma and I went into Zurich to see the new movie "Citizen Four". It's about the whole Edward Snowden NSA spying scandal in 2013. The scary thing is how many people and how much data it encompasses. It's mind-blowingly, incomprehensible and almost flat-out unbelievable that the whole thing, all those secrets, are not some science fiction story, but real life.  I would definitely recommend seeing it.  Woo politics.

Craftiness & what is school

Today I hung out with Lara and we decided to be crafty. So she updated some photos hanging on her wall, and I made paper beads. I've seen these on Pinterest before, but I've never tried to make them. They're surprisingly easy, just a bit time-consuming. 

I also got to skype with my mom & my dad. I think two hours is a new record! :p

But school starts soon? What? No. I really don't want to go back... Oh well...

Grandpa's birthday dinner

Today I slept in and spent most of the day organizing my room, doing homework, drawing,

And going grocery shopping with my grandma. It was also my grandpa's birthday a few days ago so we went to a restaurant to celebrate that. It was a really nice lazy day. :)

Gift money & movie:)

Today i went into Zurich with Lara and Cecilia and went shopping with the money my grandma gave me for Christmas. Thanks, Grammy! <3

I think I found one of my favorite sweatshirts ever:

And in the evening we went over to uncle Ralph and Aunt Claudia's and watched a movie:) Time is flying by... Only 5 months until I come home? What?

Sleepover!

Yesterday I got up late and then met Lara and her friend Cecilia to go hang out in Zurivh. We went to an old-fashioned photo booth, got Starbucks, 

and just kind of generally wandered around talking. Then we went to Cecilia's house and made pizza and baked cookies and watched movies. :)

We were awake until 5 am, and then slept until noonish. Good morninggggg

Driving home

Today we drove home from Sedrun and I got to spend the rest of the day unpacking & cleaning up stuff from the trip... But I also got to skype with my mom & dad & Gage, so that was fun:) Im adding pictures to all of last week's posts, go check them out if you want to!

Last day of skiing

Today was our last day of skiing, tomorrow we have to drive home... But it was really fun here and it went by so fast. The only thing that bothered me was how much ice there was, because I'm not comfortable skiing on ice and then I look ridiculous with my skis far apart trying not to fall down... But oh well.:) Something funny is that at the beginning of the week the boys were always waiting for Lara and I because we were slower than them, but by today we were the ones waiting for them...

ICE & night skiing!

Today was a bit colder than yesterday, but that meant that most of the runs were icy. Very icy, in my opinion. Everyone else thought I was crazy and that this was perfect weather. But I'm used to better snow at the price of lower temperatures... Oh well.

Today we came home early so we could get some rest before going night skiing! I'd never been, but it was super fun. They put more snow on the runs so the ice wasn't bad at all, and there were fewer people. Also it's just generally really cool to ski at night. But what's really scary is that I didn't notice how fast I was going. It was only when I tried to slow down or stop that I realized I was going way faster than I normally do. It was cool and creepy at the same time. 

 Tomorrow is our last day of skiing! I'm sad... It's really neat here, and I love skiing and won't get to do it again until next year. But we still have one more week of vacation! :)

Warm day & friends

Today was quite warm, which I found really weird. Because I generally associate skiing with freezing temperatures. But it was also really nice, and Lara and I took some cool pictures:)

Tonight we went to a restaurant in town and us "kids" (me, Lara, Dominic, and Joshua) wanted to stay later, so my aunt and uncle just went home and left us there. It was really fun because we spent two hours laughing at stupid pictures and telling stories and it's so fun to make a new friend. I'm excited for the few days we have left here in Sedrun.✌️

Skiing & tubing

This morning Lara and I walked down about 40 feet to the bakers and got gipfeli (croissants) for breakfast. Here that's a totally normal thing to do but for us in America it's just weird. But it's also really cool to have fresh baked breakfast so close to your front door. :) 

Today we went skiing again as usual and in the afternoon went tubing down a mini ski slope thing. It was super fun and Lara and I almost slid off the slope... And the boys decided to switch and try snowboarding or skiing (whichever one they hadn't done before) and it was super hilarious to watch. We're already halfway through our time here in Sedrun, it's crazy how time flies. 

Chegle

Today we went skiing all day again :), and then after dinner we went Swiss bowling, called "chegle". It was really fun, even though I'm generally horrible at bowling... But here they use heavier balls (I think) with different holes for your fingers (one for your thumb and one for the rest of your fingers) the lane is shorter, and the pins are set up different. It was weird. For me. 

Skiing!

Today we went skiing for the first time this week :) It was super fun, and I really really reallyyy missed skiing. There weren't even that many people! And I'm really looking forward to this next week. This is the view from the middle of the run, where we are staying is in the little collection of houses right behind the chairs on the lift. 

Long (short by Montanan standards) Car Rides

Today we drove about 4 hours to a place called Sedrun, which is basically a little town full of cute cabins right next to a train station that has a train that goes to a bunch of ski slopes. It's an adorable town, but yet again I was surprised by the population craziness in Switzerland. You'd expect there to be mountains and loads of space and no people, but there are a bunch of people here. I'm excited to go skiing tomorrow!

Friday & "sportferie"

Today was the last day of school for two weeks! It was super fun because all the teachers really didn't want to do anything, so we had a bunch of easy classes. And after school I went to give my friend her report card, but I got a bit lost along the way and ended up taking about 45 minutes longer than I should have to get to her house... In the freezing cold wind. Oh well. When I got back my grandma made me hot chocolate:)

Tomorrow Aunt Claudia, Uncle Ralph, Dominic, Lara, and I are going to a ski place for one week of the two weeks of vacation we have from school. I'm really excited!

Ice skating & ranttttt

Today we had a double period lunch, which was cool because all the girls in my class all went out to eat together and we talked about space and technology and tried to solve random riddles and brain teaser type things. It was really fun to talk to people who find it actually interesting that NASA wants to colonize Mars instead of just being like "oh cool" and then talking about nail polish. Eh. Whatever.

Rant time again! *I don't hate the people I'm talking about here, I just think it's unbelievably rude what they're doing and I've lost respect for them*

So today we got to go watch what I'm pretty sure were random scenes from Italian operas performed by high-schoolers. Most people-including me-didn't get what was going on most of the play, because it was all in Italian and because it was that sort of abstract interpretation that certain directors like and no one understands. 

But the people participating did really really well, and I was super impressed by how well some of them really got into character and could sing. So I quietly sat and watched what was obviously a very well-rehearsed and thought out presentation. It was definitely better than double French. However, a lot of people thought that the whole thing was  *smacks gum* "ohmigod, like, SO boring, like, ya know?" Like, no, I didn't know, because I couldn't concentrate, because you were talking and literally listening to music while the performance was happening?? Shut up, listen, and get off your phone. Just because you're going nowhere in life doesn't mean you shouldn't support those who are. Also, next time you want to go get "so high, maaaaaan (I swear it's the best weed in all of Zurich-no, I SWEAR, bro)", do it after school and/or don't sit next to me PLEASE. You stink. 

Anyways, then for p.e. we went ice skating! I am pretty horrible at it-probably because I've been about two times ever. So now I have bruises and I scraped through a few layers of skin on my legs. Wooo. But tomorrow is the last day of school before two weeks of vacation! 

Choir Solo :)

Today I got to get up much later again. It was honestly really nice, and I feel like everyone was more awake and participated in class a lot more. There was also a lot fewer people who were late the past two days. Apparently it's scientifically backed that teenagers have a sort of inner clock that's set a few hours later than adults, which means we naturally stay up later and get up later. Weird stuff. 

And today after school I had a few hours to kill so I went into Zurich and to the English bookstore and just sat and read random books for a good two hours. It was really nice... Is it weird that I missed the feeling of being surrounded by books? I don't know. 

Afterwards I went back to the school and tried out for a choir solo. The teachers quickly decided, and since there will be four shows (each with two solos in them) I get to do the solo I auditioned for in two shows, and another girl will be doing it in the other two shows. Which I think is an awesome way of letting more people have a solo. So that's pretty exciting, especially because the song is in French, and I basically just went with how I felt it should be pronounced... Yay!!

And hello from the cute black cat that ran away when I tried to take a picture of it this morning. :)

I get to sleeeeeeeep

Today I got to get up super late because I didn't have to be at school until 10:40. :) It was awesome, and tomorrow is the same! So basically I was only at school for a couple hours, and then I came home and did homework and stuff for the rest of the day.

Have a picture I took a while ago & I'm rly proud of. :)

Zurichhhhhhh

Today I did laundry and homework and I went and wandered around Zurich and drank coffee with Lara and another girl named Leonie. It was fun, and there was a mild blizzard on the way home and Lara and I got a little snowy. :) But Zurich was gorgeous, as always. (Photo creds-Lara & editing-me)