Choir day:)

Today I got to miss most of school for choir practice, which was really fun. Then I came home, spent a while helping my grandma sort through photos on her laptop, did homework and now it is almost midnight & I must sleep. Oops. Good night! 

Friday!

I seriously do think I'm here just to schlepp water. And groceries. :)

Today choir and theater got to leave classes early to go practice in the theater all together. That did not go well at all. The theater wants to do some sort of interpretive version of the story of David (from the Bible) but with hashtags and the choir singing "hallelujah" because David got 50 million likes on his Facebook page. Um. 

However, they "weren't quite done" aka they only had four pages of script and none of it memorized. So I don't know how that's supposed to work... We'll see. But anyways, we got to leave early from practice because we had run through everything:)

Tonight I got to Skype with my mom:) We talked about colleges. For three hours. Ahhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh

Choir day

Technically we didn't have school today because there were Aufnahme Prüfungen (testing to be accepted into the school next year) going on. But some teachers decided it would be a perfect day to have the choir and theater practice together for the performance at the end of the year. I personally think that what the choir is singing is really nice... It's called Le Roi David, and it's all majestic with hallelujahs and the like. Most people don't like it because it's not Pop. But what the theater is doing is what I don't understand. Apparently they're trying to do some sort of modernized version of the story of David (from the Bible). This includes us singing hallelujah because David has reached 50 million Likes on Facebook, and projecting hashtags onto the stage for a background. According to my friend, the theater practiced all semester, then about a week ago decided to scrap the whole thing and start over again. I don't know what the teachers are expecting (a miracle?) but as far as I can tell it's not going to be so amazing. Oh well. 

Also, I met a very photogenic cat on the way home. :)

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. :)

Friday! Week something

Today I got to leave Spanish class an hour early so we had enough time to rehearse in choir for three hours with the theater people that we'll be performing with:) It was fun, and my voice basically died. Basically it was a beautiful day, and I got to eat chocolate. Woohoo for weekends and sleeping! 

Singing workshop

Today was an average Monday, except after school I got to go sing for two hours in a choir directed by a man called Freddy Washington. He has done multiple workshop-type things in the past at the school I'm going to, and apparently this is his last one. So I got super lucky! He seems really nice, and what's best about the whole thing is that it's a choir composed of people who actually want to be there to sing, not because it's an easy A. The workshop is mostly gospel music, and it's every day this week with a concert on Friday and Saturday. It's going to be an awesome week. 

Friday! Week 13!

Today was an awesome day:)

I wore a pair of jeans I ripped with neon tights underneath and I got a bunch of compliments, which made me happy.

So... We thought that our music teacher was sick so we left... Turns out he was just late. Oops.

Next week I'm participating in a singing workshop! Yay! We practice every day for one week and then do a mini concert on Friday and Saturday. It's going to be super fun:)

Also, what is up with Apple & my internet?! This is not normal...? Yeah, no. The update can wait. 

Friday! Week 11!

Today I had a music test first period, which was... Interesting. All the notes have different names than they do in the U.S., and they use a different rhythm-speaking system than we do here. 

Choir was awesome as usual, and I signed up to try out for one of two solos for the concert at the end of the year. We'll see how that goes, but there were only a few other people signed up so... *crosses fingers*

On the way home from school I realized that I hadn't had coffee in a while, so of course I had to do the classic #whitegirl thing and get some. :)

I also Skyped with my mom. Miss you! 

Friday! Week 7!

Today we didn't have choir, so a bunch of the girls and I went to subway for lunch. Guess how much a 15 cm (the smaller size instead of 30 cm) sandwich cost me? 9.90 CHF (franks). Ridiculous. I know where I'm not going for lunch again... But afterwards we all got ice cream, so that was fun. 

After school I went home to change and grab my stuff, and then I went back into Zurich with Lara to get on a train for three hours to Genève. Genève is a city in the west of Switzerland (the French-speaking part) where Lara's godmother (Sandra) lives. On the way there we played a half-hour-long game of uno with two 20-something military guys who spoke only a bit of german. It was really fun:)

When we arrived in Genève Sandra was waiting for us, and then we went a few tram stations away from the main station to her apartment. She has the coolest city apartment (aka it's tiny and adorable) on the top fifth floor of the building (No elevator = super fit). The whole place (and by "place" I mean four little rooms) is completely hipster and eclectic with furniture from all over Asia and Europe and orange walls. It has a teeny balcony with an adorable view. I am completely in love with it. *cue crazy fangirling*

I got permission to take some pictures, but it's already dark here (11:45 pm) so I'll post some tomorrow in better light.

Lara's godmother (what does that make her to me? Is there even a term for someone's cousin's godmother? I don't think so...) is super nice and fun. We talked and drank tea until 11:30 at night and she is totally cool with whatever we want to do the next few days. I'm super excited to see the city and get to know Sandra better! And no school for two weeks!

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*

Friday! Week 2!

Yay for Friday! Today I got to sleep in, which means there are way fewer people on the trams and trains (which is much more pleasant).

I had double periods of classes all day... Music, Spanish, Choir, and Math. In choir we are practicing to accompany the theater class for some play involving the David and Goliath fight scene from the Bible. It's a super long song, and super epic. (!!!)

This is the main entry to the school, kind of the general hanging out/eating lunch/studying place. It's kind of really bright and open and pretty. Just cause. 

On the way home I again had to go pass by where the baby bottle was and lo and behold it was still there. Yay!

I also got to Skype with my family today. That was awesome. :)

What Time Is It?

Summertime! Yay! Our last day of school was yesterday, I'm so happy! Woohoo summer!

And just now, I looked out the window and there was this absolutely gorgeous double rainbow, half in the sun, half not, right as the sun was going down. So pretty! And what's funny is one rainbow goes left to right, purple to red, and the other one goes red to purple. Apparently this happens because the light coming from the sun is reflected twice inside the raindrops. The light emerges from the raindrop at a different angle than it does the first time. In the first rainbow the blue light emerges from the drops at a smaller angle than the red light, but in the second, the blue light emerges at a larger angle than the red light. Therefore it seems "flipped" to us. Whoa. Science. Cool stuff.

Congratulations. You learned something today:)

End of the Year

All of a sudden everyone has literally gone crazy. I swear.

We only have one more day of school left, so naturally everything that didn't get done during the school year absolutely must get done now. Asap.

So yesterday I went to church choir practice for the first time, and we had some cake... It was pretty awesome. And before I left, some people gave me cards. I opened then when I got home, and I was super touched that the wonderful people in that choir decided to give me some jewelry and some money (?!). It was super sweet, and totally unexpected. So that was fun...

Then today was the second-to-last day of school, so in all of my classes we either took tests or partied. We had a breakfast party in Choir, that was awesome...:) Hey, but it's Friday!!!

Tonight I get to hang out with Katie, and tomorrow I get to have a party with all of my old grade school friends to say goodbye. Only eight days until we leave!
Bye!

The School System Is A Joke

So, today I went back to school after a 3-day weekend... *woop woop*
1st period: French. I love the language and the teacher, but one of the kids asked what the word "deafen" meant. http://lmgtfy.com/?q=Deafen
2nd period: Choir! Nothing to say. I love to sing.
3rd period: 21st Century Literacies. We had a lady come in to tell us about how difficult sophomore year is going to be. They tell us that every year, that "the next year of school is going to be soooo tough!"
4th period: English. We wrote an essay. It was fun.:)
5th period: Math. I played on my friend's phone the. Entire. Time. I just did the math homework that he assigned in about 15 minutes. Easy.
6th period: Biology. This class is fun. We have a good teacher. And we learned stuff. Woot.
7th period: P.E. Easy, but fun.

#sorrynotsorry
Rant time is over now.
Bye!

Certificates and stuff?!?

Yesterday evening was the last choir concert of the year... :( But it went amazingly.

At the end of the year, apparently every activity gives out a bunch of certificates and awards....
So I received two for participating in District Music Festival (One for my solo and one for my duet), and a certificate saying that I volunteered 32 hours at the hospital! Yay:) And supposedly if I manage to get 90 hours of community service hours, I get a half credit for school. So that's exciting...

Bye!