Spain Day 2!

Today we got up early and walked down a hill behind our hotel to wander through the actual city of Granada. 

We visited the Cathedral where Queen Isabella of Spain's body is, 

and a cool statue showing Christopher Columbus asking Queen Isabella for permission to go to India, which was neat.:) (oops, you can't even see the statue in the picture? My bad.)

Then we did some shopping, because everything in cheaper here than in Switzerland. Everything is cheaper anywhere else than in Switzerland (kind of). 

We came back to the hotel & went swimming & laid in the sun until dinner (it's so nice & warm here!), where we walked to a place close by where there was amazing cheesy pizza & paellas (rice with tomatoes and lots of other veggies-apparently a Spanish specialty). 

Tomorrow we have to get up early to get on the bus for two hours.. *horrified gasp*

Philosophical discussions

Today we had two hours for lunch, and I went with six other girls from my class to the mall near the school. We literally talked the entire two hours about whether or not God is real, our purpose on Earth, etc. I love finding people my age that want to talk about random (boring to most people) stuff like religion, politics, or current events. I have friends in Montana that are into that type of stuff, but 98% of high schoolers in America aren't. And that's sad. Because younger people usually have a totally different way of looking at the world and interpreting it, and it's really cool. Ah well. Just another one of those things I am really really really going to miss about Switzerland... The younger generation's interest in actual ideas instead of One Direction.

My grandfather suddenly had a really bad backache yesterday, and barely was able to get into bed. My grandma called the doctor and the doctor gave him pain meds but they didn't do anything. They tried stronger meds that evening, and they still didn't work. So an ambulance came to pick him up and take him to the hospital this morning. Turns out he somehow broke two ribs! He has to stay for a few days until they figure out the most effective pain meds. I'm relieved that the pain wasn't something worse. Hopefully he gets better soon!

 

Friday! Christmas break!

Yay Christmas break!!! Today was super fun. We only had one hour of music in the morning because the second period was an orchestra concert, and choir was canceled because Christmas/the teachers are nice. So we had two hours for lunch, and three other girls and I went to the lake.

Then we had an hour less of math, because of the "atempause" I mentioned in my last post. I got to sing a song called "there's a girl that I love" (don't know who wrote it) that is in a round. It's super pretty and has like a secret message, a place, at the end when the round finishes. And a bunch of other classes did different things, basically it was a little celebration that there's a break, and happiness about the holiday season and the accomplishments of the school.

After I Skyped with my mom in the evening, Lara and Lea and I were going to go ice skating, but it started raining. So we had a movie night instead. It was still super fun. (My friend took this picture & I thought it was cool, so...)

I'm so excited it's finally Christmas break!

"Back to school"

Today I finally got to go back to school! Yay! It was nice to see all my classmates again:)

And there was a Christmas dinner downstairs for all the people in the building that my grandparents live in, which was very nice. They had two xylophone players from Poland come and play two giant xylophones for us. It was pretty cool. They played four or six-handed, (one of them sometimes took two mallets in each hand) and they played songs from famous composers like Vivaldi or Beethoven. It was super impressive, believe it or not. The most amazing part (in my opinion) was that they had all transposed the music for the xylophone themselves. That had to be hard to do. It was basically one of the coolest things I've ever seen. I wish I could put video in my post but I can't. I found them on the Internet, you can see their website here: (or just search for malletduo and click the first link) http://malletduo.pl/en 

Umbrellaaaaaa

Today I had a half-day of school (like every Wednesday) and it rained the whole day. :/. My grandma decided that for my birthday she would buy me a new umbrella, so today we went umbrella shopping. So exciting, I know. But I actually found a really cool one... :)

Also, when we were in Zurich I noticed a bunch of things hanging from the buildings and I asked my grandma about them. Apparently Zurich gets all lit up with Christmas lights during the holiday season. I'm so excited for Christmas already... Is that weird? I can't wait to see what these look like lit up though!

Tonight was a holiday called "Rabelichten", which means " turnip lighting", which means that you carve turnips (kind of like pumpkins in the U.S. But different-see the post "Happy November!" for details) and you walk through the streets where the streetlights are turned off with the lit turnips, and it looks really cool. It was super fun, even though it was raining nonstop all day today-it even snowed a teeny bit tonight! (This is a group of kids holding their turnips-you can't see it very well)

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!

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! 

Language class still

This week we had classes again every morning, and in the afternoons we went shopping

To the playground

Did some people watching

Visited a chocolate store

Went to the Rhine Falls and the Bodensee

Visited a castle

Among other things

But sadly, Friday was goodbye... 

Rome day 3

Yesterday we went to the Vatican Museums, inside of which was the Sistine Chapel, Castel Sant'Angelo, and the Villa Borghese park. There were little go-karts there and Gage and I tried one:

This was on top of the Castel Sant'Angelo, a fortress for the Pope if he should ever be under attack.

Alcoholic beverages?

Today was Dominic's confirmation, and after we went to church, we had lunch with my cousins, cousins-twice-removed (I think), and Dominic's girlfriend. It was fun. And yummy. 

Apparently my mother decided that I was old enough to try a radioactive-looking beverage. It was wacky. I drew my glass some arms and legs and eyes and called it Fred. Fred was yummy.

Tomorrow we leave for Rome! I'm super excited... I don't know what all we are going to do there, but I'm sure it'll be fun.

I miss my friends so much though. :(

Fun times

Yesterday we went to a dinner with my cousins, Dominic and Lara. We played games and listened to music... It was fun. This was the gorgeous sunset on the way home.

Today I went to Blau ring, which is like a girl scout-type thing here with Lara. We had a muffin-decorating contest, and guess who won? This girl:) Here's a picture of my cupcake... It's modeled off of Olaf from the Disney movie Frozen. (The white bits around him are him melting;))

After we decorated muffins, we went to the Sihl river, which is about 5 minutes away from where my grandparents live. We played in the water and walked across the rocks over the river to get home.

Tonight we went to the "badi" (pool) and went night-swimming with Dominic and Lara. I've never been night-swimming, and it was super exciting.

Tomorrow is Dominic's confirmation, and then we get to go to lunch with some relatives:) Busy, busy, busy!

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!

Summer weather!! (Not really)

It's Friday!! It seems like this has been a really long week... Only 11 days left of school!

After our "fitness day" in P.E. today last period (basically a day where we run the entire period) my friend Kayli and I were super tired and exhausted, so naturally we decided to go jump into a lake. In Montana. In May. When it can either be snowing or be as beautiful as it has been the past few weeks. 

Let's just say it was cold. Very cold.

But it was also super fun. Afterwards we watched movies and ate pizza and talked about school and stuff:)It was awesome. I hope this pretty weather continues!

Bye!