PENTATONIX

Today was a normal Wednesday, which means a half day, and after going home & dropping off my school stuff, I went right back into Zurich to wait in line for 2 hours with 4 other girls from my class to see Pentatonix! (Google them if you don't know who they are, you won't regret it..) We basically sat on the ground the whole time we were waiting, eating and talking. But showing up so early was worth it because we were fourth in line. That meant when the doors opened we were in the fourth row ish (standing-it was in a club so no seats..) and standing/dancing to the radio for another 2 hours, they finally came on stage and performed for another two hours. It was amazing. I'm completely hoarse and my feet hurt so bad... But it was super fun! I sound a bit crazy-but believe me, it was worth it! They are just as good live as on any recording... And they did one song without microphones, where the audience was dead silent. It was so beautiful. I'm so happy that they decided to come to Zurich while I'm here! 

Ten minutes after I got home I went on Instagram and saw that there was a new picture on their official Instagram... That they had taken during the show... And I'm in it! 

You can see so much, I know. But woo! We were so close to the stage. It was soooo awesome! :)

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?

Music & art

Today I decided to go thrifting after school with some of my Christmas money:) It was super fun and I got some really cute stuff, but we also had a p.e. test earlier that day, and I walked from one store to the other, which was farther than I thought... So I'm really sore. Woop. Oh well!

I've been obsessed with drawing Disney stuff and listening to Lorde lately... So I was somehow inspired to doodle (guess who?) whilst listening to my Lorde playlist on Spotify... :)

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 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! 

The Piano Problem

So I really thought it was Wednesday all day today. I have no clue why... Oh well...

Today I went to school like usual, then came home and made dinner and did homework and played piano for an hour. But I realized that I have no new piano music and it's hard to find free stuff on the internet that's the right skill level and fun to play... So if anyone wants to gift me piano books or music or that sort of stuff for my birthday (13 days!!!) I would love it...:) Music in general is just pretty awesome. Especially Owl City and Taylor Swift.

Also, it's almost my dad's birthday! I made him a card today and hopefully it won't arrive too late. <3 

Fajitas

Today I cleaned my room, hung out with Lara, and went to a party. We made fajitas. We know how to party. $wag. Just kidding. It was fun. We listened to music and watched movies and such. Yippee for friendship!

Also, Dominic came home from Greece tonight, where he spent a week with his class. We get to go camping in Montana, here they go to a different country. 

Long day:)

Today I had school until 5:15. It was super fun because our history teacher is doing a big project week with another class, so we had two hours to eat lunch, which was cool. I also did my English presentation, and it went awesome! I talked for the whole period, and everyone wanted more details about what I think are the weirdest things. A big deal was the fact that I put a picture of me in a tree stand at age 12 with a gun, although I said I never shot anything. The whole class thought that was the bomb diggity. 

An interesting question someone asked me was if it was weird to listen to music and understand the words. Here everyone listens to exactly the same stuff as we do in the U.S. (with a few Swiss or German artists mixed in) and they usually don't understand the words in English songs, so to them it's strange you actually comprehend what the artists are saying. 

Tomorrow after school Lara and I are going to the west part of Switzerland for the weekend! (Lara's godmother lives there and invited us!) I'm really excited! :) 

Woo for almost another week of school being over! Time flies when you're having fun... 

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!

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.

Abandoned baby bottle

I got to get up late(r) today and I only had a few classes! Yay! I also got to leave school an hour early because I didn't see the point in staying for English class. Thankfully, neither did my teacher and she let me leave.

I found a wonderfully relevant comic that perfectly describes my most common everyday #firstworldproblem :

My grandparents went to a dinner where they discussed the cruise they are going to take, so I got to go to Dominic and Lara's house for dinner, which was fun. On the way home, almost literally right outside the apartment buildings, was a random baby bottle, just sitting on the side of the sidewalk. I don't know why, but I thought it was hilarious. 

It looks so lonely...

I wonder if it'll still be there tomorrow?

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!