Engelberg

Hallo wieder

A few weekends ago was the Rotex Winter Weekend in Engelberg. If you remember my post from last fall in Alt Sankt Johann, Rotex is an organization of former exchange students that have returned from their adventures and organize fun events for us now. So anyway here's the recap of the weekend:

Friday after school I headed home. It was just my host-parents at home as my host-brother had football (soccer) practice that evening. Shortly after getting home, I got dressed up nice and warm and headed out with my host parents and some of their friends from Sagogn to the village of Brün. Brün is located super high up in the mountains above Sagogn. It also has a booming population of twenty-five people. When we got up to the village, we got out of the cars and continued walking up for a few kilometers over the snow covered mountain road. After getting near the peak of the mountain, we stopped at a tiny restaurant for a few hours and had an amazing fondue dinner. It was really nice to eat there as it was definitely an authentic Swiss experience. Also it was awesome to talk to some more people from Sagogn and get to know some of them a little better. After dinner was over, we headed outside to see the whole mountain glowing super bright from the full moon. The glow made it a lot easier for us to do the next thing we had planned: sledding back down the way we walked up. I found it very hard and kind of scary at first as speed control and turning are not at all easy and we were on roads that literally had cliffs at the side, but once I got the hang of it it turned out to be an amazing time that I will never forget.

Overlooking the villages

Me and my host parents

The next morning I woke up at 7am and got ready to head to Engelberg. Once I got to Chur I met with Claire, Cassie and Bere. Cassie and Bere with staying with their host family at their holiday house near Chur so they would be making the whole trip with us. On the train we talked pretty much the whole way and exchanged some very funny stories (Cassie if you're reading this, you know exactly what I'm talking about). When we got to Luzern we met up with a bunch of other exchangers before catching the connecting train to Engelberg. On the train we all took up one car and had fun the whole way. 

Cassie discovers mountains

Train car selfie

Once we arrived, we met up with Rotex and walked to the house we would be staying in. The house was relatively small, but it slept as all comfortably so there were no problems. Once we were settled in we headed over to an arena near us to go ice skating. There we skated around for about an hour and had lots of fun all together. After that we headed back and hung around the house for the evening. For dinner we had Spaghetti then just chatted, played some games, and just had a general good time for the evening. 

The fam

The next morning we woke up at 7.00 AM then had breakfast. After that we headed outside and got about an hour of free time to just have fun, which ultimately turned into a giant snowball fight, which eventually turned into a Canada vs. USA battle. Eventually we all grouped up and walked over to the base of a gondola lift so that we could go tobogganing on the mountain. We were up there for about two hours and it turned out to be loads of fun. 

When Talya tries on my jacket...

All the gondolas had flags on them. We found
the most important one

Where we went tobogganing 

Model material

30 second snowman

Trying to build a pyramid: before...

...after

When we got back to the house, the weekend was over. A bunch of us headed back to Luzern for a few hours to hang out, but that didn't last long as we were all exhausted. In the end, it was a great weekend! Nothing super duper exciting, but a great time to bond with friends and just have some fun. 

Until my next post, Tschüss!!   

January

Grüazi Mitenand!

So back to school it's been... I'm now in the second semester and things are picking up. I can now finally understand almost everything my teachers are saying in classes and my German is significantly improving as a result. Conversations flow naturally and I am finally able to voice my opinion about most things.

Lots of fun things happened in January, first of all, we got lots more snow! It's mostly melted now, but it was nice while it lasted. But with more snow came more trails on the ski mountains being opened. Pretty much the entire resort of Laax is now open, and I have explored the whole area. I go skiing almost every weekend, whether it be with friends from school, other exchange students, host families, or even just alone. It's super nice to have such easy access to the mountains.

Another day on the slopes

Other than skiing, every other weekend I have an intensive German lesson in Zürich. In early March a bunch of exchange students, myself included, will be taking the B1 German exam to get a certificate stating we are fluent in conversational German. The course is three hours every other Saturday morning, and two hours every other Wednesday evening. The course material is getting harder and harder every time but I actually find its helping me tons and making a huge difference in my grammar, which is super important for the upcoming exam.

Zürich by night

After the course every Saturday, a large group of us always ends up staying in Zürich for a few hours. Typically we grab something to eat and search for fun things to do before heading home. Recently, after a course day, I headed to Zug to hang out with my friends Cam and Cassie. We call ourselves the Toronto Squad because we all come from neighbouring Rotary districts back in Canada. That was my first time in that city and, as always, it was super awesome to explore a brand new area (and of course, eat Döner).

Lake Zug

Zug and the lake

Cassie and her true love: Döner

Another time after a course, myself and a few other headed to the airport to say goodbye to our oldies. The time had come for them to return to Australia, and other countries in the southern hemisphere, as their exchange years were now complete. It was super hard to say goodbye to some of them and tears were definitely shed by all, but I know that they are all back now safe and sound.

Brendan

My partner in crime, Ruby

Paige

Maddie

A week later, Claire and I took Friday afternoon off school to meet up with a past exchange student from Australia in Konstanz, Germany. It was the first time for both of us in Germany, and we honestly had an amazing time. We couldn't get over how cheap everything was (we're used to Switzerland where you typically have to sell a major organ to afford McDonalds) and we spent quite a bit of money on various things.

Bordensee, on our way to Konstanz

Konstanz, Deutschland

The next day, I thought it would be fun to make dinner for my host family. I had my mom back home send me the recipe for one of my favourite dishes: ritz cracker chicken. In the morning I went shopping with my host mom and learned two important lessons:
1. Switzerland doesn't have 90% of the things you need to make typical dishes in Canada
2. Converting cups to milliliters and milligrams is harder than making the actual dish itself
However in the end it turned out very good and tasted almost exactly like it did back home, and my host family definitely enjoyed it.

Turned out great! (My host brother Noah made the sushi)

So that's all for this update. It may be awhile again before the next one so until then just keep assuming I'm eating tons of chocolate and cheese, skiing every weekend, and having an amazing time!
Tschüss!!

PS, I am now officially over half way finished my time here... It's insane how fast half a year can go by...

Game night with my host parents

Cheese Fondue over the fire

Chur

Giant tree in Küssnacht

Küssnacht am Rigi

Newbies and Ursula :)