...knock knock?

Hi. Remember me? That one girl, who used to post some things about her life in Switzerland?
I'm back :]

As some of you know, I was away in the US for an epic, month long trip, auditioning for a bunch of different college ballet programs and visiting some other colleges. It was a pretty incredible experience; I literally traveled from New York to California. I experienced everything from 0*F in Des Moines, to 65*F in Menlo Park. I went to four new states, and saw the Midwest for the first time. I had a really amazing time.

I've been back in Switzerland for two weeks now, and am dying under a Matterhorn sized pile of schoolwork, and the impending doom of exams. Spring is finally beginning to creep into the mountains, though! It snowed a couple days ago, but today it was a beautiful 10*C. I was ready to go picnicking or swimming, but I noticed there were still copious amounts of ice around the fountain across the street from our house, and decided to wait another few weeks.

We're planning to go to Paris over Easter, and I am *so* incredibly excited. My French teacher--whose French, not Swiss--has been teaching us about Parisian culture all year, and I've been dying to go (not to mention that I am completely and utterly in love with the movie Amelie, which may or may not have had some influence on my desire to see Paris). We'll only be there for about four days, but I know it's going to be amazinggggg.

Here's some photos from the past six weeks...

Sunset in the middle of Iowa

Iowa is proud to be the location of the World's Largest Truck stop.

Somewhere in Colorado/Utah (on Amtrack)

Utah/Colorado

Utah/Colorado

On the train from Des Moines to Salt Lake City (27 hours!)

The Botanical Gardens in Des Moines (it was 0*F outside, but felt like summer inside)

Salt Lake Union Pacific Depot

Amtrack station in Grand Junction, Colorado... after nearly 20 hours on a train, with 8 more to go!

More posts soon folks, I promise!

beautiful weather

Yes, this is a post about the weather. I am talking about the weather.

I think my perspective may have changed just a little. I still think anything below 60*F is too cold. I still get overly excited about snow. I still dress about four times more warmly then anyone else in this country. I still get laughed at by my Swiss and Canadian and Russian friends.
However, now I can walk outside when it's 2*C out, sigh and say, "Omigod, it's so nice out!"

I think I've mentioned before that Swiss weather is entirely unpredictable. When we left right before Christmas, it was pouring rain. When we got back, it was freezing, but no snow. A week an a half ago, we got 8 inches of snow in one night--which is really rare here, and shocked everyone. About three days later, the temperature rose to 8*C, and it's hovered between 2* and 4* ever since.

It even got nice to the point that the Jet d'Eau was turned on again!

On my way to ballet.

But... all good things come to an end. The forecast for tomorrow? Snow.
Not complaining, though. I still love snow.

a foggy, foggy fall

I might have mentioned before: the weather here is completely spastic.

This weekend, out of nowhere, it was ridiculously foggy--to the point of driving down the highway and only seeing the car in front of you--for three days straight. While I have no problem with fog (apart from the copious amounts of frizz it adds to my hair), it wasn't the best timing.

See, on Friday, my cousin Kaelynn flew in from California to spend Thanksgiving with us--which I have been SO excited about for ages. Of course, when you hear about Switzerland, there's a few things that come to mind, and besides chocolate and cheese, mountains are definitely associated with Switzerland. I don't know about you, but pointing into the über dense fog and saying "And that slightly grayer area is the treeline by the lake. And then the slightly lighter area is the lake. And I promise there are huge mountains across the lake, but you just can't see them right now," doesn't sound very convincing.
There should be some pretty gargantuan Alps in this photo. Can't you see them?
You get the idea.

On Sunday, to escape the fog so that Kaelynn could actually see some of Switzerland, we drove into the German section, hoping that the further we were from Lake Geneva, the better the weather would be. While we were wrong about that--it pretty much rained the whole day--at least it wasn't as foggy, and we got some spectacular views, and meandered around the charming little Swiss town of Gstaad (try to pronounce it. I dare you).

Cute, touristy little Gstaad.

The River in Gstaad.

Enjoying café au lait in Gstaad.

I'm taking Thursday and Friday off from school because, after all, were I still in the US, I would have a holiday anyways (plus, the main reason, Kaelynn's only here for ten days, and I feel so bad being in school the whole time!). I'll update you on how our Swiss style Thanksgiving turns out!

general updates and all that jazz

OK. Major apologies. Seriously, I haven't posted in two weeks. I'm super sorry.

Anyways, lot's has been going on. I promise, I've been thinking about blog posts all the time--I just haven't had a chance to actually get on and write them down. Let's start from the beginning.

Halloween: was fun. We helped host a party for families at my dad's work. While the majority of the kids were under ten, it still was pretty fun. Not to mention free candy (just in case you guys wanted to know what to bribe me with).

Dance: is going fabulous. I love my studio here... they have SO many classes, and the teachers are really good/attentive. I had no idea what to expect when I came to Switzerland, so let's just say I'm pleasantly surprised. I have, however, discovered how difficult it is to take any class other than ballet in French. Ballet is fine because I know what all the terms mean, but once I get to a modern class, I'm completely lost. It was pretty comical. I'm attempting hip hop this week. It will be even more comical.

School: is going better than expected. I didn't bomb this "marking period" (like a half a semester... weird Swiss system), and actually did pretty well, so I'm relieved. Not that I can stop and breathe for a sec or anything, though, because they keep us loaded with so much work.

College: is stressing me out. First of all, college apps are so much work. Everyone warned me, but it never really hit me until now. Not to mention, coordinating letters of rec and transcripts across to continents is challenging. Even more difficult, though, is getting to auditions (for college dance programs) in various states across the US from Switzerland... they're all either on the same weekend, or like a month apart. It's really frustrating. We're trying to make one three-week trip in February, but it's such a hassle!

Weather: is so frustrating! It's so cold, but it won't snow. It just pours, constantly. While I love rain, it feels too cold for it to not be snowing. I'm sure once it starts snowing, I'll begin wishing it was raining again, but I can't wait for it to snow now. This is probably memories of a snow-deprived Bay Area childhood surfacing, but I can't wait to do all those cheesy snow-related things...

Good news: WE GOT OUR BOXES! This was better than Christmas, my birthday, and Halloween, all on the same day. It was amazing. Unpacking box after box of amazingly familiar, necessary (and unnecessary) stuff was super. I love having more than four outfits to wear, and having all my books with me. It finally, finally feels like we're settling (I keep saying that, don't I? Well, I was wrong before. I feel way more settled now). We've almost hit our 3 month-iversary! Crazy, huh?

I'm hoping to post again this weekend, and I'll include lot's of photos! As soon as my dad uploads all his photos, I'll have about five thousand to sift through... so expect a photo journal post soon!

Au revoir :]

a chance to breathe and other extraneous tid-bits

I don't know if you guys have picked up on it, but school is way too much work for my liking. Whoever said that senior year was supposed to be a breeze lied (though I suppose it is a good wake up call before college...). So anyways, tomorrow is my last day of school before a beautiful, wonderful, glorious ten days of freedom. I'm so excited. I'll have ten full days to... study. And do homework. And do college applications. And study some more. And try to figure out what the heck I was supposed to know in the last two months of Calculus.
But hopefully, I'll also get a chance to go on a few adventures, watch a few good movies, read a good book or two, and catch up on this blog! (Because, honestly, I have noticed my lack in posts. I would say it's a combination of ridiculous amounts of homework everyday, and a deficit in cool adventures in the last couple weeks. For example: last weekend, my parents drove around Lake Geneva into France. I stayed at home and wrote essays and got a headache over derivatives.)

Also! There are two new pieces of good news. Number one: my mom got her B permit. This is basically a permit that allows us to live in Switzerland. We originally had D visa, which is a one time entry into the country, but since we are definitely planning on visiting other countries, we needed a B permit. My dad and I haven't gotten out permits yet, but we suspect it's because they do it alphabetically. But it hopefully means we will get our permits in the next few days!
Piece of good news number two: our container has almost arrived! As I mentioned a few posts back, we shipped a huge amount of stuff over here, and it's finally almost made it. It should be getting into Basel next Wednesday. Then all we have to do is rent a truck (or something) and drive it down here. Let me assure you, I am overjoyed at the prospect of having more than just four outfits.

Last bit of random news: it is honestly cold here. We've been having a "heat wave" and it's been about 7*C. I'm still awful at the conversions, but that's pretty much the average temperature in California in February. Also known as cold.
So, I've been discovering that what I considered to be heavy winter jackets are really only appropriate for early fall here. Next on the agenda: winter coat shopping!

One last thing... I know that there are a few of you reading this, but I'd really love to know how many and who you are! If you don't mind just leaving a comment or following this blog, I'd really appreciate it... I'm just curious!