Yesterday I had my German class in the afternoon from 13:30 (halb zwei in German) till 17:00 (funf Uhr in German) and I had to go to the Canadian Embassy to register that I was here. So I was able to sleep in till 8:30 (another 2 hours of sleep!! I felt great all day!) and then caught the train at 9:43 which wasn't that busy thank god! Edna (my host sister who is actually the same age as me) got up and came into the library as I was getting all my books and documents ready to go and she didn't look impressed; to be fair though I was dropping everything, and running around everywhere to get things that I forgot. She kinda just sat there and was trying not to laugh. If it was the other way around I would be laughing too. So the first thing I tried to do when I got to Bern (capital of Switzerland and where my German course is and also where the Embassy is) was actually go to the embassy because I didn't know how long it would take, and it's the government so.... I think I got on three different buses to get to the Embassy and relied on Google maps to get me there. The embassy looks like a nice house. It has some gates that you need to go through. So the first one you have to press a button and talk to someone stating why you here and then they may or may not let you through, then you get to the front door and you have to buzz in again and then you get into this waiting room that looks like a doctors office but a lot more red. There is a girl behind a glass you have to talk to and they were very confused when I said I need to "check in." I waited a bit and then got directed into a washroom like cubical where it's like those prison interrogations with the dividing glass between you and the other person. A lady who was obviously french came and talked to me and gave me a sheet and told me to do it online. Oh! and you weren't allowed to bring your phone in! You had to lock it in a mailbox. Anyways I was there for 10 minutes tops and then was able to leave. You have to buzz the things on your way out too. So I had 3 hours before I had to go back to the train station and catch a bus to the German course. So I went to a Migros which I think is the Independent or Walmart of Switzerland. I got a sandwich and a potato salad to go. I also stopped by a farmers market which is there everyday and got a pear. I then took a bus to Munster which is the church in Bern and behind it there is a Park there that over looks the river. I sat there and had my lunch and listen to a German podcast on speaking German. I then went inside the church for like the fifth time and looked more closely at the stained windows which is amazing. We're not allowed to take photos in there so I don't have one. I actually think its a great idea because it wasn't built for a tourist attraction it was an actual building where people go and pray. It's pretty cool there. I then started walking by the other stores making my way back to the Bahnhof (station). The German course was cool because it was kind of an international day. We showed our money from different places and I think Canada's is still the coolest. Just because ours is see-through. Switzerland's money is pretty cool too because it gets bigger and longer with size. And they don't have a five dollar bill but a five dollar coin. Oh! And my friend Sophie got on a train to Luzern instead of Bern so she missed the class. Today was more boring. After class my friends and I walked around and got Gelato from a really good place. We may or may not have gotten lost but we eventually found it and they said it was totally worth it. That's all for today.
I know I haven't posted in a while but things have been very busy on my end. So this past weekend I went to... Fiesche. I think that's it...it's somewhere in the Alpes, for a Rotary meeting with all the other exchange students in Switzerland. There were over 60 of us in this "Sports Resort." I met up with my friend Kaylee from Canada who is from my district in Canada (I knew her before I left for Switzerland) and my other two friends from my language course Sophie (USA) and Rachel (London, Ontario) and our other friend Kat (USA) and Otilia who is from Romania. I look a train in with Sophie and it was so pretty! When we got to the train station before this photo we found a whole group of other exchange students so we tagged a long with them. I'm pretty sure they were a main group from Zurich. We got off at the wrong station and had to walk a bit to get to the "resort" which was fine. We were the only ones we knew there so we talked to some other ...
wow it sounds so exciting. You are amazing and I'm extremely proud of you. Grandad
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