Wednesday, August 22, 2007

How Be School.. and After as Well


I`m finally getting used to my new life.


Each day I wake up, get dressed, eat at a nicely set table, and head out for a 15 or so minute walk to the train station.


I think it is fun to say you take the train to school... but many kids here do that daily. Anyways, I take the train to Luzern each day... and that`s around a 40 minute train ride. With Jorge, it goes by faster... but with the Nun I sat by today, well, it seemed like a wee bit more. I am happy to say that I can navigate my way home with ease now each day and feel comfortable. Soon I may try and expand my adventures a bit further. Soon, Jorge and I plan on taking the boat across Luzern to Alpnach and taking the train home from there.



[train station in Luzern]


They have divided us into our different classes, the upper and the lower level. I am in the upper.. which is a slight problem. Normally I would be fine, but in this class we have students who have done German before, such as Rusty who has done some 4 years of German. So there he is talking to the teacher, practically fluent, and bored stiff as we (specifically I) stumble over the basics of telling time and counting to 100.


The joy that comes from the class is the exchangers. Of course we can mix things up. And when there is a ball in the middle of the table, what else are you supposed to do with it? Hmm.


We work, well, not too hard. But we have a test each day and homework each night. And then we have those pointless assignements. Currently I am working on a large poster about Washington State... I got a couple Starbucks brochures to cut out and place on a map I have of Washington. It should work out ok.


Anyways, the pace is ok for me. I talk fine when I am relaxed, but I get a bit tense in class and forget all I know. If I could just sit back and calm down a bit more, I think that I would do better.


I get to school some 30 minutes early each day.. in fact, most of us are there early. And then we just hang out and chat and listen to music and so forth.



At lunch, we head to a side room. We all ususally have pretty small lunches. I always have bread with a special cheese spread that I tried and fell in love with and salami or ham. It`s quite good. And usually I have a drink on top of that... perhaps Rivella? Today at lunc, inside, two girls got stung by bees.


Being cooped up in a small room together for some 4 hours each day does develop a slight bond... well, who am I kidding? It`s only been 3 days, but still we get to know each other.


After school is when the fun begins. We have all hung out every single day so far after school. It usually consists of terroizing the city of Luzern and seeing what we can find. Yesterday we went to Migros, H&M (to pick out certain special items for someone :P), and a special Kebab place. Maybe someday I will tell you about the door :P



Today we decided to head out for a movie. Rush Hour 3. We split up for a while. I was with one group for a while and we headed to the water... but they really had no plan so I wandered through Luzern to Migros where I found the other group. We went to an English book shop and a 4 story Musik shop and even Clairs.... I really don`t like that shop, but it was all worth the while when I got this pic:




The movie was hilarious and I loved it. They have an intermission and everything! But it is so expensive. Luckily it was in English this time with German and French and whatever subtitles... like so:


(btw - Mom, I got a postcard from you yesterday.. THANK YOU! So I have the debit card. Ja. Danke. And tell Dad that they pay one flat fee each month for the internet.. no matter how much they use it)

1 comment:

Anonymous said...

I'm envious of those manequins....

I'll write more later...I must go..rest...stupid flu!

LOVE!

caitie