Snowboarding/Christmas

I know its been awhile. But I actually havent done much other than snowboard lately. I had 2 days of lessons last week. That helped alot. Ive got it down pretty good now, I want to try the halfpipe at some point. Today I did one of the hardest runs in Flims/laax twice with my hostparents. Somebody died on it already this season, and today somebody was hurt pretty bad on it. I think Ive gone 16 times now- not bad. Christmas was good. On christmas eve we went to Sedrun(deeper in the alps) to my hostmoms mothers house. So I met alot of my hostmoms family, then after dinner we went to mass. It was all in romansh- including a male choir. Then yesterday we went to Luzern, to my hostdads brothers house. It was good, I met some of my hostdads family. We had meat fondue, with horse meat- it tasted good. I got some pictures from Crap Sogn Gion(one of the more popular ski areas), but ill try to get some better ones with me in them. And the tree, yes its real, and yes those are real candles.

Zermatt Rotary Gathering

All the rotary exchange students in Switzerland(like 120 or so) went to Zermatt for the weekend. It was great, everybody had a lot of fun. Most of saturday was spent getting to zermatt. It took me about 8 hours to get there. After that we had free time, and then went to a museum an hour before dinner. We had fondue(my first time). I thought it was pretty good. We slept on saturday in groups in different hotels, depending on whether you chose to go skiing snowboarding or "hiking". The group of hikers I was with got a 4 star hotel--pretty cool, but one group of unfortunates got a hostel. Sunday we took the lifts up to the little matterhorn-almost 13000 feet(air was rather thin). We didnt actually go hiking, but there was an ice palace in the glacier and some great views of the mountains. That was pretty much it. It was just awesome to be with the other exchange students. The pics: We had a view of the matterhorn from our balcony actually. Then the palace and the peak of the mountain we were on(you can probably tell that it was cold and windy).

A full Weekend

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I had a great weekend with my rotary counsellor. On Saturday we drove to zürich(and took the ferry across the lake). Once we got out of the traffic in zürich it didnt take long to make it to our destination, a tiny town called Teufen, where we would be staying the night with my counsellors cousin. Her husband lived for awhile in england and later in Canada for 4 years, so he spoke perfect english. The interesting part is that they actually own a castle and a large chunk of farmland, mostly devoted to wine production, but also some cows and horses. After taking a look around we left for a neighboring town called Freienstein, where there was a small fest. The fest was all about the regional wine, and they were making grape schnapps from whats left after the wine is made. We had an interesting dinner. The main thing of the fest was Treberwurst. Basically its sausage cooked in the grape stuff. Before you eat it though you pour a shot of schnapps on it and light it. It tasted pretty good actually. At about 9 we drove to Winterthur, only about 30 minutes away. It was my first time there so we walked around the old part of the city, eventually making it to a Turkish club thing- it was very cool, a great place to chill. On our way out of Winterthur we couldnt quite find the right exit. After almost an hour of searching we did find the right way, the sign was almost hidden. Anyway we slept in the castle and had breakfast there on Sunday. Around 11 we left for Rheinfall in the very north of switzerland. Its an impressive waterfall on the Rhine river and right next to the city Schaffhausen. Schaffhausen is small but there is a huge castle there. Its public and there are even deer in the courtyard. After Schaffhausen we drove back along Lake Constance, so I guess I saw germany for the first time too(but only across the lake). Well, I hope everyone had a good thanksgiving...I personally had tortellini and a piece of strawberry cake. A little late but Happy Birthday Mike! Hope it was a good one--The big 2-1. The pictures go in order--we slept in the castle with yellow shutters. The winery was in the dungeonlike basement, and you can see some ancient wine too.

Zurich, a concert, and the start of the winter season

I spent last saturday in Zurich with a friend. We just walked around the city since she d never been there. We did see a demonstration though. I think it was about refugees in switzerland. On saturday night I came back to chur and went to a conzert(the happy space hippies--check em out on myspace). The guitarist is in my class, so it was cool for that reason. But it seriously rocked too, so it was awesome. Sunday I was on the slopes for the first time. I spent 2 hours learning how to stay up. But it was great, I loved it. The snow was perfect--its actually early this year. I was a little sore this morning but I didnt have class in the afternoon, so I went back. Today went better. I was on a different run because the one from yesterday is closed during the week(technically i guess its before the season, so not too much is open yet). I went down 3 times and by the third time I wasnt eating too much snow. The snow on this run was considerably harder though so im pretty sore at the moment. Only pictures that ive got out of all this excitement are from the demonstration.

Basel Herbstmesse

Last saturday me and my hostfamily stayed in Basel with some of their friends(in the house that they used to live in actually). It was pretty great. During the day on saturday we walked around town-which is quite beautiful- we went to a cool book store, had coffee on the 29th floor of a skyscraper, got gummy bears and gingerbread-like cookies that can only be had in Basel(what we eat after dinner almost every day). And I saw a music box-I thought it was cool. But the big deal was the herbstmesse, an autumn festival thing. It was kinda carnival like with alot of vendors and rides strewn throughout the city. So I went back that night and had some more fun. On sunday when we got back there was something like 16 inches of snow here in flims, so I learned how to use the motorized snow shovel thing. The snow is actually like a month early. Which should be great for the winter sports. Im excited!

Engadin Valley

On Sunday I drove with my hostfamily through the engadin valley, which is the best part of the alps that ive seen yet. The majority of the structures have stone rooves like in the picture. We also went to St. Moritz, but its not as beautiful as the rest of the valley.

The Glacier,snow, Liechtenstein and Austria

Ill start with the week after the cruise(last week). On monday me and 2 friends took the Berninabahn(train) south towards Italy. On the way we passed an impressive glacier which I cant remember the name of at the moment. Not much more that week. Worked a bit in the garden. And it snowed for the first time here in town. the picture is from my window. Im getting pretty excited about the winter. I got my snowboarding boots a few days ago, so I just have to wait until theres enough snow--hopefully sometime next month. Then on saturday I went and saw the movie Chuck and Larry(in english). It was funny. The theater was interesting...I think everything was scaled down a little, but I got in with a backpack on and my own drinks, plus there was an intermission, which was cool. Monday of this week I had my rotary meeting. It went well, I gave my presentation(in german of course). We ate lunch at an enormous expensive hotel, so that was cool. Afterwards me and my counsellor drove first to Vaduz, Liechtenstein(probably the smallest capital city in Europe, or maybe the world) and then to Feldkirch, Austria. I liked Feldkirch--nice atmostphere. Vaduz wastnt anything too special. So anyway I got to see 2 new countries in one afternoon--very awesome. Current count of countries is 8- Switzerland, Austria, Liechtenstein, Italy, Vatican City, Spain, France, and kinda great Britain(Gibraltar). didnt get any pictures of Vaduz so its only Feldkirch.

The Cruise

A little about the cruise in general. We were on the MSC Lirica. While we were on I think there were about 1600 other passengers. There were several restaurants on the ship. For dinner we always ate at the same table same restaurant, but breakfast and lunch were open, there was a buffet that was always open. There was a pile of bars, a little casino, a theatre and a disco on board too. So after dinner we would go and watch the show--a mix of singing, dancing, juggling, and chinese acrobats. The chinese were amazing--I was impressed. After that I would go to the disco. Most of the young people that I hung out with were swiss, but there was 1 australian, and 1 german too. We had a great time together. Language was interesting. Anything written or spoken to the passengers was in 5 languages--english german spanish italian and french.

The Cruise-Thursday and Friday/On the sea and Rome

Thursday was rather uneventful. We were on the sea the whole day so I just chilled. There were some good hot tubs on the ship. Friday was Rome. We actually had to take an hour and a half bus ride from the port to get there. It started raining right about when we got there. So that slowed us down a bit, but we managed to see just about all of the major structures in Rome, if not very thoroughly. So Rome was just as amazing as id thought it would be even through the rain and lack of time. It would definitely take several days to see everything in detail. There were so many tourists there it was unbeleivable and traffic was horrible. The pics: of course st peters square, castle of angels, the ruins, the lucky fountain, the pantheon, the coloseum, a swiss guard and the artistic subway.

The Cruise-Wednesday/Malaga Spain

Malaga is an interesting city. Theres a large castle on the top of the hill as well as a fairly long intact wall. We spent a bit of time climbing the hill up to the castle and then walking through courtyards and along the walls looking down over the city. Theres also a pretty big garden with all kinds of tropical plants. Theres a bull ring too.

The Cruise-Tuesday

We were supposed to go to Tangier(Morocco) for the day, but apparently it was too windy and they wouldnt let us dock there. So Ive still never been in Africa. Instead we turned around and went to Gibraltar. I really didnt know anything about the place but its a British Colony. Its also the only place in Europe that has wild monkeys(didnt see them). It was getting dark and everything was closed when we got there. But it was interesting that everything was written in English. Thats Gibraltar with the big dark cloud over it. The other is the Moroccan coast.

The Cruise-Monday/Valencia Spain

Im not sure why exactly but Valencia was extremely beautiful. The sidewalks were made of marble and the buildings were monstrous. We went into the cathedral of Valencia. It had a museum, as well as lots of stained glass, gold, and history. Thats the preserved arm of some saint.

The Cruise-Sunday/Marseilles France

We got into the city about 9 in the morning. It was funny the only people out were the tourists from the ship. First we walked through an interesting fish market on the docks. Yes those are eels for sale. We then took a little tour of the old town in the "petit train".(in picture) The old town was somewhat decaying but still interesting. Afterward we walked to the Notre Dame cathedral. not the notre dame but a notre dame actually. Later that day there were heaps of British people. apparently the rugby world cup is going on right now.