Almost 4 weeks

I'm officially out of language school now. It was the same relief of getting out of normal school. It felt like hell when you were in it but now that I'm out I'm realizing I will miss all my friends. Not saying I got along perfectly with everyone because not everyone sees eye to eye but I'll miss the different views on life. One main thing that I'm kicking myself for wasn't for not learning German as well as I could of cuz I'm scraping by now. The thing I'm kicking myself for is forgetting most of the exchange students would speak spanish. I should of brushed up a little or something. Its not even that I feel that I'm missing out it'd just be nice to know what they're talking about. Ive made a smaller group of friends inside the whole group of exchange students. The group is Elise who gave me my nickname "Canada" and who makes fun of my "accent" from New York ("the state not the city")  Emily from New Mexico and Rachael from Indiana. They're hilarious and we always kill ourselves laughing around each other. I'm really grateful for them otherwise I wouldn't be having nearly as much fun as I've had. We've hung out a couple times after school and are planning to see each other more often during our normal school year. Elise has a vlog that she should finish up today so I'll put a link to her video somewhere on this page. I went through a really rough week because of homesickness so I think I'm good now, Im finally completely comfortable with my host house and family. I'm planning to Skype my family once they wake up because its 9 at home right now. It'll be nice to see my sisters and my parents. Even though I already skyped my parents once. I realize that I haven't been posting as much as I should be but in truth I haven't been thinking of it, Ill do my best to post at least once a week. I might just use saturdays because thats easiest.

So, this week:
The gang and I hung out Tuesday at my host house. We did Rachaels and Elise's Ice bucket challenge. Which we filmed with my Gopro (no its not a bra)

(Rachael and I)

We then all went swimming and just hung out and talked about exchange and told stories from back home. And of course we all died laughing.

Me and Elise being ratchet

Then on Wednesday we went shopping which wasn't actually that bad. We checked out this cool company called Freitag which makes bags out of recycled semi truck covers and then looked at all these stores underneath a bridge which was really cool. AND I SAW THIS AWESOME BAG IN A STORE AND IT WAS MADE OUT OF RECYCLED SAILS AND THERE WAS A CANADIAN MAPLE LEAF ON IT IN RED STITCHING AND I WANTED IT SOOO BAD. Im still sad I couldn't buy it because it was 138 CHF (cough mom and dad cough cough). The Freitag building was made out of shipping containers and you could climb to the top soooo:

(Me, Racheal, Elise, and Emily)

Thursday we didn't hangout but apparently I'm still a tourist because I got stuck on a train that was heading back to Zurich and had to explain in German to the Conductor (this one was nice) that I had been listening to music so I hadn't heard the signal for last stop and was locked on the train. He was kind enough to bring the train out of the yard and let me off. But it was really scary and I didn't like it.

Me stuck on said train.

Friday we decided to hangout but had no plan whatsoever for the night. We first went to Rachaels which was a beautiful apartment which Im in love with. We ate pizza and hangout and then we went to Elises which is an hour away so I don't know why we went :P We missed the bus so we walked 30 minutes with Rachael flipping out about bunnies we saw and the food here and boys here. Then we watched princess diaries will Skyping Rachaels friend which was fun. We then all went back to Zurich to split up. So first went to the bus stop and sat there for like 30 minutes and just told stories and goofed around. We finally caught the bus and then got to Zurich. I got home at 12 and didn't sleep till three and then today my host family is at a family reunion so Im being babysat.

Stay updated on my adventures in Switzerland.

Practices

After going to 2 kayaking practices and one volleyball practice I've noticed one thing. I am somehow very, very out of shape. The two boys my age in kayaking are normally about 100m in front of me at all times. The volleyball team is a year older and has some amazing players. I've learned to hate the conductors on the trains because of yesterday. My foot was on my knee and since I'm a tall guy that meant that that foot was slightly resting on the chair across from me. A conductor walks up, does a blurb in german while I show him my Gaa (pronounced gay-a). He says another blurb in German standing there looking at me. I tell him I'm an exchange student in English and he responds "That doesn't stop me from charging you" I have no idea what he's talking about, like no clue. At all. So I ask him did I do something wrong. He answers you can't have your feet on the seats. By now I've moved my foot but it was slightly resting on the seat, it had been a dry day and my feet were clean. He tells me I have to pay 25 Swiss Franks in cash. Im still sitting there looking at him wondering what this guy is on. He says he has the power to arrest me so of course I pay up. I ask him where its stated that we aren't aloud to have shoes on the seats and he just said "Everyone knows this" I really had to bite my tongue and not say "Even foreign exchange students". He then starts walking away from me with my Gaa in hand and I had to chase him down the train to get it back. He gives it back with the whole "Oh excuse me I didn't even notice, so sorry" but I kinda got the feeling he thought I was playing stupid and was trying to get back at me. When I got home I looked up the SBB website and couldn't find any rules anywhere. All in all bad experience with a huge jerk. Follow for more (and hopefully better) adventures in Switzerland.

Kayaking

As today is my second week officially I thought I better post something for everyone to see. So far language school has been great. I'm able to hold a conversation with people and improvise words to ask questions. The more I've been talking to the other exchange students the more I've connected with pretty much everyone. The south americans have been slowly sharpening my espagnol and I can now almost follow their conversations. The americans are all very cool, they bring new perspectives of the same culture to me and its very cool. My favourite times these past weeks have been when someone is explaining something from home and nobody has ever heard of that thing. Such as moose for me (actually a really funny story involving a south American who was convinced I was playing a trick on him.). Last saturday I found out that this "Kanoe club" that they have in Romanschorn is actually sprint kayaking. I flipped out and was so excited. My first practice is tonight and Swiss champs are in 3 weeks. Im not sure if they're all amazing or if something was lost in translation because a 13 year old told me he did 1000m in 4:17 (for those who don't kayak he beats my best time ever by 11 seconds). Im mostly hoping I heard wrong because that would be really embarrassing for me.

For a while there was an un explained phenomon with the exchange students from North america. We almost all complained of breaking out pretty bad. It when on all last week until last friday I realized I had been eating way more oil, olive oil, in the cooking and salads. I let everyone know and we all came to the conclusion we have to eat a little bit less. Some fine detective work if I dare say so :)

Anyways stay tuned to hear of my volleyball and kayaking practices, trips and more in my adventures in Switzerland.

Language School

Hi all!

I've now been here for over a week and I'm sorry for the long gap in between posts. I've been insanely busy now that I'm in "school". The language course that I'm taking is mandatory to all inbound students so I've now met 20 other students that live in or around Zurich. We are learning simple verbs and getting a lot better at "sprechen Deutsch". Some of us are a lot better than others (not me I'm in the slow class) but everyone is progressing well. Its funny because I'm the third youngest but I'm the tallest person by 4 inches. Cesar from Colombia gave me the nickname 'Baby' and Phil from Ecuador calls me 'Hulk' but to everyone else I'm just Canada. The teachers still call me Noah but everyone else has a new name for me. After my fourth day I feel very comfortable riding the trains to and from Zurich. At first it seems very complicated but once you got the idea that pretty much  all trains head in straight lines you can figure out which ones you need to take. I'm trying to stay in shape so every day I've done 50 pushups and 100 sit ups, I've also gone running at a 3 km trail near my house with 15 exercises set up during it every day. I'm trying to not gain weight in fat because of all the chocolate and rich food but my family says its a lost cause and they all tease me calling me "fatboy" (mostly my four new sisters). It never gets far though because one day we went to the Park to run and they drove and I biked. I made it there 20 seconds after them, beat them on the trail and then got home at the same time as them. I'm starting to get more comfortable here and with the language and people. This saturday I'm going to check out a "Kanoe club" to see if they do the same thing we do, my explanation was lost in translation I guess. And next week I'm going to a try out for volleyball to see which age group I get put in. I have a feeling this year is going to be pretty awesome. Stay tuned for more adventures in Switzerland.

Ps: I fed the bird chocolate and now she likes me and doesn't try and bite me.

The Sallmann house

Today we didn't have anything on so I went around town on my bike and now I'm relaxing and reading. I took pictures of most parts of the house and some of the animals. Here they are:

 Teddy the dog/bear

 The stable for the horse and donkey

 Outsde

 Inside

 Going up to my room

My room :)

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Long Hike

Hello everyone!
Today I was woken up at 8:30 and told to be ready to walk a long ways in 30 minutes. When I was ready we drove for forty minutes with spectacular views and cool places.

When we got to the mountain we'd be hiking I was told that we'd take a gondola up and then walk down because thats easier (I feel like I've been lied to my legs hurt). So we walked to the Seilbahnstation (Gondola station) and took the Seilbahn (Gondola) all the way to the top of Kronberg. 

We then set out towards a restaurant and from there we would head down the side of the slope and go back to the car. The walk to the restaurant was uneventful I learned some more words and started talking a little more in German but I'm still lost sometimes. 

When we stopped for lunch where I was told I'd like a certain food and was ordered that food. I got Bratwurst, and Rosti. Bratwurst is a very nice sausage and Rosti is some kind of potato with cheese on it, but it was amazing and very rich.

(Order of people: Me, behind me Daniella my host sister, then Tiff from Australia, on the other side theres Jodie who's best friends with Franzi, then Franzi my host sister and then Dorris my host mom)
After the restaurant we walked for a bit longer and came to our path that led down. We then spent an hour walking down trails and roads to the car. Upside? I met cows that were pretty cool.

I had a really good time and got to know everyone a lot better! Keep checking up on my adventures in Switzerland!

Ps I confirmed the parrot doesn't like me because she tried to bite me

Pps Check again tomorrow for my post on the house. :)

First day.

My first day was so far awesome. It is now 5:50 and still completely light out (great I know). I arrived in Zurich after an 8 hour flight in which I only slept one hour. The girl I met in the airport who was trying to get on the flight didn't just get on the plane with me, she ended up right beside me! Some coincidence but I used it to my advantage and learned a few things that helped me out today. When I arrived in Zurich I had a few embarrassing moments from nervousness... First off I almost took someone else's bag and left mine there, secondly a man wished me a good stay that worked at the airport, but I didn't hear him and thought he was going to check my bag and thirdly when I came out of arrivals I almost went in the opposite direction of where my host family was waiting for me. They called me back though so I guess I was saved, haha. Only three out of eight were there to pick me up but I liked them right away it was Franzi, Daniella and Andreas (in that order) and Daniella's friend Tiffany from Australia took the picture.

On the train we talked about transportation and sports that everyone played and what I should do to learn the language. When I got here they showed me around the house, and showed me all the animals. They have a poodle who's blind, a dog the size of a truck, three cats, chickens, a donkey and a parrot (who I suspect mistrusts me). The house is gorgeous and I have an entire wing to myself (pictures to follow).  I went for a 3km run to fight off Jetlag and then took a shower. I then went to a Rotary meeting where I fought to stay awake for 3 hours. After being introduced to people I will most likely have to be introduced to again we went to see my counsellor and make plans for my bank account and immigration. Franzi and her friend Jodie then took me down to the lake for a dip where I met more people (thats over 30 today). We then came back so I could meet everyone else: Dorris my host mom, Alexandra, Martina and Chris who are all my host siblings. Its funny because I thought that I was the same age as some of them but apparently I'm the youngest by 2 years. I'll be taking more pictures and learning more German here, on my adventures in Switzerland.

The airport

I've said goodbye to everyone and seen the last wave of my family (mom of course). I'm currently waiting on my flight but I'm now not alone I've been joined by another outgoing who've I've already met, Hilary who's going to Netherlands. I've also been joined by someone who would like to come back to visit Switzerland and might be in my flight, her name is Demi Swann. I'm less nervous now that I've talked to Hilary and Demi. Demi gave us both an idea of having a bucket list so I'll work on that on the plane. Traveling by myself is new to me so I'm kinda freaked out on what to do in the airport just waiting. There isn't enough time to watch a movie or to browse and I want to make sure I get on quick. I don't know my next chance to post but so far I've been taking lots of pictures :) I already have many ideas to start off my adventures in Switzerland.

Getting Ready

With only one day left in Canada until I board my plane I'm starting to get much more nervous and also much more excited. Its crazy to think I'm leaving everything I know and love to explore a country I've never been to. Its started to hit me over the last couple days that I'm going to miss everyone. I realize now a familiar smiling face will be one of the best feelings when I get back. Speaking of smiling I'll have to be doing a lot of it to make new friends! Even though I've normally been quick to smile and share interests with others I have a feeling it will be a little bit harder in German. Anyways I should get back to packing. Everyone should be expecting another post within a week that I landed and what my new house looks like. And of course, to see my adventures.