XXX. Bern and Basel

   Obviously I don't normally travel this much within one week, but this was an exception where I got a chance to go to both Bern and Basel.
   I went to Bern with AFS (the organization that I traveled with) last Tuesday, and I met a bunch of other exchange students and got a tour of the Bundeshaus, or the capitol building.

This is a view of Bern, and here I am standing (on the right) with a fellow American friend.

XXIX. St. Gallen and relearning English

   We've gotten more snow in the past week, and it's actually been staying on the ground for several days. Last weekend I traveled to St. Gallen to visit my friend from America. I had to take a couple trains after I got out of school on Friday, the longest of which being over 2 hours long. Before I came to Switzerland, I never would have imagined myself traveling so far entirely by myself, but now it's not really a big deal.

   Fun fact: The chemistry test that I thought I would fail was still pretty difficult, but I tried my best and actually answered some questions. In the end I ran out of time before I could really finish.

   I slept over at St. Gallen, and on Saturday morning we went to do some sight-seeing, shopping, and talking in English. At this point, English is beginning to feel like a foreign language in our mouths, so we were just making mistakes left and right. It was quite entertaining.

We went to see the lake that isn't far from her house in a town called Rorschach. Apparently, Germany and Austria both border the lake as well.

XXVIII. Being an American

   If there is one thing I have learned about writing a blog, I clearly must never write on a Friday. I'll admit that in my last post I did sound a bit like a whiny teenager, so I'm writing today because I actually like my schedule on Monday, and I believe you all deserve a slightly more wholesome post. (I also tend to forget that I have a worldwide audience).
   In direct contrast to Friday, every one of my Mondays is a lot shorter. I have only five classes, but after our next vacation break, which is at the end of this month, I will have six classes on Monday and one less on Friday.
   My schedule begins with Wirtschaft (Economy). Today we had a test, and although I tried, there wasn't really any way for me to explain Swiss laws in German, especially since I've only lived here for about 4 1/2 months now.
   Then we had a double period of Mathematik. We started a new unit and got our tests back from Friday. I am very pleased to announce that I earned my very first 6 (that's a perfect score) since I've joined this school.
   After this I had two periods off for lunch, so I biked home and had a chance to relax a bit. It was beginning to snow a little, but we haven't really had any snow since early December.

XXVII. Back to school

   I know that as my first post for the new year (Happy New Year by the way), it's been a little delayed. I will admit that after being really lazy for two weeks of no-school, I became even lazier once I got home from school everyday this week. To say the least, I much prefer vacation.
   Not that school doesn't have its perks -- like seeing my friends and learning German -- but it can still be very tiring.
   Ironically, my least favorite day of the week is Friday. My schedule goes like this:

• Violin lesson
• Math - today we had a test, but for me it wasn't too hard
• Physics - not very exciting