Immediately after that let down though I went with some Erasmus friends to Danse Africaine! It was so sweet, the language barrier didn't even matter because words weren't really necessary. The guy who was teaching the class would just shout out eh! eh! eh! eh! to the beat or un! deux! trois! quatre! and show us the moves. It was so much fun and everyone was getting really into it and flapping their legs and arms and everything, it's Tuesday night now and I'm actually about to go back! To african dance that is, not girls soccer.
On Wednesday I got to sleep in but then had 6 hours (kinda) of class in a row from 1 to 7. It was very tiring, and then I get to my church class and the monk/professor talks so fast that I have NO idea of 75% of what was said in that class. I did, however, catch that in this class the existence of the devil is a given and the inquisitions were a legit response to the witchery of the middle ages... hmmm, not sure how I feel about this one anymore. PLUS get this, there are two grown men -- I'd guess early 30s -- that spend the ENTIRE class staring at me ever since I said I was American. It's not even the abashed kind of staring, it's the kind where when I stare back they continue to look at me and laugh/smile. They were sitting on opposite sides of the room, so I really didn't have anywhere to turn. Very very awkward experience.
Thursday I was able to get myself out of bed to go to the class I'm still not sure if I'm dropping. I made a deal with myself that if I went, I would bring my laptop and look up bus times to get to one of the mountains in the pre-alps. Because it was snowing that day no one was interested in going, but the snow was what was making me really want to go! The class got out early and I ran home, packed my ski stuff, and made it to the train station just in time to take a bus to Charmey by myself, ski half day, and get back by dinner. It was incredible, 6 inches of fresh powder and still falling, and like maybe 6 other people total on the mountain. The T-bar was scary shit though because it was way steep, but I got a lot of fresh off-piste skiing without worrying too much about avalanches since I make better decisions when I ski alone. I didn't bring my camera because the snow basically made it a white-out.
Then I took the bus back--by the way, very scary, the roads were slippery and I'm on this bus going a million miles per hour around tight mountain curves on narrow roads, but I guess that is their deal. It did, however, make my skis almost decapitate me every 2 or 3 minutes. All in all, it felt very good to be able to spontaneously go skiing in a foreign country all by myself and come back on time and in one piece! After that I went out to dinner and to a birthday party for a girl who had been away, so I met her at her birthday party. I was kinda sleepy so it was fun-ish, but I was like passing out on the couch, mainly because in that one day I had woken up early, gotten breakfast, went shopping, went to class, went skiing in Charmey, and went out to dinner then to a party. Friday I don't have class so it was sweet and I slept in and snuck into the gym to work out. Then I went out to Mondiale with a Swiss boy from futsal, which was a lot of fun, and also a lot of French. He lives nearby Fribourg and commutes to the university, which it seems like a loooot of people here do. I feel like it changes the college experience a bit to live with fam and go into school, I don't know, I'm glad most of us live in dorms/apartments together in the US!!
Saturday I sat around doing work and went on a sweet run without knowing where I was going. It's so cool to run here and find pedestrian paths everywhere and gorgeous views of mountains. I ran for over an hour and got severely lost, but for the first time ever my sense of direction got me home. Phew! That never actually happens. Along the way though, when I first realized I was lost, I followed signs to Beaumont which I later realized I recognized from Boston and not from Switzerland... different Beaumont, or maybe in Boston its Bellmont. Who knows.
The next morning bright and early me and Dan headed to ski at Portes-du-Soleil with these two really nice French Canadians who are studying in Lausanne. The train ride, as usual, had breathtaking views but it was 3 hours each way instead of 2. The last of which was a steep mountain train. It was cool, along the way we saw an ostrich farm, green grass next to snowy mountains, and vineyards on the steep sides of mountains (extreme agriculture!). Three trains and a gondola ride later, we made it to Portes-du-Soleil which is an enormous resort that straddles the border between France and Switzerland. Each trail says which country you are in and you can ski back and forth without ever presenting a passport!
So for my first (and 2nd and 3rd and 4th etc) time going to France, I skied in :o) I didn't notice much of a culture difference between French Switzerland and France, just a few different offerings in the restaurants and a whole lot of men peeing on the trails. I am not sure if that is French culture or just a result of a lot more skiers and maybe over-hydration. It was again a gorgeous bluebird day so all the Swiss/French were out on the slopes. It had warmed up and then cooled off overnight so the powder froze into painful chunks and off-piste was brutal.
Luckily by noon one face of this enormous bowl of a mountain (biggest resort I've ever seen in my life. Total 360 degree views.)
had softened up so I split up from the others when they went to lunch and spent most of my day exploring the slopes in France. I made some risky decisions alone, but tried to check out locations of cliffs as I rode up the chairlift and luckily found fresh stashes of heavy powder up to my mid-thighs without dying.
On the way back, Franc (one of the Canadians, not to be confused with the Swiss __) had his skis stolen by a tourist from Holland and in the commotion I ended up getting dinner without everyone, the guy returned the skis, but when they went to get fondue, I rolled out since I had already eaten. He ended up getting his skis back but losing his poles, I guess that's better? On the next train, I sat across from this man who enjoyed food in a way I've never witnessed anyone enjoy food. He bought bread and apple juice from the train man and he took the smallest sips of apple juice letting it sit in his mouth and then swallowing and smacking his lips. Then when he ate his bread he closed his eyes and really looked like he had died and gone to heaven. I don't know, it's either really weird or really admirable, not sure.
It was rough getting up on Monday for classes but I think I'm getting better at understanding while note taking and I wanted to answer so many questions in class, but I still lack the confidence to speak aloud in a lecture. Instead there were just a bunch of awkward silences every time he asked something. Obvi I went to futsal and fussballtennis but nothing new to report on those. I went out for tea with Banu after fussballtennis, also at Mondiale, which was good times since I hadn't seen her in ages. It also gave me a bunch of observations to write at the end of this post! woo!
Then it was crazy monday! and I finally had enough motivation to participate again. We got ready at marta and ester's as usual, but luckily there was a more even girl:boy ratio and non-swiss: swiss ratio, although the groups of people talking were still kind of self-segregated. We skipped Popu and went straight to Irish, where I again forgot my ID but this time it was a different bouncer so he made me stand off to the side and wouldn't let me in with all my friends. I saw how he treated this guy who tried to sneak in so when people were trying to hide me and get me in i was like no no no! but then eventually gave in and snuck in and the bouncer was either too busy to care or didn't see me leave. Then we had such a good dance session from like midnight till it closed at 3 am. Everybody was dancing and they played a very eclectic soundtrack that had everything from techno/rap/reggaeton to swing/oldies/irish step/greek music. Lots of random people kept asking me to dance but I kept saying no because I am still a bit creeped out by random european men who show interest in me.
I bumped into a Swiss German friend from futsal and now he knows I'm american and just kept putting his thumb down and laughing in a kinda scary way whenever I said something that might not even have been intended to be funny. Oh well, I'm sure he won't remember. But yeah! awesome crazy monday, lots of good stories, but as I've learned, more people read this than I expected, so many anecdotes have been omitted. (haha I'm sure if I talk to you you will get your own version of these and other stories, just gotta be careful on the internet!)
That got us back to st-justin around 330am and after story sharing it was after 4 when I tried to go to bed. Unnforrrtunately all the smoke in the club got to me and I couldn't go to sleep for another hour or so cuz of a chesty coughing fit. I felt like such a smoker, gross.
Class today was rough, but I realized that since I finished my presentation and my paper will be based on my presentation's topic, I really don't have to go or pay attention anymore. I mean I feel like I should, and probably will, but I don't have to.
This afternoon I decided to get the phone numbers of two Swiss people I've been talking to a lot who live on my floor. I've decided that I am going to make Swiss friends whether they like it or not. I love my Spanish, American, and eastern European friends, but I need to at least have a couple Swiss since I'm here in their country, you know?
Isabel went out with us last night too, but she did not make it and ended up sleeping through African dance, which by the way was fun again. Weird though that I was the only person in the entire class wearing shorts! I felt like a whore, haha. Yeah.
Tonight my professor's assistant told me I can't take my economics final exam before I leave to go home. Ok. That's not good.
But, tomorrow night I'm headed to Italy which I'm super excited about! Yay! I'm gonna see a high school friend, a camp friend, and 4 college friends in two Italian cities in one weekend, not bad. Couldn't come at a better time either because I've been feeling a little homesick lately. It happens... probably cuz i've settled in and spent the weekend in Fribourg without enough to distract me.
Meine Observations (that might not be a german word):
-Tea does not come with free refills of hot water. You have to buy a whole new, overpriced tea. Everyone laughed at me when I asked the waitress the morning after new years 2008 if I could have a free water refill, but guess who's laughing now!
-Hot beverages are often served with a piece of chocolate though.
-Turns out my observation in an earlier post is wrong, there are orange m&ms in the US too. However, the colors of the m&ms here are lighter, at least that's something.
-The people in my classes seem to feel the need to write every single thing possible down.
-Making travel plans is addicting.
-There's this one popular hairstyle for guys here where the hair is greased into position. It's a combination comb over and spiky look, where the inch above the forehead and all around is a combover but behind the inch its all spiky. I need to get a picture of this to demonstrate, it's pretty terrible.
-I'm learning more Spanish then German.
-Jokes can be lost in translation.
-I know the air here is cleaner, but my lungs have definitely gotten blacker. Tobaccer.
-They have "liberté academique" here, which translates roughly to: "more time to drink."
-The traffic lights go Green, yellow, red, yellow, green!
-You don't have to order a brand of beer here, just a beer and you'll get Cardinal.
-Their president only serves a term of one year, so a lot of Swiss don't always know who it is.
-Even the Swiss banking system can't withstand this depression.
-Prices already include taxes and tip, so everything seems even more expensive... (did I already use this one?)
-I'm not sure what the word is in french for out, when a ball goes out in a game, because they all yell "out!"
-They'll farm on whatever land they got, even if it's nearly vertical.
-Nutrition facts on labels are per 100g, not by serving size. Guess I should be carrying around a pocket scale!
-I don't know my height in meters or my weight in kilograms.
Holler.
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