Weekend du Cervin (Matterhorn Weekend)

So i recently (Two days ago) got back from an extraordinary weekend Rotary trip to Zermatt Switzerland with a whopping 140 (roughly) exchange students . While this was my third time there, I loved it just the same and saw a new side of it, as well as the old.

We participated in a scavenger hunt of sorts that was split up into teams of eight, and involved two facors.

1.) Complete the Missions- The missions consisted of a series of tests such as "find a fried egg" or "take a picture of a wedding"

2.) Trade up- We started with a cheap candle (others with pencils or other assorted cheap items) and we had to trade them for something better. Well one thing led to another and by the end, we had obtained a TV, a club shirt, a stack of postcards, a small heart shaped fuzzy pillow, a bottle of alcohol and a few other small assorted items. And that's only what we had at the end, not what we had traded in between. other groups ended up with skis, snowboards, wine, hockey equipment etc. Rotex told us after that people in the years before had gotten couches and TVs as well.

we stayed at la Maison du junesses, which pretty much means House of Youngsters (kinda like the YMCA) and the next day took a gondola i didn't even know existed. I think pictures are worth a thousand words, and videos show 26 frames per second, so my 11 minute video of the inside of a glacier equates out to about the complete Harry Potter Series and Twilight combined... enjoy

Doubt

Someone much smarter than me (only one) once said "If you open the door of doubt, you'll never be able to close it" and I am finding out more and more how true that is. So, my doubt is ultimately contained to what I am achieving here, but to fully understand it, we will have to delve a little deeper.

I found a pattern that I am happier about being here when I am at home, speaking a lot of french with friends, or doing something fun, than when I am in classes, and at first I thought that that is to be expected. After a while I thought maybe it was Senioritus kicking in, or perhaps a natural effect of taking an unusually hard course, but after a little longer that feeling I felt in class was more of the unsatisfied "I'm not getting anything done" or "I have more important things to do" feeling, that I would have when I stayed at a party or dinner too long.

I often feel like I should be doing something to prepare for college after this, and get the rolling feeling in my stomach (the one you get before you take a test you haven't prepared for), when I think about unprepared I might be. Tout le monde keeps telling me to relax and enjoy my year abroad, but they (the students) are a year behind me and will have their senior year to catch up when they get back.

Well I've definitely opened the door of doubt, and it's like a flood rushing in, and very hard to shut. I have and will continue to try to stay positive and make the best out of my exchange encore, but I am definitely having my doubts.

FRENCH NOTE #1

I'm at the point where I understand most of what most people say to me, most of the time. Exceptions include most of my teachers, and people from Canada. when I don't understand, most of the time it's only one word in the sentence that throws me off. I have trouble with conjugation and politeness, but I cant usually get my point across without much trouble.

(This is just to serve as a sort of milestone, so I can understand later how my french was when I wrote this... If that makes any sense at all)

Happiness Meter Steadily Increasing :)

Well as the titre suggests i'm feeling a whole lot better each day. I'm sure that my recent bursts of happiness are not even close to related to the care package I received in the mail, but seriously the doritos, oreos, and jerky have been doing wonders for my psyche by giving me just a taste of the states.

I joined the l'equippe d'air comprime, which for non french speakers is the air-soft team. Unfortunalty it is not like the air-softing in the US, which includes a little combat, but is strictly target competition. The crazy thing is that I am actually really good at it, go figure. I am definitely having a whole lotta fun, and found a cool, productive way to spend my saturday mornings.

It's not like I'm not having a good time, but every day at school, I feel like I'm just wasting a year. I'm getting better and better at french, i am having a new and exciting adventure every day, but when i go to school, i just sit there for hours trying to understand what my teachers are saying. I've decided that some of them must be extra terrestrials, because the sound that is coming out of their mouths doesn't even resemble french. I almost feel like recording M. Moron (Geography) and playing it for my family, to see if they understand.

all of my fellow students are starting to get sick of me, and I even over heard one saying he'd wish  I would just go home. I have fun and try to socialize, but I am getting on their nerves because I hardly ever understand the assignment. It probably didn't help that my last three lunches either melted, or exploded in the microwave, causing everyone to wait while I cleaned it.

My host brother and I are starting to get sick of each other too, I am starting to understand why Mike (my older brother) would beat the crap out of me sometimes. I think the only positive outcome of me switching host families will be a break from Quentin. He's a cool kid, but I could never live with him for longer than 6 months at a time.

All in all, even though i still have a lotta problems to work out, I'm really havin fun. I still cant shake the feeling that I'm wasting my time, but i have the knowledge that i'm learning french to console me. I am gonna talk with my old french class in Evanston over Skype this Friday, and I'm definitely looking forward to that.

Catch y'all later, dan

A Little Better Each Day.

As the title suggests, I really am feeling a little better each day, although I still feel like crap. As sick as this may sound, it made me a little happier to talk with other exchange students and hear they feel the same or worse than me. I felt a little better not because I get joy from their pain (like it is with most people) but because I can relate to it. It puts me at ease a little to know that I am not the only one having a rough time at the moment. I am put even more at ease when a past exchange student tells me that it will pass soon, and I can really start to enjoy my exchange.

I filled out my first report thingie yesterday, and I had an epiphany... that I spend WAY too much time on the computer. As part of the first report, we have to log internet and computer usage for one week. I found that I spend roughly 3 hours per weekday, 4-5 on weekend days, comes out to an average of 24-25 hours per week. That's over a day every week that I spend on the computer! "How is that possible? What could you possibly be doing?" you might say, well, I will tell you.

First of all, as required by Yvan Gougler, I am forced to check and respond to my emails every day...
EVERY TIME that I log onto my email there are always tons of things that I have to do (for Rotary, Military, Congress Nominations). As it stands right now,  I have 15 (not an exaggeration) essays to write, three of which by the end of the week.

Every other day it seems I get forms in the mail that need saving, printing, filling out, scanning or faxing back. Right now, that's fine because I have a family that lives in this century, but my next host family has only one computer (dinosaur), dial up connection (didn't even know that still existed) and don't use cell phones because the radio waves, give you cancer. I will not  be able to do my Academy stuff there, I don't know what I'm gonna do.
Secondly for school, I am required to do an hour an a half per day (except Friday) of my language program Tell me more, which comes out to a Whoppin' 6 hours per week!
Lastly, I spend maybe 30 minuets a week posting on my blog (not gonna change)

All in all, I think that my problem of depression and head aches may be partly caused by staring at a screen for 1/7th of my exchange.

Today was a good day.

Well, today was a good day that was born from a bad one, if that makes any sense.

Yesterday I got really sick, and today when I woke up, I was still pretty sick. But it's Saturday and I didn't have to get up early, and I was able to sleep in and make up for some lost sleep. After I woke up and ate some delicious lunch (didn't eat breakfast), i checked my mail, and found that I won a free ski weekend from a drawing that I had applied for, and forgot about. After that my family and I went on a hike, and drank Speitzi at the cabin at the top. All in all, it was a good day, even though I still feel a little sick. I'm crossing my fingers it'll be gone by tomorrow when we leave for EUROPAPARK!!!!!!!!! Sorry, sorry, I know I already bragged about it, but i'm just so excited.... YEHEHEHEHEHESSSSSSSSSS!!!!!! nana-nana boo-boo! haha-haha!

De tout facon, I'll catch y'all later, I'm sick of typing... (two drums and a symbol).

-BIG SIGH- and I'm gonna blog about my problems...

WARNING: THIS WHOLE BLOG IS JUST ME COMPLAINING AND VENTING, SO IF YOU ARE DEPRESSED OR PRONE TO SUICIDAL TENDENCIES, DON'T READ THIS- IT'LL JUST MAKE YOU MORE DEPRESSED.

SO, where do I start...

Firstly, I am definetly feeling the withdrawal sensation from American life, know to most as homesickness, and as if it were a just a spite from a torturer, the friggen hundreds (over exaggerated, but still, probably 15 a day) emails from friends, family, military representatives, colleges, and random subscriptions from years past, are definelty not helping. Now, this is not an exaggeration, 5 out of 6 emails are BAD NEWS. Such as...

You need to fill out these online applications, copy these forms print them, fill them out, scan and or fax them back to six different individuals in only blue ink, and if its wrong, were gonna make you do it again, write 600 essays for the military and these colleges and the senators and the congress woman and I prolly shouldn't be writing this on the internet... but I am.

I am so sick of these emails, and I would not check it, but I get important "time sensitive emails" through it all the time. Okay, maybe it's just me, but what is it with every person in authority giving me one friggin week to get a whole crap-load of stuff done. seriously I can show you at least 12 emails in my inbox including the words "you have one week to comply" or "hurry and do this fast, or you wont be eligible" or something very similar.

Seriously though, if that isn't very bad, then I should tell you about my hand. So, the other day, I was mountain biking through the forest when out of nowhere a large log jumped into the path, while I was on a steep decline, going very fast, in the mud. Needless to say, I couldn't really swerve, or brake hard, I just kinda had to hit it. Anyways, a split second and a wholly crap moment later, I had completed a face plant, and subsequently landed on my right hand, which was doing some fancy acrobatics (bending the wrong way) on the ground.

De tout Facon, a small hospital visit, and a whole lotta left handed writing later, my hand is still sprained and I am trying to keep up in geography class... can you see where this is headed, because I didn't at the time, but its quite obvious now. The professor says something out of the blue (which is the hardest, because I'm not prepared), and its really fast, without enunciation and thus incomprehensible for me. Immediately, everyone in the class starts writing very intensively. Totally clueless, I look around the class to try to figure out whats going on when the Geo prof notices my... not-writingness.

Now, this would would almost be a momentous occasion, had it not been so utterly humiliating, and pathetic. That day marked the first day in my life, in any language, that I have ever been told that "If you don't stop slacking off in class, I am going to have to make you leave" immediately followed by a "totally clueless about what to write" gaze from me, and then a lecture about how Swiss schools are for students who want to learn from my trusty Geotorturer(i'ts a compound word, look it up). (keep in mind, that I add in humor for interesting reading purposes, but these stories are NOT EXAGGERATED)

All in all, at the end of.... whatever week it is now, I am very homesick and depressed, which I am still hesitant to write on the internet, but I am going to do it because this is a record of the bad times, as well as the good. I am happy to report that this week when I was thinking "I need a Vacation" my prayers were answered later that day, when my host parents announced we will be going to Europapark, followed by a two week sebaticle from school. YEHEHEHEHEHEHESSSSSSSS (screaming yes while laughing, in case you were wondering)

This is Daniel, prematurely saying TGIF, Catch y'all later!