This blogging site isn't the greatest for uploading large numbers of photos, but I have started a facebook album. I changed the setting so that you don't have to be my friend on facebook to see the pictures, but I'm not sure, you might still have to sign up for a facebook account. In case you're interested, here's the link:
http://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set=a.10150754203745162.726334.597035161&l=4ca7f75a72&type=1
Sunday 18 September 2011
It's official
After a month of practice, I can ride my bike between the bus station and my house with no hands. There's a catch. I can only do this if my school books are in the basket on the back of my bike for balance. The Swiss have so many bicycles, that I think there are more bicycles than cars!
Swiss School
I have officially survived two weeks of Swiss school. While that might not seem like the biggest accomplishment, school here is pretty different than what I was used to in Canada.
For starters, almost everyday (well Monday to Friday, at least) my classes startat 7:45 am and my last class goes until 5:30. Compared to the 9:00-3:00 schoolday of Canadian high school, this makes for a long day! When my Swiss classmates hear about school in Canada, they are both surprised and envious of the short schoolday. Another difference is that while in Canada we normally have a different class for every subject and change classes every semester, here you stay with the same class all day everyday, and for all four years of highschool! This has been good for me in the way that I really get to know and become friends with the people in my class (22 people, smaller than the average class at Colonel Gray) but also a kind of tough because it is then hard to meet people outside of my class. At home, in Charlottetown, my school experience was more similar to school here because I ended up being with the same class for three years because I was in the International Baccalaureate Programme. I grew to love my class at home and every person in it, we were all close friends by the end of three years together, and had lots of fun during class. When I was introduced to my class and went to my first class last Monday morning, I felt immediately at home. They were just as noisy, just as crazy and just as friendly as the IB class at Colonel Gray. They have all been really welcoming to me, and super patient with my German! If one of them ever tries to talk to me in English, the others will quickly tell the each other to speak to me in German so that I can learn! I feel so lucky to be in this class and am looking forward to the rest of the year with them!
Another difference from school on PEI is the number of subjects that we take. Whereas in school on the Island you take the same four subjects everyday for a semester and then completely switch your subjects/ classes, here I have many subjects and my schedule is different every day of the week. I didn't get to choose which subjects I take, as most of them are mandatory. I'm taking: Physics, Geography/Social Studies, French, Spanish, Music, German, Math, English, Biology, History, Economics, and Sports. No wonder Swiss people are good at everything!
This afternoon I am leaving for my "social week" with my class. It is a mandatory week in your second year where you must go with your class, usually to the country/mountains, and do a service project for a week. My class and I have been stationed in a project where we will sleep in a old military base (bring your sleeping bag) get up and bike 10 km to a field/swamp (rubber boots mandatory) and as far as I can tell, our task is to gather cut grass/wheat, and pile it onto a bedsheet (brought from home) and consolidate it to one location. So if you think of me on my birthday (tomorrow), I'll be working in the swamps. I am actually really looking forward to this week! Although it will be a lot of work, I think it will be a lot of fun to spend it with my class! I'm even bringing maple syrup to share in hopes that we have pancakes!
^ My school, Alte Kantonsshule Aarau
For starters, almost everyday (well Monday to Friday, at least) my classes startat 7:45 am and my last class goes until 5:30. Compared to the 9:00-3:00 schoolday of Canadian high school, this makes for a long day! When my Swiss classmates hear about school in Canada, they are both surprised and envious of the short schoolday. Another difference is that while in Canada we normally have a different class for every subject and change classes every semester, here you stay with the same class all day everyday, and for all four years of highschool! This has been good for me in the way that I really get to know and become friends with the people in my class (22 people, smaller than the average class at Colonel Gray) but also a kind of tough because it is then hard to meet people outside of my class. At home, in Charlottetown, my school experience was more similar to school here because I ended up being with the same class for three years because I was in the International Baccalaureate Programme. I grew to love my class at home and every person in it, we were all close friends by the end of three years together, and had lots of fun during class. When I was introduced to my class and went to my first class last Monday morning, I felt immediately at home. They were just as noisy, just as crazy and just as friendly as the IB class at Colonel Gray. They have all been really welcoming to me, and super patient with my German! If one of them ever tries to talk to me in English, the others will quickly tell the each other to speak to me in German so that I can learn! I feel so lucky to be in this class and am looking forward to the rest of the year with them!
Another difference from school on PEI is the number of subjects that we take. Whereas in school on the Island you take the same four subjects everyday for a semester and then completely switch your subjects/ classes, here I have many subjects and my schedule is different every day of the week. I didn't get to choose which subjects I take, as most of them are mandatory. I'm taking: Physics, Geography/Social Studies, French, Spanish, Music, German, Math, English, Biology, History, Economics, and Sports. No wonder Swiss people are good at everything!
This afternoon I am leaving for my "social week" with my class. It is a mandatory week in your second year where you must go with your class, usually to the country/mountains, and do a service project for a week. My class and I have been stationed in a project where we will sleep in a old military base (bring your sleeping bag) get up and bike 10 km to a field/swamp (rubber boots mandatory) and as far as I can tell, our task is to gather cut grass/wheat, and pile it onto a bedsheet (brought from home) and consolidate it to one location. So if you think of me on my birthday (tomorrow), I'll be working in the swamps. I am actually really looking forward to this week! Although it will be a lot of work, I think it will be a lot of fun to spend it with my class! I'm even bringing maple syrup to share in hopes that we have pancakes!
Thursday 15 September 2011
Catch up : Language Course
I haven't exactly been the best blogger, but stay with me as I try to figure it out as I want to keep everyone at home updated on exchange life!
Language Camp: Starting the third day I arrived, and going for three weeks, I attended a language course. It took place in Zurich, and I was learning German with a group of other Rotary Exchange students! I think there were over thirty of us exchange students, so on the first morning they had us do a test and then split us in to two classes. (Somehow I managed to to into the more advanced class which was ) Learning German is tough, but we had a really really sweet teacher that made it a lot of fun. We went on scavenger hunts and did surveys in different areas of Zurich and one day she even took us to the pool! It was sunny at 35+ degrees almost everyday, which made me miss the PEI beaches!
My favourite part about language camp was meeting all of the other exchange students. We all bonded really quickly and had a lot of fun together! It was really nice to have so many other people to be able to talk to about going through the challenges of changing families, living in German and Swiss culture! These students came from various countries around the world including: Canada, Taiwan, USA, Peru, Equador, Brasil, Japan, Argentina, Russia, Mexico... etc. So it made for a really cool experience to talk to other students about their home culture and how they find it different (or the same) to Switzerland's. Mayu, from Japan, had her birthday during one of these weeks, so each of us sang Happy Birthday in our first Languages! We ended up being able to sing in Taiwanese, Japanese, English, Spanish German and French ! That was a really eye opening experience for me. We all come from different countries but can still hang out and be friends!
We had school from 9:00-3:10 so on some of the really hot days we would all go together to the park after school and go swimming in Zurich Lake! Swimming in the lake with international friends and looking back to the shore of Old Zurich that I really appreciated how amazing it is to be here! And to top it all off, I came out knowing much more German than I took with me to Switzerland! The German course was awesome for the language benefit as well as meeting the other exchange students!
Language Camp: Starting the third day I arrived, and going for three weeks, I attended a language course. It took place in Zurich, and I was learning German with a group of other Rotary Exchange students! I think there were over thirty of us exchange students, so on the first morning they had us do a test and then split us in to two classes. (Somehow I managed to to into the more advanced class which was ) Learning German is tough, but we had a really really sweet teacher that made it a lot of fun. We went on scavenger hunts and did surveys in different areas of Zurich and one day she even took us to the pool! It was sunny at 35+ degrees almost everyday, which made me miss the PEI beaches!
My favourite part about language camp was meeting all of the other exchange students. We all bonded really quickly and had a lot of fun together! It was really nice to have so many other people to be able to talk to about going through the challenges of changing families, living in German and Swiss culture! These students came from various countries around the world including: Canada, Taiwan, USA, Peru, Equador, Brasil, Japan, Argentina, Russia, Mexico... etc. So it made for a really cool experience to talk to other students about their home culture and how they find it different (or the same) to Switzerland's. Mayu, from Japan, had her birthday during one of these weeks, so each of us sang Happy Birthday in our first Languages! We ended up being able to sing in Taiwanese, Japanese, English, Spanish German and French ! That was a really eye opening experience for me. We all come from different countries but can still hang out and be friends!
We had school from 9:00-3:10 so on some of the really hot days we would all go together to the park after school and go swimming in Zurich Lake! Swimming in the lake with international friends and looking back to the shore of Old Zurich that I really appreciated how amazing it is to be here! And to top it all off, I came out knowing much more German than I took with me to Switzerland! The German course was awesome for the language benefit as well as meeting the other exchange students!
Wednesday 14 September 2011
*******
Please note a change to my earlier post: I would like to send my enourmous thanks to the Charlottetown ROYALTY Rotary Club. While I'm sure the Charlottetown Rotary Club is nice too, The Charlottetown Royalty Rotary Club is my sponsoring club and has been very generous to me. It is thanks to them I can be here in Switzerland! Thank you!
Thursday 8 September 2011
Becoming Multilingual
Coming to Switzerland, I was told of the difference between "Swiss German" and "High German". However, I can definitely say that I did not understand at all, and the variation between these two languages has been a big part of my life here.
It's hard to explain the relationship between these two dialects, but I imagine it something like the difference between Acadian French, and France French. Technically the "same language" but neither can really understand the other. There are many different dialects of Swiss German, even between towns right next to each other. The Swiss can easily tell where someone lives based on their accent. However, the variation in these dialects is so strong that if someone from the North went to a more Southern area, they probably couldn't understand each other, and would instead speak High German, or English. High German is the more official, or formal language for Switzerland. Swiss German is derived from High German and has many shortened forms of High German words. Some words differ by merely accent, and others have an entirely different word.
For Example:
English High German Swiss German
carrots karroten ruebli
three drei drue
cupboard kuchenshrank chuchichastli
Swiss German is spoken at home and between friends, but students learn to read and write in High German, and teachers speak High German at school, as school is technically "totally in High German". But- students still talk to each other in class and on break in Swiss German. In the same way that Taiwanese is not a written language, and the Taiwanese instead use Mandarine for writing and in school, Swiss German is a mostly oral language. However, my host family explained to me that as more and more kids are getting cell phones, the formality of High German is thrown to the wind and Swiss German is used more and more through technology.
I have been told that people here don't like to speak High German. Swiss German is their first language, and English is the "cool" language. The heirarchy of languages goes: SwissGerman>English>EverythingElse>HighGerman. So I am finding that a lot of people would rather speak English to me than High German. First of all it is easier, because I actually understand it, and secondly, they like the opportunity to practise their English.
WHY THIS MATTERS TO ME: I am learning High German. At my language course, we were taught High German, as it is the "official" German language. This means that I have nothing to do with Swiss German. So when my family or schoolmates talk, they speak Swiss German. That means that I can't understand their conversation, or attempt to participate. They will either make an attempt to speak High German if I'm with them (which doesn't usually last long) or take pauses to explain to me in High German or English the general idea of conversation. So I'm stuck not understanding while everyone else involves in conversation- not to mention when they laugh at a joke and I still have no idea what is going on (I usually laugh too). It makes it difficult to learn High German when everything around me is happening in Swiss German. I guess it's part of the challenge of learning German is Switzerland!
My High German is coming along and I am now up to caveman grammer, " Me Bus Go" or " Me Play No Volleyball". However stupid I sound, I always try to speak German because I know the more I speak, the better I get. I think my host family has finally starting laughing at me when I say "Das ist Gut" (That is good) because for my first couple weeks that was pretty much the only German I knew that applied to every situation. No matter what someone said to me "Das ist gut." always seemed to fit. I guess that is a reflection of my exchange so far. Everything has been very positive, and although some days are harder than others, I haven't had a bad day yet.
Some of the sounds between English and German are really different, so my class is currently coaching me on my accent. I have had people say things to me like, "You aren't making the right sounds. You have to pretend you have something in your throat and that you're choking." Needless to say... I haven't quite got the hang of it yet.
Language Camp helped a lot, and I have been working hard on my German so I am pretty proud of how far I have come in three and a half weeks! If I keep learning this much, I think I will be a master by the end of the year!
[sorry this post was a little (or a lot) long and boring but it's important cultural exchange stuff that I just have to get out of my system. I promise to update more about life and school soon!]
It's hard to explain the relationship between these two dialects, but I imagine it something like the difference between Acadian French, and France French. Technically the "same language" but neither can really understand the other. There are many different dialects of Swiss German, even between towns right next to each other. The Swiss can easily tell where someone lives based on their accent. However, the variation in these dialects is so strong that if someone from the North went to a more Southern area, they probably couldn't understand each other, and would instead speak High German, or English. High German is the more official, or formal language for Switzerland. Swiss German is derived from High German and has many shortened forms of High German words. Some words differ by merely accent, and others have an entirely different word.
For Example:
English High German Swiss German
carrots karroten ruebli
three drei drue
cupboard kuchenshrank chuchichastli
Swiss German is spoken at home and between friends, but students learn to read and write in High German, and teachers speak High German at school, as school is technically "totally in High German". But- students still talk to each other in class and on break in Swiss German. In the same way that Taiwanese is not a written language, and the Taiwanese instead use Mandarine for writing and in school, Swiss German is a mostly oral language. However, my host family explained to me that as more and more kids are getting cell phones, the formality of High German is thrown to the wind and Swiss German is used more and more through technology.
I have been told that people here don't like to speak High German. Swiss German is their first language, and English is the "cool" language. The heirarchy of languages goes: SwissGerman>English>EverythingElse>HighGerman. So I am finding that a lot of people would rather speak English to me than High German. First of all it is easier, because I actually understand it, and secondly, they like the opportunity to practise their English.
WHY THIS MATTERS TO ME: I am learning High German. At my language course, we were taught High German, as it is the "official" German language. This means that I have nothing to do with Swiss German. So when my family or schoolmates talk, they speak Swiss German. That means that I can't understand their conversation, or attempt to participate. They will either make an attempt to speak High German if I'm with them (which doesn't usually last long) or take pauses to explain to me in High German or English the general idea of conversation. So I'm stuck not understanding while everyone else involves in conversation- not to mention when they laugh at a joke and I still have no idea what is going on (I usually laugh too). It makes it difficult to learn High German when everything around me is happening in Swiss German. I guess it's part of the challenge of learning German is Switzerland!
My High German is coming along and I am now up to caveman grammer, " Me Bus Go" or " Me Play No Volleyball". However stupid I sound, I always try to speak German because I know the more I speak, the better I get. I think my host family has finally starting laughing at me when I say "Das ist Gut" (That is good) because for my first couple weeks that was pretty much the only German I knew that applied to every situation. No matter what someone said to me "Das ist gut." always seemed to fit. I guess that is a reflection of my exchange so far. Everything has been very positive, and although some days are harder than others, I haven't had a bad day yet.
Some of the sounds between English and German are really different, so my class is currently coaching me on my accent. I have had people say things to me like, "You aren't making the right sounds. You have to pretend you have something in your throat and that you're choking." Needless to say... I haven't quite got the hang of it yet.
Language Camp helped a lot, and I have been working hard on my German so I am pretty proud of how far I have come in three and a half weeks! If I keep learning this much, I think I will be a master by the end of the year!
[sorry this post was a little (or a lot) long and boring but it's important cultural exchange stuff that I just have to get out of my system. I promise to update more about life and school soon!]
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