Constanz and Basel

So, Im doing a photo dump... pictures of Constanz (am Bodensee, like several weeks ago), and Basel, like last weekend.

A sweet church where we ate in east switzerland somewhere

Just a gorgeous building

You know how shoe stores sometimes have big shoes out front, ice cream stores have big ice cream statues in front of them... this place has a giant golden elephant

Eleonora (my guest mother) and I next to the Bodensee

Another gorgeous building framed by a lovely sky

Yup, buildings are sometimes used as a canvas here... how cool is that?

"Ottoman Toothbrushes"  you chew on a stick, and it cleanses your teeth

The hipsters are quite cool in switzerland

"Standard" swiss attire

These are in Basel, this is the town hall... basically the coolest building ever!!!

Its so intricate, its rediculous- its like this on all of it, intricately painted and ornamented

There was a cellist (right word?) there, which set the mood so very well it was ludicrous

A cool fountain with champagne and wine next to it, thats basically as old as the USA... nbd

I think this speaks for itself

Eishockey und Baguette hotdogs

So once again it's been a while since the last time I posted/ sorry :p
So basically the last while has been school, and hangin out with peeps from school- however, there are definitely twO highlights/// first, I went to a hockey game, which is actually really big in Fribourg, because they have one of the better teams- it was honestly soooo cool: the fans were all singing, and some brought gynormous banners with them and were waving them- the energy was incredibly high, and it was just a normal season game
The other thig was just a really cool hotdog, which is apparently normal here. What they do, is they take a smallish baguette, cut it in half, and poke a hole in the middle, then squirt ketchup in there, and then in goes the hotdog....... So it's messless, and you can eat it like a corndog, except there's no stick, just a handy dandy bread holder, which is naturally delicious, because it's fresh European bread
So that's all for now, gotta study for a math test tomorrow (icky!!!)

School!!

Alright, so the first week of school has now passed by, and it was actually awesome! The other kids in my class were all uber friendly and nice and welcoming! The classes might be a bit tough (the Swiss equivalent of high school, "college" is actually voluntary and so the level is quite elevated. English class is actually the funniest thig ever, because although the teacher was born in Switzerland, he is the epitomy of the stereotype of British-ness. "coffee or tea, and with whom" "good lord" "oh dear", as well as countless snide remarks, all said in a textbook "I was educated at Oxford, therefore everything I say sounds disdainful" voice. This is not to say I have anything against england, or the Brits... Quite the opposite, in fact- it is merely that almost anything he says sends me into a fit of laughter.

Its been a while

Sorry, i know its been a while since mz last post... things have been a bit busy, and that, combined with laziness have created this dearth of postage.
So I had some uber-traditional food a litle while ago... here, cow farming is really big, so naturally, they use all parts of the cow in their cooking (very traditionally, now not so much).  And so, i was served various types of meat, without the slightest idea what they were.  I tried them all, and they were all good, except two, which tasted a bit funky........ guess what?  I can now say that ive eaten cow toungue and cow udder!!!
So school starts on Monday, at two o clock in the afternoon... however, i still have to go to a language school in Bern at 8 in the morning... so the late start time does nothing for me.  I must say though, im quite excited for school to start... because then i can start to get to know a bunch more kids from around here... and that be a good thing (for anyone who actually cares, my school is called St. Croix, in Fribourg, which pronounced `Freiburg` in german).  Its still gorgeous in die Schweiz, a bit cooler than last week, but not too cold.  Basically like spring weather in NH, except a bit warmer.  The best thing is, that because Swityerland is so far from the Ocean, the air is very dry, so even when its hot, it dosnt feel that bad.  Yah, dont really know what else to say, so thats all for now

FINALLY SOME PICTURES!!!!

All right, so heres a sample of the bajillions of pictures Ive taken.   Many of them arent that good, or get pretty repetitive, so heres just a few (plus it takes the computer forever to upload them)

This is Newark, NJ... a suitable foil for what was to come.

This is basically what much of Fribourg looks like, lots of old buildings and towers.

Heres a view looking out on the lower town from one of the bridges (the oldest part of the town is to the left of this picture)

Here is me on a boat heading to go eat some freshly caught fish on the other side of the lake.

Heres where the fun starts... this was the beginning point of the hike that I just went on.  It was in what is called the pre-alps, but there was still a mile of vertical elevation gain, so it was no walk in the park.

See that really tall ridge on the top picture?  Yah, climbed that and the picture below... one right after the other.

A view out from not very high up.

A  nifty trail-marking... just seemed fitting for some reason.

When finally at the top (approx 3000 meters above sea level).  A really wonderful sunset... the pictures do it no justice.

On the way back down, ran into some sheep.  Which reminds me, in the Alps here, you can be totally alone, with not a living thing near you, and still there are bells ringing in your head.......  At first its charmingly quaint, then its annoying, then it becomes just another part of the scenery (albeit an auditory one)

Oh, by the way, there's a cultural festival going on. OR the popes visitors

Ok, so today was supposed to be the first day of my language camp, but, apparently my German was good enough that I didn't have to take it (they didn't say you could test out until today) so, instead of German, the other out-tester and I just wandered the streets of Bern, where all of a sudden, we came upon a group of people dancing in a circle, playing catchy traditional sounding music. So, of course, we gawker some, until two very nice young guys came up to us, and explained that they were Catholic people from Germany on their way to see the Pope, and that we were both invited to dance with them, and go to see the Pope with them. Of course, given a chance to dance in public I will rarely turn it down, so we danced for a while, posed for some photo ops, and then declined their generous offer of a trip to Italy. When I got back to Fribourg (which is only a short trainride away), we went into town, and there was a parade of people wearing different traditional costumes, dancing and playing traditional music. Oh, by the way, there's a culture fest today!!! Then we biked back to the home, which is not far, but it's all uphill on the way back.

Slow day

Well, todazs Sundaz, and that prettz much means a daz where zou eat a lot of good food (even more than usual) and just chill.  Not a lot to report... although I had some Turkish street food the other night, and it was AWESOME!!!  I dont know whz anzone would ever go to McDs for fast food, when just as quicklz thez can get a Dönner.  Its a gorgeous daz, and thats prettz much all... so zah, a bientot