Roma Day One - April 16, 2012

Over the course of the past 8 months, I have often had to ask myself if my life is actually real. I have been given so many amazing opportunities that a year ago were only a dream. However today may have been the craziest day thus far. 

After finishing packing my suitcases at 2am, I had a mere 3 hours sleep before my alarm chimed and I was off to the train station to catch a train to Rome! I boarded the 5:45am train from Oensingen to Zürich, where I met up with the other 38 exchange students who are embarking on this journey with me. 

From Zürich, we boarded a train to Milano Centrale that made a few stops in Switzerland and Italy along the way. Thank goodness we had a reserved wagon because 43 seats together are hard to come by!

The train to Milan was just over 4 hours long but the time passed fast by gossiping and catching up with everyone and playing a few games of President and Cheat here and there. We attempted to play Go Fish, but none of us could remember the real rules...you know you're not a kid anymore when that happens! 

The train was so hot and because we had a 30 minute delay, we managed to miss our connecting train from Milan to Rome. But luckily, trains aren't planes, and there was another train to Rome half an hour later. 

After waiting for a little while in Milan, we boarded the train headed to Rome. The train trek from Milan to Rome was another 3 hours or so with a stop in Bologna - we all got quite the laugh out of that! We continued to play cards and talk but there were very few who slept despite the early morning.

We finally arrived in Rome around 3:15 and none of us could believe we were actually there! After looking forward to the trip for so long, it was pretty hard to believe that it was actually happening. We organized ourselves in the train station and received our "Roma Pass" that is good for the Metro and museum entries in Rome. 

Then we got on the subway and headed to our hotel just outside of downtown Rome. 

We received our room keys and headed up to our rooms quickly to change our clothes and freshen up. Luckily we were able to choose our rooms so I'm sharing with Olivia (from Cambridge...so close!), Emmeline from California and Isaadora from Brazil.

Then we all met up in the lobby for a quick debriefing and explanation of the night's proceedings and then we were on our way back to the Metro to head to the Colosseum! When I got off the subway and saw it, I had to pinch myself and rub my eyes to make sure I wasn't just dreaming and that this was actually real. 

And then we were let loose for 3 hours to explore the Colosseum and surrounding area. What was astounding to me, was how the locals sat outside the Colosseum like it was nothing special. Excuse me, what? Just so casual...I'm jealous. I went off with 2 fellow Canadians, Carly from Port Hardy, BC, and Alex from Moncton, New Brunswick. Exploring the Colosseum was incredible - it is so old and there is so much history behind it that it's impossible to wrap my head around it while I try to take in the sight before my eyes. We wandered around inside the Colosseum for a while - there was so much English being spoken - and then we walked around the parameter and purchased a few postcards and souvenirs - so inexpensive, I can hardly believe it - and then we headed across the street and up to an edge looking out over the street at the Colosseum before it was time to meet up with everyone again.

And then we headed back to the hotel on the Metro and witnessed the sun paint a beautiful sunset over the ruins of Rome. Back at the hotel, we were off to eat at the hotel's restaurant. They truly lived up to the Italian stereotype - lots and lots of pasta and the food never stops coming!

And then we headed up to our rooms because we were all so pooped from such a long day of travelling and excitement! 

I'm off to bed now and I can't what to see what tomorrow will bring! 

Stay tuned!

Sending love from Italy, 

Madi

Rome and Venice - April 16 - 21, 2012

So as I spend the next week of my wonderful life in Rome and Venice, I'll be trying my best to keep you updated on my adventures!

Enjoy!

Arosa Skiferien

So we have to travel back in time (it's starting to become a common theme here, huh?) just a few more times until we're all up to date on my Swissly adventures!

Arosa Ski Holiday - March 10 - 17, 2012


So while my "real" family (aka Canada) was enjoying a beautiful spring break on the beaches of Southern Florida, I was halfway around the world racing down the slippery slopes of the Swiss Alps.

My host parents and I headed to the canton of Graubünden to go skiing for a week in a ski resort town called Arosa which is situated at about 1600m above sea level. It was about a 3 and a half hour journey from our house in Niederbipp but we stopped along the way at a little cafe in Chur, the capital of canton Graubünden. I actually managed to sleep almost the entire way, so the trip didn't seem too long! After leaving the cafe, we drove up to the village - and by drove up, I mean that we drove on a road that had over 150 winds and turns...I am almost positive it has made a heck of a lot of people's tummies rumble!

When we finally got into the village, we had some difficulties finding the host we were renting because it was tucked back into the top of the village. The best part about our house was that we could literally ski to and from our front door - like really, does it get any better than that?!

The view from our front door

LOOK HOW CLOSE THE HILL IS!

Like is this real life?!

After settling into our cute little apartment, we decided to venture down into the village to do some grocery shopping, buy of week long ski passes and get to know our new home. We walked around for a little bit, purchased a few postcards and then went to one of the many restaurants and enjoyed some appetizers. Little did we know, we missed the last regular scheduled bus back up to our house, so we had two options: stand in the cold and wait 45 minutes for the next bus or walk up to our house...we chose option number 2. Although it is actually quite a long walk - not to mention uphill - we managed to make it back up before the bus would have even left the stop down below...we are such champions. 

When we got back to the house, my host mom started to cook dinner while I wrote some postcards and my host dad went to pick up my host brother and his girlfriend from the train station - Benj & Nicole took the train up to stay with us for a night and to go skiing with us, but unfortunately due to school and work, they weren't able to stay the whole week! When everyone got back, we ate dinner and talked for a little while but headed off to bed pretty early to make sure we were all in tip-top condition for the day ahead!

I had the worst dream that night...I dreamt that all of the snow had melted and we couldn't go skiing and people were jumping from the alps on mountain bikes and crazy stuff like that. Thank goodness it wasn't true, but when Nicole came to wake me up in morning, the first thing I asked her was "Is there still snow?!". Obviously I just looked like a crazy person, but my dream was so vivid, I actually believed it. 

We ate breakfast together and got dressed in our ever-so-sexy snowsuits and headed out onto the slopes!

"Where do we want to go?!"

My lovely host parents

Benj & Nicole

Unfortunately it was a very foggy day and it was really difficult to see the slopes, so the three girls called it a day around 2pm while my host dad and brother continued to ski for a little while. 

My host mom and I outside our house

Nicole and I  <3

While the boys were still out skiing, the rest of us showered and played a few rounds of Yahtzee before they came back and joined us!

Then we all got ready to head back into town to grab a bite to eat before Benji and Nicole had to leave us to head home!

The next day we got up early, ate breakfast and skied for the better part of the day. We repeated this everyday of the week - have I mentioned home much I love my life?! And in the afternoons we often headed into town for appetizers and then back home for dinner or skipped the appetizers all together and went to eat at a restaurant. One night we went to restaurant where the children's choir was performing and it was so cute - too bad I forgot my camera and didn't take any photos...

My host parents enrolled me in a ski school from Wednesday to Friday, so in the mornings I would go to ski school and then in the afternoons, I would meet up with host parents again and go skiing with them. The ski school was awesome because there were only 3 of us (2 on Thursday and Friday - but I'll get to that in a second) in the class and then our (cute) ski instructor, Martin. 

On Wednesday the class consisted of myself, Frank (a German professor in Florida - how small is the world?! He live about an hour away from where my family was vacationing...so crazy!), a lady from Germany (I forget her name...ooops!) and then Martin. The lessons were all in German and all we did was speak German and I am so proud of myself for understanding everything! 

And now to the story: we were on the very last run of the morning and were about to head back to the ski school when the lady from Germany tried to get off the ski lift but fell instead and twisted her knee or something. Long story short, she was screaming and crying in pain and ended up having to be lifted by helicopter to the hospital in Chur - and that's all we know. I hope she's ok! 

A week of skiing in the Swiss Alps was a dream come true and the beauty was astonishing! I got a little carried away taking pictures (like usual) so here are some photos for you to enjoy from our adventures:

These photos don't even come close to capturing the true beauty of the Alps ofArosa, but I hope you enjoyed looking at them as much as I enjoyed skiing down them! 

Ohh, and how could I forget a picture of Martin and I?!

You know....

The sun was also shining strong - 4 or 5 degrees almost everyday - so the snow became pretty heavy and wet after lunch time, but we did our best to make the most of it! There weren't a lot of people at the resort because it was an off-week, meaning all of the school holidays were over, so it was now just tourists or families with small kids or older couples or exchange students who miss a week of school to experience something truly amazing! 

I even got a really nice tan on my face throughout the week - how wonderful! But that's about it for my ski holiday adventure in Arosa - and now we're one post closer to being up to date - hooray!

I feel so blessed to have had this opportunity and I owe everything to my wonderful host parents Michele and Romeo - I know you're reading this so: Danke viel, viel mal für alles!

Thanks for reading and love from Switzy, 

madi