Aare, Aare, Aare!

This morning I had the "Welcome Meeting" with half of the exchange students who are in Switzerland right now. The other half had their meeting later in the day, so I still haven't met them! Booooo. It was so awesome to meet them and I can't wait to get to know them better later on. We exchanged pins for our blazers and I have to say, I did get some pretty cool looking ones from all around the world! Can't wait to decorate my blazer with them later! The meeting was long and hot because there is no AC here and it was almost 30 outside - so crazy. We were separated into groups and did skits based on different aspects of our exchange like the 4 D's, the 6 B's, sexual harassment, homesickness, yadda yadda. It was funny to see everyone perform and we all looked like dorks doing it, but it was really fun!

I also met my counsellor for the first time today. Her name is Christa and she is an absolutely lovely lady! Her and her family will be my next host family, so it was awesome getting to meet her instead of just communicating through email! She came to the meeting with my host parents and I today.

After the meeting, I went with some of the other exchange students to Marzili near Bern for the afternoon. The Aare river runs through it and there are pools and tons of people everywhere! We jumped into the river and swam/floated as the current pushed us through the river. We jumped off a bridge into the water and it was so crazy but so fun at the same time. The water was freezing and it was a shock to our system every time we jumped in but we kept doing it anyway. The current is super strong and it was so hard to get out but it was part of the thrill of going in. It was a really fun day and it was awesome meeting everyone!

Anna, Carly, Me, Sammy and Kim at Marzili

xoxoxo,
Madi