September 25, 2012,

Changes;
So i've been in Switzerland for a little over a month now. I cannot believe time is going by so quickly. In this short amount of time I have changed alot, for the better of course. I feel as if I left the old Hannah in Pennsylvannia and found the real me in Switzerland. The day before I left I had an orientation with AFS in New York and a man that had gone to Switzerland for a study abroad about 16 years ago(or something like that) said you will change alot and I didn't beleive him but it is really true. I am now very independent and much more happy about my life. I now realize how much my parents, family, and friends mean to me. I am so blessed to have parents that support me in any decision I make in my life. I still cannot believe my parents said yes when I asked them if I could study abroad. Someone once told me that absence makes the heart grow fonder and it is so true. Of course I love my family and friends but I never told them enough how much I love them and now I do. Sometimes I get homesick and miss my friends and family alot but then I realize that this is what they want me to do in my life and they are proud of me for doing this. Alot of people ask me how can you leave your family for a year and dont you miss them and of course I do but I know im am here for a reason. Others ask why did I want to come to Switzerland and I still do not have a clear reason. I wanted to go to France beacuse I have two years of french and only one year of german so I only wanted to go to France. But when I found out the program was full I had the option of going to Belguim or Switzerland. So I did my research on both countries and came to the conclusion that Switzerland would be good for me. Im still not sure why I wanted to come here but I know I casme here for a reason. Maybe I will soon find out why, I hope so at least. So right now I am learing so much I feel like my head is going to expload at the end of the night. I am learning alot of german and swiss german. I try to talk german as much as I can but everyone wants to learn "american english" beacuse everyone here has to learn british english. So its hard to learn but I think I have made a huge improvement since I arrived here. So im sure your wondering what I do everyday other than go to school and eat alot of choclate. Well I dont have much time in the weekdays to do anything. I have school until 5 and only get home around 6 and then I have to do my homework, well try to and then have a little free time and then its time to sleep. I am always tired here, I dont know if it's beacuse it's cold or because I have to translate so much in my head. lol. But on weekend I go to town and shop or find a map and find some cool statues or something that the town is famous for. So, today I got great news, I have a new host family for when my family goes on vacation. They live in Basil which is about a 2 hour train ride from St.Gallen. But I am very excited to meet them and from what my host mother told me it seems like they are very excited to have me living in their house for 2 weeks. They said they are going to take me sightseeing around Basil which is soo awesome. I want to see as much as Switzerland as I can while im here. So far i've been to Zurich and I live in St.Gallen. I love hearing the differnt accents of swiss german. Also learning about the differnt cultures of the differnt cantons. There is 26 cantons and each one is uniqe in every way. The only thing I am not looking forward to is the 2 hour train ride, when you are with a friend the hours on the train go by so quickly but when your alone it seems like forever. Also having to pack everything again sucks but I know this is going to be a fun adventure. Well everyone keeps asking me if I had found a boy yet, the answer is no. lol. Right now im trying to focus on learning german and school.