I'll be spending my Junior year in Switzerland as a foreign exchange student. I won a scholarship and I'll be writing about my experiences for Scholastic Magazine.
Please send me letters. Click here to ask for my mailing address.
These letters describe my experiences so far:
* 15Sep02 letter about Switzerland
* 10Oct02 letter about Switzerland
* 1Jan03 letter from Switzerland
* April 2003 Scholastic Magazine (diary excerpts) Page1,
2, 3,
and 4
* May03 letter: Page
1, 2, 3,
4, 5,
6, 7,
8, 9,
10, 11,
12
1. This was my last full day in good 'ol Mukilteo-town! (Mukilteo, WA qualifies as a town by the Swiss definition which is > 10,000 people).
2. Arrived in time for festival in Dättlikon, a village of 500 people, which became my new home.
3. This is a view of Pfungen on my daily journey to train station (20 min by bike, 45 min by foot).
4. My first month was an intensive German class with these other foreign exchange students.
5. Here is my friend Roger summarizing a newspaper article in my intensive German course (fondly called "Deutschkurs"). Schwierig!
6. (right) This is a view of the cafeteria in the Zürich Universitat where our "Deutschkurs" was.
7. The last day of my German class in Zürich. The other kids in my class were from Iceland, Latvia, New Mexico, Brasil, Mukilteo (believe it or not), Idaho, Russia, and Indonesia (in order, from left to right. We like to call each other by countries or states sometimes.)
8. Does this surprise you? For a parade with a theme about vacations, my host family decided to have an American tourist in an Arab nation. I was an Arab.
9. Here is my host Dad as the American tourist. That is our donkey too!
10. Here is a view of the farmhouse for my host family in Dättlikon.
11. Eglisau is a village up north on the Rhine River where my good friend Kristen lives. On nice days like this one, I would bike to her flat.
12. Here is another picture of the other foreign exchange students I studied German with the first month. We've become pretty close.
13. This was at Olma, a farmer's festival in St. Gallens in Northeastern Switzerland.
14. This is a view of some houses in Dättlikon.
15. My host family took me hiking in the Alps in Southern Switzerland during the two-week Fall vacation.
16. Here are cool old stone houses we passed on our hike.
17. This is my friend Kristen visiting my host family and meeting our horse and donkey.
18. This is near a vineyard in Dättlikon. There are quite a few all over the place here.
19. This is in Luzern. I went a little early to an AFS post-arrival orientation camp with my friend Roger so we could explore Luzern a little.
20-21 (right) Scenes from the AFS camp in Giswil in Central Switzerland, between Luzern and Interlocken)
22. Here I am with some of the other exchange students at the camp.
23. Posing for a group shot.
24. My German class went to a vineyard and spent a day picking grapes in Frauenfeld for making wine.
25. Switzerland is famous for chocolate. We all took a tour of this Lindt chocolate factory. Yum!
Here are some more pictures that I didn't develop until February...
(Click on to enlarge any photo!)
26. A view looking out the window from my home in Dättlikon.
27. Top window was my bedroom.
28. Here's a view from my bedroom in Dättlikon.
29. Air-drying clothes -- the all-popular Swiss method exercised by all.
30. Church with traditional house in front.
31. Host sister Effi in living room.
32. Host sister Bigna in her room.
33. Bigna biking to tennis practice.
34. Kantonsschule gym.
35. Rowan with school behind her.
36. Getting ready for "Kantifest"
37. Ben with a traditional "Black Forest" Swiss cake for a Deutschkurs klasse reunion.
38. Rowan, Diana (from Latvia), and Gabriella (our Deutschkurs teacher).
39. Diana, Ben, & Ponco (Indonesia) cleaning dishes.
40. Rowan, Kristen, & Revi in Zürich.
41. Rowan & St. Nikolaus.
42.Rowan's birthday at Alpen Rock.
43. Class friends at Frau Wolf's.
44. Belen, Herr Wolf, Kristen
45. Our house in Bülach.
46. We have a vineyard and sheep next to our house in Bülach.
47. Vineyard with Bülach in distance.
48. Rowan and Hannah.
49. A bunch of exchange students at Rüümli, AFS get-together.
50. Friends in tram after Rüümli.
51. Another Deutschkurs klasse reunion.
52. Rowan and friends wine tasting where we harvested grapes.
53. Group shot of our class.
54.Rowan with host siblings Gery, Bigna, and Effi at Christmas eve dinner.
55.Host parents Erika and Jürg.
56. Host grandmother, Grossi
58. Gery, Rowan, Erika, and Jürg at Christmas lunch.
57 (Left) Bigna lighting Christmas tree candles.
59. Host family with dog Lasco.
60. Kristen and Rowan with face masks in Ramosch.
61. Sledding.
62. Rowan and Kristen in the Alps.
63. View.
64. Special art form unique to area.
65. Skiing.
66.
67.
68.
70. AFS'ers sledding.
69(left): more special art.