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Email: ethankiffmeyer@gmail.com
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Wednesday, December 2, 2015

Deutchkurs, Matterhorn, and a Fresh Start

Hey, it's been a while.

Now that I finally have some interesting things to write about, I can post something new here.

To begin, I've started the second German class in Zurich.  Most of the same wonderful exchange students from the first are still there, but there are also some new people who I'll have the opportunity to get to know better!  Just like in the last course, they gave us all a test on the first day and split us up into two different groups based on where we are in German.  Apparently I've come a long way in the past few months, because I tested into the higher level class!  Another thing that this second class will do for me along with giving my German a boost is to give me the opportunity to take a test for an official diploma.  While that doesn't sound all that interesting, I'm really happy about it.  If I succeed in earning it, it would be an official certificate saying that I am fluent in High German, which would be amazing for adding to a resume.

Another thing that's great about being in a German class again is it means that I'm seeing other exchange students again on a regular basis.  I find it pretty amazing how quickly and well exchange students bond with each other.  My guess is that it's because we are all in the situation of being in a country where we don't speak the language or know the culture, and the other inbounds are the only other people who are in it with us.

This past weekend (November 29-30) was the Rotary Matterhorn weekend.  It has definitely been one of the best parts of my time here.  All the Rotary exchange students in Switzerland came and stayed in Zermatt, which is the town just under the Matterhorn.  We had an amazing time doing all sorts of different activities over the two days that we were there.  On Saturday we got to explore Zermatt before having cheese fondue for dinner.  That evening we went to a restaurant/club and had a disco for a few hours, which was like a party without alcohol.  We went back to the restaurant where we had the fondue afterwards to have desert and do a bit of karaoke before heading back to the hotel and going to bed for the night.

The next day we had breakfast and packed up before heading out and taking a gondola into the mountain range.  We explored inside a glacier in the mountains, which was super interesting!  We spent some time up there before coming back down to have lunch.  After lunch we walked back through Zermatt to the train station and headed home.

Finally, the day that this is posted is the day that I've switched host families for the first time.  I'm now living with my second of three host families.  So far it's been great, and I love the family!  I have three brothers, although two of them are usually only home on the weekends.  My other brother, Nando, is in my class at school, so I already know him pretty well!

I do apologize that there are no pictures included in this post.  For some reason Blogger is not letting me insert pictures from my computer, so I'll have to find a way to fix that...  All the pictures that I've taken will be on my Facebook page with captions so you can find them there.

That's all for now, but I'll keep posting whenever I have something interesting to write about!

Danke, und bis Später!
-Kiffy

2 comments:

  1. I just told Dad you're a good writer. You have a nice way of expressing yourself. Glad to hear it's going well!

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