Second day of hut trips

Goats up above the boys on their way back to Zermatt. Looks like there's a couple baby goats.









I <3 WORLD. This was on the side of the trail from Tasch to Zermatt.








Some of the boys on a glacier that they had to cross. I would have been scared to walk on the glacier, for some reason. It seems like you'd fall though.
















The girls had to hike for three straight hours in the pouring rain, with thunder and lightning. It was freezing! The trail had a lot on huge rocks and dirt, which turned to extremely slippery rocks and pure mud.









A waterfall on the way back to Zermatt. All of the girls got so excited and immediately stripped down to their sports bras, climbed up the slick rocks, and dunked their heads under the waterfall. The waterfall was so cold it seemed like it was from newly melted snow. Oh wait, it was!

The girls' hut trip to Trift

At Trift, our hotel, snuggling, and waiting to hear the story of the first man to climb the Matterhorn. The story was actually really good, and if I closed my eyes, I could imagine the mountaineers up on the face of the Matterhorn, have snow and wind blown in their face, slowly trekking up.




Dinner at Trift was delicious! It was homemade soup with little oats in it, then spaghetti and meat sauce. We helped clean up. Some people washed dishes, some people dried them, some put them away, and the rest cleaned the tables.





I was so happy when i turned the corner after a steep uphill and found this ahead. A long, fun downhill with Trift at the end. Great way to spend a painful, tiring, but super fun hike.









All of us girls at our mid-way stop. We got so hot we ended up only wearing our sports bras on the hike. We were a rainbow of colors.





Ms. Tori, one of the English teachers, resting on on my favorite part of the uphill. I just loved walking up a huge meadow, looking down on Zermatt below, and talking about all of the problems with the Percy Jackson and the Lightning Thief movie with my sister-from-another-mister, Maggie.

The boys' hut trip to Tasch

My dad and brother on the hike! I love the valley that leads into the mountains!















One of the many rivers the boys had to cross. I heard it was very slippery.












The boys playing cards at Tasch, the hut they stayed in, waiting for dinner.










(Right to left) Andrew, Jakesy, Dj, Jordon, Chris, Hinkie (his rel name's Ben, but his last name is Hinkie, and it totally fits him, so that's what he's known as), Jack, and Max. Henry's kneeling. They're resting in a beautiful spot, on the way back.







It's hard, maybe even impossible, to find a place in Switzerland that's not beautiful. We keep getting told not to take advantage of the views we see everyday. It is easy to get used to the sights, and by the end, not see anything special. it is just as easy, however, to wake up everyday, look at the Matterhorn outside your window, and say "Wow, look at that!"

Hike to Eidelweiss

The path that we were on went through a mini farm. It had a couple huge cows! They were so cute. One was scratching it's head against the ground. I also saw a little baby cow in the barn! It was super fuzzy and had the funniest little moo.



The view of Zermatt from Eidelweiss, the restaurant at the top. I didn't realize how big Zermatt really is, or compared to what it looks like in town. I bet it's a fourth of the size of Colorado Springs, maybe even smaller.





Mother-daughter picture at Eidelweiss! The restaurant had the best carrot cake, peach tart, and apple tart. Yum! It also had a great view, although I haven't seen anywhere that doesn't.












Margret, Margret, Sarah, and I at a waterfall along the train. It was one of the many melted glacier waterfalls, so it was freezing! It felt so good, though, because we were so hot!

First Geology Lab

The lift we took up to the first part of the lab. It almost went straight up, it was so steep! It was really scary, but exciting.






"Woah! Sarah look behind you!" Those were the words out of my mouth when I saw the goat. I actually did a double-take. It ended up walking around me and practically tripping on my foot. Who gets to say a wild goat tripped over their foot?


Some of the students were standing on the rock when all of a sudden a different goat runs over and scares them off of it, claiming it as his. He was so proud when he had his rock, and people tired (it ended up they ran away screaming because the goat almost rammed them), but he would not give it up.


Me, Brandon, and Sarah working on the lab together. The view was magnificent! Look at the glacier right beneath us, slowly making it's way down the mountain.





We literally ran to the front of the lift, so we could look going down. It was, in one word, terrifying. Especially when another lift was coming right at us, both at the top speeds. Luckily, it switched tracks just before we crashed.

Dinner Time

Our week one dinner table. It was such a fun table with laughter every night, and stealing extra desserts. I didn't want to switch the next week.




At a Swiss restaurant. A band was playing there, and they were actually really good. It was really cool. The waitresses got up and did a traditional Swiss dance, and the band was really nice. They looked surprised when we were taking their picture, but they looked ecstatic, too.



At the same restaurant. It was my dad's and mine night out. The food was delicious. We both had salad, veal, and rosti. Rosti is the German word for, basically, hash browns. They are very popular in Switzerland, and people put anything on top on them. I've seen eggs, fish, a ton of different sauces, even syrup, and more!

Meet Zermatt

Horse drawn carriages wander town everyday. When I was told to stand by the horse I started laughing. Yeah, right, stand next to one of my frights? My dad was serious, though. This was the closest I got to the horse, and it's pretty obvious I was nervous.


After going to a cafe, my dad and I wandered next to the river on the street next to Main Street. Turns out, we had such a great view of the Matterhorn!


Paragliding is a very popular thing to do in Zermatt. Everyday I stand on my balcony and watch at least one paraglider land in the meadow not even a block away from our apartment.



The gorgeous mountain right outside my window! The Matterhorn. One of the main reasons people visit Zermatt, well that and skiing.

First hike.... continued

Eating lunch after a very tiresome hike up half of the mountain. The group I walked up with are the girls smiling at the camera, Kate, Charlotte, Becca, and four more people not in this picture, MC, Tess, Nathan, and Andrew. They were fun, we sang hysterically on the way up. We sounded horrible because we were half laughing, half so tired we had a couple tears dropping, and we were trying to concentrate on our stepping.


A tradition for mountaineers is to make a stone sculpture at their destination, so wherever we end a hike, there are bunches of stacks like these. i've tried making one, but I find it very difficult and can never succeed.








At the end of our long trek that day. All of the students climbed up a big rock face onto a mini rock plateau, and posed for our victory picture.

First hard hike.

Turns out, our first hike, while being very hard for everyone, was the easiest we'll do. Turns out, no hiking in Switzerland is easy. It's never all downhill (unless you planned it that way, but there still are a couple uphills going down the mountain) or flat, either.



Before the hike everyone gathered for our big Swiss Semester group photo. While waiting for the photographer, people played Ninja. The rules are to try and hit a person in one swift motion. They can move too. At least I'm pretty sure. It still confuses me.



The Oreo goats! They are so cute and very funny looking. They are all over the paths while hiking. I probably saw at least 100 on that one hike, up close.



Our long uphill, it lasted for... the whole hike! This was at the beginning, because people haven't spread out yet. We are quite a sight with all of our red Swiss Semester backpacks. I'm pretty sure I heard a British women on the trail tell the man accompanying her that we were intimidating.






My brother and I at the top of the mountain. Victory! We survived the first hike! It was so beautiful.

The name games

As a team building exercise, all 41 people got on a sheet and we had three minutes to flip the sheet over without anyone touching the grass. We failed at it. We had some good ideas, though. We had some people get on other people's shoulders, as seen in the picture.







We played the name train game (I love that name). We would go to each person and say all of our names then practically sing the person's name. It was really fun we got really into it.

More name games...

We were separated into groups and we all had to find one thing in common with the person next to us in the circle. Some of the things were as good as I have one brother and two sisters, while others were as obvious as we're both in Switzerland.

We were playing a game called (long name) Egg, Chicken, Dinosaur, Super Man. It was basically rock paper scissors, but when you lost, you moved down a level and when you won you moved up. We had to introduce ourselves before each match, no matter if we knew them or not (which was pretty weird introducing myself to my brother).

We all had to write down answers to three questions. The questions were 1) What are you most excited for at Swiss Semester? 2) What are you most scared about at Swiss Semester? I forget the third, but If I remember I'll post it. For question one I answered traveling with my dad. For question two I answered skiing because I haven't skied in at least two years.

Klein Matterhorn

On our first little hike. Nobody really calls it a hike, because it was so small compared to others that we do. As you can see, I have my hiking backpack that Swiss Semester gave to us. The Matterhorn is right above me.












Our destination for that day. It was freezing! At the same time, though, it was also very beautiful! The first of the many wonderful views.




Just some of our "family" here at Swiss Semester. My mom, my brother, and I. There is also the English teacher, Dan, and my brother's best friend, and roommate here, Jordan.




First breakfast! There are six long tables in the room that the whole group fits perfectly. I love this room because it's so sunny and bright.

First day in Switzerland

The first assignment everyone had was to find the supplies they needed for school. They were given a list and a name of a place, then everyone had to search for it. Everyone basically found it at the same time. It was in Migros, one of the grocery stores in Zermatt. However it is about half of the size of a King Supers.




This is our cute, little town that will be our home for the next three months. It's called Zermatt, and it's so small that the biggest cars I've ever seen on the road aren't even cars. They're more like shorter and longer golf carts.







A town we passed while driving to Zermatt. I love the architecture of the houses, with the wood roofs, and cream with wood sides. It's very European.








On the bus making our way from the airport. We were all so tired from the long flight! My mom's sleeping. I'm just lucky that my dad took the picture while I was awake. There weren't many times when I was.







Everybody on the bus! This was taken right after we all got on, so no one was sleeping yet. Everybody had to sit by someone that they don't go to school with or that they didn't sit next to on the flight over. On the table in the far left corner, is a coffee maker!