Super Trash Bags

Hello again!

I have been thinking of things all day (maybe even all week) that I've wanted to write down and share with you all, but, unfortunately, whenever I sit down to type them out and shock you with my witty brilliance, I forget them. Oh the blessing of a terrible short-term memory. But I did remember to mention how much I love Swiss trash bags! They are almost capable of miracles; just short of saintly perhaps? Okay, that's an exaggeration. All Swiss trash bags must, must, must be black, no exceptions. That's all they sell. They're made of sturdy, non-stretchy plastic for the most part (although they aren't super thick), and they have little tie things and then separate handles that you tie. But you always have a handle! You all thought you were going to be getting Swiss chocolate and cool hats as souvenirs, didn't you? Well, you thought wrong: there shall be garbage bags for one and all!

On the subject of "bags," one of the first things that everyone here noticed about me was how I pronounce "bag" as "beg." Everyone here! I mean, yes, I did get a lot of complaints about it back at home, many friends attempting to reform my ways, but it was never something I thought that was that obvious.

Now the Swiss are a very neurotic people (no wonder I feel so at home here). They have many strange laws and customs dictating the dullest details of people's daily lives. Take the trash bags for example. Take the two clocks at the intersection below my window; and all of the other clocks that pepper the town. I must see at least five out on the street on my way up the hill. And I swear they are all set two minutes ahead because my watch is perfect with the school's clocks, but the Swiss clocks out on the street always tell me that I'm late! (What kind of a cruel trick is that?) Take the national noise laws that require there be no ruckus between the hours of 10:00pm and 9:00am. Take the ridiculous amount of chocolate they put in all things edible. I checked out the cereal aisle at Carrefour on Tuesday, and they had managed to put chocolate into just about every cereal you can imagine. Why don't we have those in the states? Not to mention all of the chocolate in the granola bars, and so on and so forth. Maybe German + Iranian = Swiss? Okay, I try to come up with something like that because I am, before all else, a true Washingtonian. It's actually pretty easy to guess who is from where at this school. The European kids are incredibly distinct. As are the West Coast, Midwest, and East Coast kids. It's impossible to mix us up, strangely. I never thought it would be like. I might be one of a few select kids who brought a pair of hiking boots with; and the other ones who did are from the West Coast...

My day so far has been pretty low-key. I had German class at 8:30am this morning. We worked on the alphabet and then tried to spell things. It got pretty ugly, especially when I had to spell Kyle's last name: Hartman. I need to get the Spanish alphabet out of my blood. Then I had Marketing again, which is by far my favorite class. I'm really enjoying it. We talked about Nike today and how they're so good and what they do. Sometime when I'm more in the mood maybe I'll put some notes in so all of you may be enlightened as well! How delightful would that be? After that I waited around and did some Marketing reading for next week, had lunch (today they served squid with potatoes and spinach; what kind of cafeteria is this?), then I walked back down the hill. I think I might start working on homework. Either that or I'm going to watch a movie. Let's see... which one sounds like more fun?

The weather here has been gorgeous for the past couple of days. Clear without any rain clouds in sight. Right now it is sunny and approximately 73 degrees out. Tomorrow I think we're supposed to get some clouds... We've finally made it to September! September is far more inclined to be scholarly than August, I think. And I'm quite sure I'll be going to the Blues to Bop Festival this evening. Not sure what time though. Oh, and just a clue on calling my cellphone: I generally sleep between the hours of 9:30pm to 6:30am. At least so far that has been my sleeping schedule. I think that translates to 12:30pm to 9:30pm your time? Wow, I guess I sleep through most of the day, don't I? But if you're planning on calling me during those hours please send me an e-mail or something to prepare me. I know that spur of the moment calls are often more satisfying, but I'm afraid a nine-hour time difference does call for a little bit of planning. But I would, of course, love to talk to any of you! So this is not to discourage you from calling... just to discourage you from calling me while I am asleep... Unless of course there's an emergency. Ah well, you get the idea!

Smile!