From: Holly Mellor <hollyamellor@gmail.com>
Sent: Wednesday, 31 October 2018 5:07 PM
To: Kim Smith <kimchris@bigpond.net.au>
Cc: Andrew Mellor <mellor.aj@gmail.com>; Jodie Mellor <jodiemellor@outlook.com>
Subject: Re: The last couple of weeks in Switzerland :)
Sent: Wednesday, 31 October 2018 5:07 PM
To: Kim Smith <kimchris@bigpond.net.au>
Cc: Andrew Mellor <mellor.aj@gmail.com>; Jodie Mellor <jodiemellor@outlook.com>
Subject: Re: The last couple of weeks in Switzerland :)
Hello everyone!
This month I have done a lot of things with friends, my host family, rotary and other exchange students!
In the last school week of the term, my class had a camp to Delémont, in the French part of Switzerland with the theme of Bilingualism. We spent a lot of time in Biel/Bienne, an officially bilingual city in west Switzerland. It was really fun to spend time with my classmates and I also learnt a lot about how it is to live in a bilingual city, and the positives and negatives of bilingualism. It was also great to be able to practise my French skills.
(My friends and I in Delémont)
In the first week of the school holidays here my host family invited me to go with them to travel to Wallis, an area in the south-west corner of Switzerland. We stayed for the first few days in Bettmeralp, where we went hiking or mountain biking each day, and had a beautiful view of the alps.
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(My host brothers and I on a hike near Bettmeralp)
(the view from our hike)
For the last few days, we stayed in the beautiful town of Zermatt, where we were treated with an amazing view of the Matterhorn each day from our house. In Zermatt we also went hiking or mountain biking each day, and we also planned on the last day to climb to the peak of the Breithorn with a guide. The Breithorn is on the border of Italy and Switzerland and has an elevation of 4,164m. The highlight of the trip for me was definitely reaching the peak of the Breithorn!
(our view from our house of the Matterhorn)
(another view of the Matterhorn from our hike)
(top of the Breithorn)
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(top of the Breithorn with my host family)
On the second week of the holidays, I visited 'Jungfraujoch- Top of Europe' with Sam, another exchange student, and my friend from the US. It is the highest altitude train station in Europe and is set up with multiple amazing panoramic viewpoints of the Aletsch Glacier, and the Swiss Alps. It also has an amazing ice palace with sculptures, igloos etc., and was worth the 3-hour train ride from Winterthur!
(Jungfraujoch-top of Europe)
(Jungfraujoch)
Last week I participated in a Rotary event where a few Rotarians and I volunteered for the day in the forest and gardened, collecting plants and weeds that don't belong, raking the leaves to make space for new growth etc. We spent the day in the forest and despite it pouring down with rain during the day we enjoyed the time helping out the environment.
I also enjoyed my birthday here in Switzerland last week with my host family and a few friends! I started the day by waking up to a beautifully set table with a cake, juice, chocolate and other breakfast foods as well as a few presents. My host family has a tradition of eating cake for breakfast and then opening the presents afterwards, and it was really sweet to see how my host family celebrates birthdays. Later in the day, my host family had sports events and work meetings so I made plans to meet with my school friends and a few other exchange students and we hung out and then ate dinner altogether.
Thank you for this amazing opportunity!
Holly