Lausanne

21st May 2005, Saturday -- I was so bloody tired when I had to wake up early coz I had to meet my friends at da station coz we were going to Lausanne! YAY! The French part fo Switz. Why was I so tired? Coz I got home really, really late as I went to this party/ CD promo/ German Rap gig with Dimitri in Aarau. Luckily he was there to accompany me, or else I wouldn't have gone as it wasn't the usual crowd I'm used to, know what I mean?Usual, Usual.

Anw, met my friends & my friend's friend at the station & we embarked on our journey to Lausanne, which was about 2hours ride by train. I LOVE MY GA!! This is da reason why. I get to travel around the whole Switz without paying a single cent coz my host family bought me da GA!! Trains, buses, trams, even boats! With da GA, I save tons coz travelling costs in Switz is quite expensive.

Time passes by fast when we travel with friends.By 11am, we reached Lausanne. It was raining!!!! We waited till da rain to stop & then hit da Bahnhofstrasse! Shopping! 1st stop: Doo Dah. I spotted these pair of Kyoto Nike shoes which fitted me good & the price wsa also really good! Original price Fr89, but the selling price at that time was Fr 19! The shoes were practically calling out my name, but why da hell didn't I buy it??!!!! I'm so geram & gek hei!!!!

Anw, we hit da shops 1st coz stores closes at 4pm on Saturdays. We also went to the Cathedral, but as there was a wedding ceremony, we couldn't go in. We also went to Luna Park, a theme park with lotsa roller coasters!! We went on different rides & boy they were more ci gek & longer than the ones in Genting! IT was so cool!360 degress turning & stuff! IT was so much fun!

As I was in Lausanne, of course I couldn't not visit Yueh Chien, the only Msian gal in the French area. My friends went back but I stayed back to meet up with her. Missed her soooo much!!! We finally met at 7.40 & it was good seeing her & finally some1 to speak Chinese with! We went to the Cathedral, where it was high & we could see da whole of Lausanne, & then we went to Lausanne See ( in german, see means lake).

As the weather was really wonderful, there was a fest by the See. There was a band playing Latino music & people were dancing to it. I just love Latin music & Latin dances!! I wanna learn & I also just love watching people dance! It's really wonderful!

Yueh Chien & I had a lot of catching up to do. We hung around Lausanne See, then Morges See till about 12 only did we take da train back to her place at Pampigny.I put up a night at her place & we didn't sleep till really late coz we were chit-chatting & stuff.

The next day, we woke up really late & pretty soon I had to take da train back home. From Pampigny, gota change trains in Apples, then from Apples changed trains & to Morges. From Morges, changed trains to Lausanne, from Lausanne to Bern, from Bern to Aarau, from Aarau back to Reinach, home sweet home. =)

Lausanne is a really beautiful place. It's not flat. It's always going up & down. It's a city by the hill.It feels like its in France coz every1 speaks French. I like the sound of the French language. I find it to be really posh & elegant. I really had a good time with Yueh Chien & my friends that weekend. Friday was great( party / CD promo); Saturday & Sunday in Lausanne. WHat a wonderful weekend! =)

Kantiball

7th May 2005, Saturday -- I love playing billiard / pool now !!! Not really sure about the difference though coz I haven't read the books Papi lent me...ooppss... I didn't know that we had a billiard table in the garage! When I watched the billiard finals together with Papi, he asked whether I wanted to play billiard. Of course I said 'yeah' but then there wasn't a billiard table, that's what I thought till he cleard the 'big table' in the garage which was actually a billiard table! WoO HoO !! It was really fun playing pool/ billiard with Papi & Anja.

In the afternoon, followed Mami & Anja to watch Benny's tennis competition. Benny's a really good tennis player. Soon, I gotta learn tennis coz everyone in my family plays & loves tennis!

Today's another special day. Why? It's the Kantiball! It's something like a prom, just a slight difference only.At 5, Laura helped me set my hair. I say I liked the way she set it! =) hahaha!! Unlike last year(where it was soooo last minute), I actually took the time to decide on what hair style I wanted(or at least Laura took the time...=P )

It was fun having 2 elder sisters helping me with the clothes, hair, makeup & stuff.Laura took care of my hair while Anja took care of my makeup. Syok huh?=P By 7.30, Laura & I were ready. Anja didn't go to the Kantiball. Papi & Mami picked up Andrea & then we headed down together to Aarau.

Darn, the weather was soooo cold as it was raining! & I wasn't wearing any stockings, just only stilletos!!! It was so darn cold!!! Mind you, I was also wearing a dress!!! Cold!!! Grrrr... When we arrived, Carol arrived too.We had to wait for Cindy to come & only then we went into the lobby.

The Kantiball was held at the Culture & Congress House in Aarau. It was organised by the students of Alte & Neue Kantonschule Aarau, but it was practically a ball for everyone, including people not from the Kantonschule Aarau. The lobby was filled with dressed up gals & tuxedo guys. Everyone looked their best on that day.We went into the 1st hall & the lights were dim, the kind of romantic atmosphere...hahaha=) There were long tables & not round tables like we had in last year's prom. There wasn'a a buffet dinner, only light food like cakes & sandwiches. Of course lah, what do you expect when the ticket is Fr20?! We had to pay extra for drinks.& when we split the bill, it ammounted to Fr 12.50 for me! & guess what, all I had was a coke!!!!!!

I met my classmates & I say, everyone really looked good that night. REally good. Guys & girls.I joined Laura, Cindy & Carol to take a photo coz there was a professional photographer there. Laura said that we MUST take one coz last year , she missed it.After all, it's a 'one in a livetime oppurtunity' ! hahahahah =P

We chatted, laughed, hung around...it was fun! There was a live band, & of course there was dancing! It was fun dancing! I danced with one of my classmates & as he had learnt the salsa once (for 1 day, according to him) he taught me how to salsa! Dunno the steps right or not, but hey, it's all about the fun rite? They were some students who really did they salsa really well. I wish I could dance like that! hahaha!I dunno about other people, but I really enjoy seeing other people dance.

There was also lucky draws. As the Kantiball is a rather huge affair, the organisers managed to get really good sponsorships. For example, Kantonale bank,which is one of Switzerland's comercial bank, Swarovski, etc. As I said, really good ones. The lucky draw gifts included Swarovski merchandise, & the grand prize was a trip to London which costs Fr 2500! See, what I mean, not Durex merchandise for lucky draw gifts! GOsh!Come on, not everyone can use that! (No offense to the people in the CHS prom committee).

We danced to the music practically all nite long. I loved it the best when my favourite song was played: Too Good To Be True!! I LOVE THAT SONG SOOO MUCH!!!! I finally left at 2am together with Laura & we went to Carol's house for the night coz we misssed the last night bus home. By the time I went to bed, it was about 3.20am.

I really enjoyed myself at the Kantiball. No regrets going. I think that I would have regretted NOT going. It gave me the chance to know my classmates better & meet other people too.For example, I didn't expect that one of my classmates would come up to me & he asked how was I & was I enjoying the ball & stuff coz we didn't talk in class once! It gave me the oppurtunity to get to know them better. But for me, the only regret was that I didn't take ANY photos with my classmates coz I didn't carry my camera wherever I went! When I wanted to take with them, my camera was not with me!!!! GRRRRR !!! Geramnya!!

Differences between My School In Switzerland & Malaysia

1. NO UNIFORMS!!!!!!

2. NO perfects!!!

3. Lighter & easier time table (maybe for me lah)

4. Toilets are soooooooooooo darn clean!

5. Twice a week we have sports class,on Tuesdays & Fridays. Every Friday is swimming lessons.

6. We have different lunch breaks from other classes, depending on our time table.

7. We walk to our classes for every subject.

8. There are always 'pause' or short breaks for every 45 minutes.

9. People here are very sporty.They often join a club for sports.

10. Class trips & school trips are much more interesting. For example in Autumn, our school has this thing called special week where we have to choose a project. For me, I've chosen to go to Venice Hopefully I get a place in that project * fingers crossed, toes too*Apart from that, my class is also organizing a class trip to South Turkey (maybe coz the cost is a bit expensive) or maybe Monacco. Not sure yet. But if we were to go 2 Turkey, we would be having a Bake Sale every Saturday in the market in June to reduce the cost.

11. For some subjects, half the class joins up with half another class.

12. Everythings's in GERMAN!!!! except for English lah

13. The science labs are so high tech. We do have lifts in the new building --the Aquarium. My classmates try to delay the teacher from coming up by pressing all the buttons in the lift & they try to keep it from going down. How smart! Hahaaha!! Sometimes having lifts may not be a good thing for teachers ! Hahaha

14. Their school rules are just 1 piece of A4 paper, unlike us, a BOOK! My host sis & mum & classmates can't believe the kind of school rules we had in Malaysia. Seriously.Sometimes some of the rules are just plain DUMB!!

15. Teachers here have this in front of their names : Dr XXXXXX

16. Cool dance clubs in school like Salsa, Hip Hop, etc

17. Maths & Science are more complicated

18. My school here is a mixture of high school & college. Coz ppl here finish sch at 16. This sch is from age 17 till 20. So, that makes me in the 2nd class.

19. There are less than 25 students a class. Perhaps lesser than 23.

20. The long holidays are in summer, where we get 2 months of holidays. After that, we move up a grade. We only have 2 weeks of holidays for Christmas!!!! Thats sucks! Well, i guess we do have our hols in summer...

21. Every student is required to choose either music or arts. MUST

22. Our sports complex is away from our sch. We gotta take the bus which is a 5 minute ride to the 'Telli'--sports complex.

23. Girls wear makeup to sch everyday, no sch rules wat.....

24. Students are allowed to smoke in the school grounds, but of course not in the classrooms & toilets lah....

25. Students have lunches or meals on the school grass/ garden / park on the ground.

26. 6 is the best for exams & 1 is da worst.

27. There are always 'small' exams, not like us 3 times a year.

28. There's no 'Bangun, selaaamat sejaaaahteraa ciiiikguuuu'...hahaha know the looooong tone? =)

29. There are not only projectors, but also TVs & CD players & also laptops for the students in the class.

30. Most of all, all students get 30 free hours a semester,for my level,we are allowed to have 30 hours of absencey WITHOUT any reason.=D hahahhaah.....if a student doesnt feel like going 2 school that day, or for certain class, he or she is allowed 2 play trauncy-up to 30 hours! of course if there is more, there's no harsh punishment oso...bt maybe perhaps gotta do some social work or something like that...

Now I ask u, isnt it different from the schools in Malaysia? =P