Beautiful Day

Today was a beautiful day! There has been a lot of warm weather here, and as a result the grass was still green yesterday when what should have been snow was replaced by gale force winds and rain to inspire Edgar Allen Poe. The emails from my brother bursting with selfies and pictures of his University covered in snow did not help this situation. The announcement screens on all the buses and trains this week have been teasing me with unanswered snow predictions, so it was all the more wonderful when I looked up from my agenda and out the window this afternoon at one o'clock to see giant snowflakes blowing over the green, Swiss hills. Anyone who has ever been around me for the first snow of the season is chuckling right now and pitying my host family. I momentary forgot that I speak french, and ran downstairs screaming "It's snowing!" like I always do. After switching to "la neige!!!" and dancing through the living room and kitchen (much to the amusement of Elise and Tabea) I had to run to gather my things and get my host dad. The car ride to the train station consisted of a download on how long it would snow, whether it would stay on the ground, how much I could expect in the coming weeks, an intense study of the wind patterns over the hills as represented by rapid waves of white, and of course an occasional stifled chuckle or squeal of excitement. I was delighted to see some friends from choir waiting for the same train, sopping wet, and freezing just like me. As we waited for the train I couldn't resist running out from the shelter to dance around in the snow until I noticed that my choir music was getting progressively soggier. After shedding a mountain of coats and scarves on an empty seat, the train ride was pleasantly spent watching the beautiful winter scenes go by, talking, and laughing. There were things to buy at the mall in Fribourg and an hour to spare, so we toured a hundred stores in all their holiday glory, and saw enough icicle lights on each level to drain a power plant. It was awesome! Everything was perfect, everything was decorated for Christmas, everything (excepting the roads) was covered in snow, and all the Europeans were classily bundled in tailored coats and leather boots with scarves wrapped around their chins like birds nestled in their feathery vests. The choir rehearsal was at the church of St-Michel which I had actually never been inside before despite walking by it every day and seeing the lights and hearing the organ playing on late nights after school. Lets just say it is very old and highly decorated! I greeted choir friends and then we joined the adult choir on the stand. The singing was especially beautiful with the church acoustics until my coughing attack in the middle of my favorite Mozart piece. This was all made better by the most amazing cinnamon tea I have ever tasted! There were two tables covered in holiday cakes and cookies that sadly I didn't get to taste, but being one to appreciate smells, I got to enjoy them just the same! After rehearsal the giant flakes had turned to glitter and the white afternoon to a dark and quiet evening. My host family picked me up in Romont, with my host sister driving (she just got her driving permit!) and Elise in the back with hugs and chatter. We all pilled into a cafe for boxes with kebab meat and fries. The Swiss are obsessed with "kebab" a Turkish thing of meat on a rotating stick that roasted and gradually shaved off to eat as slivers in sandwiches or piles. On a side note, it is delicious! I knew that America was fashionable here, but I really did not expect to walk into a restaurant and hear exactly the same Christmas music that I listen to on the radio at home! When "Last Christmas" by Maria Cary came on I nearly burst out dramatically singing like I used to do in the car on the way to school. Your welcome, strangers at the tables nearby. I don't know that this revelation is going to help with the French language immersion, and it will certainly keep me missing home this Christmas, but tonight it was just another brilliant surprise to make today even better! The snow had turned hard and icy by the time we got home late in the evening, and the rain from yesterday had frozen into a dangerous layer below it all. We crunched up the stairs to the house and I was content to settle down in my room by the heater to watch the sparkling snow in the streetlights below. A bite of chocolate in hand and woolly socks on feet, I deiced that it had been a beautiful day, entirely deserving of a thousand words on my blog. Thank you to all who took the time to read this, and I send my love as well as a touch of the first season's snow!