HUP HOLLAND

The Dutch are gone. Netherlands played their last game in Bern on Tuesday and they qualified for the quarter-final
,so now they’re heading to Basel. It’s really sad cuz they were so partyish. In the morning it doesn’t smell like alcohol and pee anymore when I walk through Bern to go to school. ;-) Also, there’s nobody dressed in orange trying to get businessmen to play soccer at 7 am in the morning. I can’t hear the fans cheer in the stadium when I’m studying in my yard (it’s 6 km away from my house, and I sill can hear them!). Oh well, I’m going to America in 11 days (!) so I guess that’s ok. :-p

Here some pictures of the Dutch partying after a soccer game in Bern at 3 am

they decorated me

and took her :-p

they made a beer fountain

bummer

Wednesday I went to watch the soccer match/ game Turkey : Switzerland on the Bundesplatz ( that’s the square in front of the Bundeshaus, which is the Federal Palace of Switzerland).
There are 3 fan zones (first there were only 2, but they made another one because there are just way to much fans) where people can watch the games on big screens. At the entrance to the fan zone they frisk everyone (so I always have to give them my peper spray cuz it’s a weapon (but I figured out a way to smuggle it in)) :-p , but I get it back afterwards). After the games the fan zones are used for clubbing.
There are also numbers hanging in the air all over Bern. So if some foreigner get’s lost, he can call the police ore I don’t know who, and tell them underneath with number he is. Then They tell him where to go. I could also call the police or ambulance or whatever and tell them “somebody passed out by nr. 37”, and they come to help. That’s smart isn’t it?
Ok, back to the game on Wednesday. It started out pretty good for us. It was raining almost the whole time of the game. We made the first goal. Then the Turks made one. And then, 2 minutes before the end of the game the Turks made another goal. So we lost. We are eliminated now ( but we still have to play against Portugal). That’s pretty embarrassing if you ask me. I mean, we are the host country…But Switzerland is just to small, so we don’t have many available soccer players…Anyways life goes on and now I’m a Netherlands fan haha
Tonight I’ll watch Netherlands: France on the Bundesplatz again. There will be about 100 000 fans in Bern city tonight to watch the game Netherlands: France, so it’ll bi a big party woohoo

us posing in front of the Bundeshaus

after loosing

Have a great weekend

Today is the day

So the Dutch are taking over Bern. Everywhere you go there are people dressed in orange ( that’s their color). It almost seems like there are more Dutch people than Swiss. The Dutch are really funny and crazy. They drink beer all day, and party all day. They are peaceful and just soo I don’t know…orange…uhm…

Anyways, Switzerland lost the first game 0:1 against Czech Republic ( but seriously, we played better). Our Capten gut hurt after 30' minutes of the game, and now he won't be able to play for 6 weeks ( and he was soo important for the team). So today is the day, we have to win, otherwise we’re out. I’m going to the city to watch with all the other fans in the fan zone.

Wish us luck

Euro 2008

For those of you who don’t know it yet…

The 2008 UEFA European Football Championship, commonly referred to as Euro 2008, will take place in Austria and Switzerland from 7 June to 29 June 2008. A total of 16 teams will participate in the tournament. Austria and Switzerland automatically qualified as hosts; the remaining 14 teams have been determined through qualifying matches which started in August 2006.
I’m really excited for the Euro 08. I’m not a big soccer fan but I like watching it. I don’t expect the Swiss team to be any good but I don’t really care anyways. I’m excited for the Dutch (Bern is the host city for the Dutch team and their fans stay in Bern too). I’m looking forward for all the free concerts and parties. This Friday will be the grand opening.

I’ll keep u posted.

grinnin'

Hi
There’s nothing new around here.
My mom is in Rome. My dad is working.
I’m sleeping, going to school, studying, dancing, sleeping…
And this Saturday we’ll try again to get into the championship…

Saturday at 11.30 p.m., I was in a coffee shop getting a drink. Well actually I was waiting in the line to get a drink :-p everyone around me was looking really tired and they all wanted to get a coffee. I was tired too so it took me a while until I noticed that the famous Swiss rapper Greis was waiting in the line too, and standing next to me. I looked at him with my tired eyes and he returned the look. I grinned my “I know who you are and you are cool”-grin, he smiled his “I know that you know who I am”-smile. We averted our eyes, and that was it. I don’t know if I was just the only one to notice him, or if just everyone else reacted as cool as me too :-p
But the thing is that rappers here aren’t the same kind of people as rappers in the US. They aren’t rich, don’t live in mansion’s, don’t wear fancy clothes and bling-bling, they don’t demand any particular attention, they wait in line. They are just human beings. And they don’t try to be anything else. That way they can life like everyone else, and people treat them like anyone else. Oh if u want to know what Swiss German hip hop sounds like go on:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QS04hrQzxA4&feature=related
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=e6GQJCdD89U&feature=related
http://youtube.com/watch?v=FzaOvlUCdc0&feature=related
http://youtube.com/watch?v=1OeCzJqkGKA&feature=related (<- with pictures of my home BERN)

I promise

I know I didn’t write for a loong time but I will write more now. Do u remember that I wrote that it’s hard to write because my life here is so normal to me? Well, lately my life wasn’t normal and some things happened. So now I have stuff to write about. I promise that I will post something every week until I’ll come to the U.S. :-D

Ok first of all, I competed at the Qualification for the Swiss Street dance Championship in Zürich. There were 800 dancers who competed that day, and there are different categories such as small group, formation, solo and duo. The categories are also divided in adults, juniors and kids. My dance group “Vibe” is in the category formation, adults. There were 16 formations in our category that competed. We made the 7th place. Only the 3 best groups get qualified for the Championship, so we didn’t. But we have another chance in 2 weeks and we’re practicing so that we can make the 3rd place then. I hope we will;-D
I put a video of us on myspace, so check it out: http://www.myspace.com/piaetmoi

God, my English has gotten sooo bad. I’m embarrassed haha so I’m glad that I can fresh it up this summer :-D

Hope you’re all well

Write to you soon,
Pia

comparison

People from the U.S.A sneeze in their arm.
People from Switzerland sneeze in their hand.

Riding trains....Domodossola

Ok, it’s really weird to write about me and Switzerland. It was easy to write about America because it wasn’t “normal”. But here I’m trying to write about my daily life which I’ve lived my whole life, and it’s just way too normal for me so it’s awkward to write about it, get it?
Anyways…
Last Saturday I went to the market of Domodossola, Italy with 2 friends of mine (Don’t think WOW she went to Italy just for one day. You see, Switzerland is really small. It has about the size of Minnesota. So if I’m in Bern ( the Kanton (-> State) I life in), and I go 2 hours south then I’m already in Italy, when I go 2 hours north then I’m in Germany, 2 hours west and I’m in France, 2 hours and 55 min east and I’m in Liechtenstein and from there it takes 5 minutes to go to Austria. You see, it’s not that of a big deal to go to Italy.). We used public transportation of course (You see ;-), in Switzerland you have to be 18 to get your driver’s license, so we have to use buses, trains and streetcars. Most families have “only” one car. So people around here don’t ride cars too often. We try not to use them because of the pollution of the environment and it’s just handier to use busses and trains. Most people have a “GA” (it’s a subscription that allows you to use public transportation for free for a year. You just have to pay for it in the beginning of the year), a “Halbtax” (with this subscription you only have to pay half prize for every ticket. If you’re over 16 and under 26 years old and have a Halbtax, then you can also get a “Gleis 7” with which you can ride trains for free after 7 p.m.), or a “Libero” ( it’s like a GA but you can only use public transportation from your home city for free, so it’s way cheeper.). I have a “Halblax”, a “Gleis 7”, and a “Libero”. this is my subscription card

Ok I don’t know if you understand what I wrote above because there are just too many brackets…

So we went to Domodossola by bus, and train. The reason we go to Domodossola a lot is because there is a cute little market there every Saturday, and we can enjoy the Italian ambience :-D The dumb thing is that everyone knows that so the trains are overcrowded.
In the first train we had to stand, in the second one the controller allowed us to take place in first class because he felt sorry for us(I’ve never been in 1 class before, too expensive).


On the way back we had to stay in the foyer so we sat on the floor…haha.


Usually trains aren’t as packed so we get seats and love trains..but yeah… :-p

write to you later,
Pia

so that's not how this should work...

i know, i know.. but i've been reeeeeally busy and still am. so i'll just
introduce you to.. :-D

my brother: he's 26 and works with computer science. he moved out a year ago, and i have his old room now :-p

my mom: is a sweet heart

Hi,

I thought I’d start to write a blog for you so that I can keep you posted.
I’ll tell you about my family, friends, activities, plans, show you pictures, talk about the swiss life…I’ll tell u about my life.
And you may leave comments ;-)
p.s. Sorry that my English is so bad again :-p