Switzerland/Christmas

Hi!
So as I’m writing this I’m sitting on a train going through France right now! I’m bored so I will just write this and then upload it on my blog when I get a chance. So I’ve been on the train since 7:37 in the morning and right now its 3:15 in the afternoon. The train was very very slow going through Belgium and I overheard people saying it was more than an hour and a half late now. My friend Janelle slept over at my house last night because she was also going to Germany this morning from Brussels. We went to the train station together at 7:00 AM and then just went and bought a sandwich and stuff for the trip. When we looked at the board with all the times of the trains on it, it said that my train would be 45 minutes late. I wasn’t very happy about that because I didn’t want to be late for meeting Cecile in Zurich but Janelle was pretty happy because now she didn’t have to wait by herself for such a long time. Then I randomly looked up at the board when it was probably around 7:36 AM and the board changed and now it said the train was on time!! Me and Janelle freaked out and started running through the train station trying to make it on time. Right when we got to where my train was supposed to come it pulled in so I was soooo lucky. If I had missed that train I don’t think there would have been anything I could have done! So I was very relieved when I got on the train! I slept for the first couple hours I think and after that I’ve just been watching some tv shows in French with English subtitles and reading. It seems like I’ve been on the train for such a long time and I have a really bad headache right now. Before I wasn’t sure if we were going to be going through Germany or France but we ended up going through France. But then when we got into Strasbourg I really thought that was in Germany but I guess not? I was a bit stressed out because the people sitting across from me told me that this train doesn’t go straight to Zurich anymore and that I have to change trains in Basil Switzerland. I was pretty stressed out because I bought my ticket for Zurich and I don’t want to have to pay more money just to get to Zurich from Basil. Also because Cecile was going to be meeting me in Zurich at 3:57 when my train was SUPPOSED to get in. I felt really bad for Cecile because she would be waiting for me for a really long time. I remembered that I had her cellphone number on an email so I tried to call it but I didn’t have the right area code so it didn’t work. I asked the lady across from me though and she gave me the right numbers. So I just got a hold of Cecile and I told her that I would be really late. I don’t know how long it will take me to get from Basil to Zurich but I hope it won’t take very long! I’m really looking forward to going to see Cecile and being in Switzerland though!
As for Christmas, it went pretty well. It was really really hard being here without my family and friends and it was a very different vibe than in Canada, which I already explained in my last post. I was supposed to go to my host sister’s dad’s house for Christmas eve but that didn’t end up happening for some reason so I went with Ines to her parents house in the south of Belgium for dinner. The roads weren’t very good on the highways or the roads and everyone was driving very slow but I don’t think Ines really had a problem with the snow. Ines’ parents house was very old but it was actually pretty nice! Usually I don’t like old things but the house was very cool. It was built in 1850 and I felt like while we were eating it was like I was in a movie. There was also a church and a cemetery behind the house and the first part of the church was built in the 1300’s! I thought that was pretty crazy. For Christmas Eve Dinner we ate soup, fois gras, smoked salmon, and cake. The dinner was very different than any other Christmas dinner I’ve ever had in Canada and I think I prefer the one back home better than the one we had here. After dinner we opened presents and I got a T shirt that says Brussels Belgium 2010 from my host mom and a cd from Ines’ parents. The next day we just hung around the house, ate lunch, and then went home. I was really happy when I got home because I got to skype my family while they were opening presents and that was really nice! I also got to talk to Alex so that was really cool as well! But anyways hope everyone back home is having a good holiday and that Canada