Everybody has to leave, everybody has to leave their home and come back so they can love it again for all new reasons - Donald Miller

Squash, Digestive, Stodge, Hench, Cooker, Cuppa, Chest of drawers, taking the mick, museli, ace...

You're probably wondering what these words have in common! Well.. they're all words which I've had to explain to my Californian room mate! Just one example of what comes from living with people from all over the world for the next 6 months! 

The beautiful base!

Some views around the base.. yes you can almost see the Alps through the fog!!

Our local pub.. 

So, I arrived on Sunday night, got to the airport no problem and after an emotional goodbye with my family I sat in the departure lounge and thought, 'what an earth am I doing?' I had to laugh at the guy who checked my passport who watched the goodbye with my family, he asked where I was going, so I told him, to which he replied, 'forever?!' That did make me laugh, but come on.. 6 months is a long time! The plane ride was fine, didn't get a great view out of the window because of the amount of fog! But the view when we were arriving in Switzerland was pretty awesome. The sun was just setting over the mountains, a view that’s pretty hard to beat!! Once I got my bags (had to try to carry/drag 4 bags through to arrivals since the trolleys required 1 franc and I only had notes!) I found Claire, our school leader, and Catrina, one of the staff. There were 3 other students arriving at the airport so we waited for them. Once we got back to the base we met the other students. So far we have.. a Canadian, a Californian, a Romanian, an Australian, 4 Swiss, 2 English, a South African and a South Korean. We’re waiting for 3 from Africa who are awaiting visas so if you pray, pray they get them in time to join! We’re only 3 days in and already culture differences are showing. I think it’s pretty awesome though!So, for those of you wondering what I’m doing I’ll give you an average days schedule:
-7am Breakfast
-8am Lectures till lunch with breaks
-Free time after lunch till 2, when we do our duties. I’m currently spending 2 hours a day cutting veg.
-6pm Tea
-The evenings vary; we either have a lecture or free time at the moment

But this is only the first week. Soon we’ll have book assignments and meetings in small groups to discuss the lectures, whether we agree/disagree/have questions etc.We should know very soon where we are going for outreach and I’ll explain when I know more! For now, the main thing to know is I’m having an awesome time, the team is amazing and the views are incredible- when there isn’t fog!Please email me if you’d like, my email is- emmwilcox93@gmail.com we do have wifi so its easy to check emails/facebook or to skype!