Warum ein Blog?

Joël, Thomas und Noam hatten die Idee, zusammen einen Blog zu machen. Es sind drei Studenten in derselben Ausgangslage, die das gleiche Ziel haben: Ein Jahr in einem fremden Land zu verbringen. Der einzige Unterschied ist, dass sie an komplett verschiedene Orten landen. Joël landet in Brisbane und Auckland. Thomas wird in den USA, in Ohio sein. Noam landet auch in den USA aber in Santa Barbara.
Wir wollen unsere Austauschjahre, für die Menschen die uns in der Schweiz vermissen oder auch ganz einfach interessierte, dokumentieren.
Wir finden es auch interessant, wie wir uns entwickeln werden und wie anders wir unsere Austauschjahre erleben werden.
Wir wünschen euch viel vergnügen :)

Dienstag, 30. Mai 2017

From Wrestling to Lacrosse?

Should, I always start with I changed since last time? It’s crazy but I changed again. I hope you guys understand my when I say that. I hope everyone is doing well in their part of globe. A lot changed in my daily schedule. Winter season is over which means wrestling too. There is still off season wrestling which you can have practice everyday but it’s not as hard as in the actual season. I ended my wrestling season pretty well.
The last month of the wrestling season was focused on individual qualifications for the State Championships. For four weekends in a row you have a tournament that only if you place high enough you qualify for the net tournament the next weekend. California is a huge State and it’s difficult to qualify for State. We have 3 tournament that we have to place in high enough to move on the next tournament.
First Tournament is called the “Channel League Championships” you need to place top 3 to move on. All League placers go to the second tournament called the “CIF Championships” from the Southern Section. You need to place fifth or less to move on. All top 5 CIF placers go on the third tournament called “Masters”. This includes 6 CIF tournaments and basically cover the South of California. If you place 9th or better you qualify for the State Championships. Which basically every wrestler dreams to wrestle in the “States”.
The Channel League Championships includes 5 high school from our district which all send their best wrestler from each weight class. I went in the 162 pound class. From the 14 weight classes my school got 7 wrestler who got League Champions (1st placers) including me.
See news for more information: CIF Southern Section
Every wrestler in our school got at least top 3 which means all 14 wrestler could move on the the CIF. It was a first victory but in that moment you look forward to the next tournament. From our 14 wrestlers 5 of ours placed 5th or better. I had a nice run. I wrestled through till the final. I was the only wrestler from DP who went in the final. The finals were under the lights of the gym and the crowd was filling the gym. I was excited to show my wrestling on the mat. The match was tight and we went to overtime. I eventually lost the match. A lot of emotions came up. I kept my focus soon after for the next weekend “The Masters”
Our group got seriously smaller now and it would not be easier. The Masters were in Ontario and 5 of us were prepared to give everything on the mat. It took a huge difference of the level of wrestling and everyone in the stadium was hungry to win. It was all hard for us and only two captains got in the 2nd day. Ryan and me both won two matches and lost one to make the 2nd day. We slept focused on that one match we needed to qualify for State. We wrestled our best and little details made us both lose a close match. He got 12th in the 140 pound weight class and I got 12th in the 160 pound weight class. 
See news for more information: CIF and Masters

The run was over for the school and it was emotional hard for both of us to be so close on our dream. The most important now is to take this experience and make the best of it!
My winning pin for the CIF finals

The season was over then and we went to off season. Practices are shorter and we focus more on freestyle and greco wrestling. Those styles favored my kind of wrestling and I had so much fun.

Off season wasn’t enough sport for me I wanted to try a new sport and I got into lacrosse. Like pair of socks I tell you! The coach welcomed me and all lacrosse players too. I felt like my first day of wrestling but I knew I needed to improve myself for pushing this team forward. Practices were hard in a way because I needed to improve my stick skills. It looks easy to pass and catch but in real it needs hours and hours of practice. Coach put me as a FoGo player which means I would start off the game by fighting for the ball in the middle of the game and sprint out when the ball has a “releaser”. I was excited and nervous on my first game. I didn’t know how connected a team should be and that you need to give everything the time you are on the field. Teammates are relying on you. My first 30 seconds of playtime I got trucked by a player and felt on the ground. I wasn’t prepared of such a contact and all my muscle tight up and I got strangely sore for being 1 min on the field. I learned that this sport had the same intensity of contact like football. Each week I got better with my ball skills and improved my playtime on games. I built it up to be the starting face off guy and be reactive of hits. I got a lot of playtime since and fun was always with me. I wanna tell you my personal highlight of my lacrosse season:
We played against Kate. It was a high school we never beat and played against them a second time in the season. We were down 4 goals and we tried hard to keep a close match. They got a goal so we needed to have a face off before halftime. There was 10sec on the clock which isn’t a lot. I needed to be quick and win the ball forward to potentially do something. On the face off I got a perfect clamp and won the ball forward. I scooped the ball and had it in my stick. I run as fast as I could and when I saw 3sec on the clock I knew there was no time for a pass. So I ran till 15 yards in front of the goal and shoot. I never shoot the ball to the goal in a match before and my technique wasn’t that great. Through the shoot I felt on the ground. So I didn’t see my shot. I heard the clock buzzing which meant the halftime was over. I looked up and I saw the net from the opponent's goal moving! I scored a goal! Even if we were still down in the game my teammates run into the field yelling and raising their stick as we won the game. I run to them and I had goosebumps at the same time. This energy was huge and I can still feel it when I think about it.  My teammates told me it wasn’t a very fast shot but it bounced the floor so it made the goalie harder to know where it would bounce up. Added to that I scored between his legs:P We kept that strong energy throughout the whole game and got a W in our field! That day was huge for us.
Our senior night game at home

After the end of lacrosse season my schedule totally changed. I finish school earlier and there are no mandatory practices anymore. I still go to off season wrestling but it doesn’t push me as hard as a real season sport. I use this free time to spend with my host family and friends.

Prom 2K17
Our class of 2017 had their prom! It was a nice experience to live a prom like that. All students were beautiful dressed up that you sometimes couldn’t even recognize them. We took pictures on the nice courthouse in Santa Barbara and then ate dinner by a friends house. We all were excited for the prom dance. The dance was in a fancy hotel and there was a chocolate fountain and some fruits on the entrance. At the dance everyone was enjoying their live and dancing. I liked how the music changed from American rap songs to rhythmic spanish songs. At Midnight the dance was over but the school organized am “AfterProm” that was in a bowling center. During the whole night you could play poker, bowling and win nice prices. I won a free flight lesson which was nice. At 4AM the party was over and we were all tired. The whole thing seemed passed very fast but on those moments I think we should appreciate live even more so it doesn’t pass through your fingers.
Ready for new Mission 007





Donnerstag, 9. Februar 2017

Change truth experience

I read my last post and I noticed that I learned and grew up a lot since that time. I think different, my mind is open for changes and comfortable with it. Not only my inside changed.
My outside changed to… I will write later about this :)

Theater

Holiday Package was a theatershow directed and scripted by students themself. Grace suggested me to audition for a character in the show. And I am glad that I did it. I got some roles and the rehearsals started not long time after. We had two weeks of learning our script. The show was every night in the last week before winter break. We had so much fun during the show. Sure, we were learning during each show what we could optimise but it was still a night of entertainment for both sides, the actors and the spectators. Here the link of the video from the 4th night. Just in case you wanna see the boys dancing ballet :)
This show drove me to the interest of participation in theater activities. I casted for another show called “Adam’s Family” and I got in. I just enjoy to be with those people. Everyone knows their personality and is crazy in their own way. It is a good place to be human there. I mean to be yourself and have fun.

Santa Claus Is Coming To Town

Two days after Hallowen, couple stores already had Christmas stuff. All stores were like “Hohoho, spend money in my store!” I felt how big the Christmas time is for marketing. Anyway, I already got the gifts for my host family that I brought from Switzerland. I gave chocolate, Swiss army knifes. I am so thankful to this wonderful family and wanted to tell that through my own words. That’s why I wrote them personal letters. In the other way, they gave me gifts that touched me too. Some streets were crazy decorated. It is like a “Who has the most lights on his yard”. I was impressed about the effort that they put in their decoration.

 “It was a Christmas without snow, but this let more place for family and food”

San Diego
I was lucky to go to San Diego with my host family for a long weekend during new year. We went on a aircraft carrier. We saw all kinds of planes and history about this high tech boat. I didn’t realize that the time was passing when I saw the communication center and the top gun planes. I was full 5h on the Midway!
This had everything you needed in it

Pro Football Game
We also got the chance to watch the last San Diego Charger game in their home stadium. Over 71 thousand people were there. My eyes were fascinated of this huge crowd.  I expressed my fever through cheering and standing during the whole game. I wanted that the San Diego Chargers win but sadly they lost the game. Nevertheless it was a interesting because the Chargers were leading in the beginning. The Kansas City Chiefs were better that day. I kinda lost my voice after the 4th quarter but it was definitely worth it. Football is exciting to watch. Long passes, interceptions or tackles are unpredictable.
 I know Tim was for the Chiefs and I for the Chargers

Friends
The relationship to my friends changed in a positive way. Trust and understanding between me and my friends increases now. I have to say, those values were hard to find at the beginning of the school year. I knew that this would comes with time only. I am involved in different activities at school. This makes me meet diverse people with different point of views. I like to “hangout” and have a good time. Even if it is a short time during lunch, after school, at the beach or while hiking and discovering new places - I appreciate these moments!
I learn a lot from them. Those little things change my perceptions of looking at things. I like to describe this with a metaphor. It is like a beach. The beach has its own structure. It changes constantly. The major factor of this permanent change are the waves. Small waves and big waves are moving the sand. This is what makes the beach, the beach. My friends make me, me. I feel the strong unity when we play football and basketball. We all support our team and are proud of them. I also experienced that feeling during wrestling fights. Friends, family members and fans came and cheered us. Those nights were a lot of fun.     

Wrestling
This sport made me grow up a lot and is an important impact in my life. It is actually hard to put those emotions into words but I will try to make it clear. It is not the wrestling you know from the TV it is High School Folkstyle wrestling. It is an individual sport but you also have dual meets that are competed as a team. The school has one wrestler per weight class. For me the feeling of being in a team was more present as being alone on the mat. Coaches are here and support you in each practice and match, teammates are always there to give you a pump before a match and I didn’t mention the students from the same school who are supporting you if we have a home dual. Some parents take time to help with food and water during long tournaments days. In this team I felt a strong positive energy. We were helping each other in many ways. With advice for moves, cutting weight or just being here. We all feel like a “Band of Brothers”. You can feel that when we say “I love you” or “take care” before, during and after practice. We always laugh when we say that and joke around but in the inside we have one main heart that bounds us to a strong team. Oh yeah, we are one of the strongest teams since a long time. We got League Champions for the third time and won the 2nd place in our CIF division. We are proud of each other, our coach is proud of us and this motivates us. You can’t tell how much place they’ve won in my heart. This is crazy. I remember being the new “fresh meat” going into the wrestling room for the first time. Now I am representing the team as a captain with two other strong members we have.
3 Captains for one team

You noticed that we all have bleached hair. This is a tradition that the charger wrestling team is doing each year. At the beginning. I didn’t want to do it  but those amazing people convinced me that the colour would show the appreciation I have for our team.
Me focused

I am doing great in wrestling. I am learning each practice, each tournament and got some victories in tournaments. My team is happy to have me and I am happy to have them - perfect symbiosis.
Channel League Champions for the 3rd time

I have some news from our local newsletter to share with you about our exploits.

Which way?
The things I wrote about are moments of emotions, heart, sweat and laugh. I learnt that you can reach the same thing by going different ways. It sounds stupid but this opened my view. I kinda go with the flow and follow my intention now. I try not to categorize things. That avoids judgement and is respectful. Your intention shows you the right way. I wouldn’t be here if wouldn’t listen to my intention...I just breath deeply and say thank you