I had my first day of school today, although it started at 1:30 and we had a 2 hour performance before actually going to class. We started out in a building next to the Dornbirn Rathaus, and watched gymnastics, piano, singing, skits, and slideshows of the previous year for 2 hours. Then, the entire school walked to class. That was when I discovered that I am not going to be in the school for my main class, instead I will be across the street in one of the classrooms located inside the Dornbirn Stadtmarkt. The second floor on the side of the Stadtmarkt facing the school is home to three classes, including mine of only 15 kids. At 3:30 Mr. Greber introduced himself as our main teacher (the other students had had him before), and he is a really cool guy. My whole class will be in hoch Deutsch (what a relief), and dialect is not tolerated. A couple other things to report about this year. First, school here is a lot more like college, I don't have the same schedule every day, in fact 2 days a week I get our before lunch. Also, I only have a total of 29 hours of class, that is less than 6 periods a day back in Bozeman. My freshman year I had 8, then last year I had 7, so this is going to be great! I had to stay late and figure out my schedule with Mr. Greber (which is still not finalized) so we walked over to the main school and talked to a few admins. First, I will not have to learn a third language (French, Spanish, Latin) through German, also a relief, and instead I will receive an additional German course. Next, I got a few classes removed from my schedule for difficulty, as I will be learning through my second language. Also, I signed up for a Media class (photoshop, lightroom, digital effects/design) with Mr. Luger, another teacher I met today. I am really excited about that class, because I already have an interest in digital design, like playing through photoshop, plus I have a feeling it will help me improve my video editing skills as well. Agnes mentioned to the school that I am into photography, so Mr. Luger invited me to join the Film class/club (pretty sure it is a club). They meet Wednesday afternoons and on weekends to do photo shoots and make videos, and I think it will be a great way for me to meet people and expand my knowledge behind a lens. I am really excited for that aspect of the year! Everyone always tells me to get involved, so this seems like a great opportunity. The only downside is that I have wednesday afternoons off, so I added an another whole day. But still, I get off friday around 11:30 every week! Other days I finish at 5:30 though, and every day begins at 7:45 so don't get too jealous. After figuring out my schedule (for the most part), I left the school and realized that I did not have my phone, had no idea where Beni and Agnes were, and was not sure how to get to the bus station. Thus began my "lost" phase of the day. I liked it. I saw it as a challenge of my independence and survival skills. It wasn't really a big deal anyway because I knew where Martina Hladik's shop was, also the Hladik house was about an hour walk from where I was so if I panicked I could have turned to them. But I succeeded on my own. I began by walking back to the Rathaus and checking if Agnes' car was still in the garage. It was not so I exited and began walking toward Schwarzach, north, the direction I was pretty sure the Bahnhof was. I saw a bus turn left, so I followed suit and after about 4 blocks I saw a sign for the Bahnhof. I arrived there after a couple more minutes and noticed how confusing the place was. Each side is identical, but going a certain direction. I looked over to the mountains I knew where in Switzerland (cool right?) and figured that was west, so I had to go north. I went to the side departing north and remembered how the 20 and 21 buses ran to Schwarzach. I waited for 5 minutes, hopped on the bus and got off right in town. When I got home it turned out Agnes had been looking for me, but all was well in the end. It is nice to know that I can get myself home without panicking. I actually enjoyed it, and while I was lost I stopped to write "Got Lost ✓".

Walking to the theater

Inside the building

The opening performance's MC's

A gymnastics act

Our Direktor speaking (the quality is porr, it was with my small green Fujifilm camera)

A piano/singing act

Piano

Walking to school (about 5 minutes away)

Agnes showing me to my classroom

Whilst lost in Dornbirn

An interesting place I might not have seen if I didn't get lost

At the Bahnhof