As we journeyed back to Basel from Lucerne on Friday, the students began discussing some of their plans for the weekend. I sat back and enjoyed listening to our students who were eager to spend time with their host brothers/sisters and see what Swiss life is really like. Today, I had a chance to catch up and see what the weekend had entailed.
Many of the students were able to make it a soccer match between FC Basel and the club from Zurich. Traditionally, these two teams are rivals, although Zurich's team has not been as strong in the last few years. Students thought the experience was rather interesting and intriguing and loved the atmosphere of the game. Other students headed to the Alps, to the Nestle chocolate factory, to Gruyere to eat cheese, and some ventured also into Germany and France. The weekend also was time for students to relax and explore Basel, and many also did some shopping around town. The students were well-rested this morning when we met back at school, and it was great to be together as a whole group again.
To start the day today, we continued with our crash course on Switzerland. The students completed a sort of fill-in-the-blank comparison between the United States and Switzerland, and also had the chance to read a classic Swiss tale called A Bell for Ursli. It is an interesting way to get to understand some parts of Swiss culture, and each student took part in reading. We only read half of the story, and we will have to wait to hear the gripping conclusion tomorrow.
After our crash course, we headed to the Basel city hall. In Switzerland, there are twenty-six different cantons that are sort of like our states, so the city hall is really more like a state house. Osi, one of the directors of the cultural exchange, is also a member of parliament, and he has a strong understanding of the history of the city hall. We had a through tour before heading our way up the bell tower to get a great view of Basel.
It was during this tour that we were able to meet some fellow exchangers, as a school from Natick is also here visiting another school. In honor of both schools being here, we had a reception held in our honor. We heard from on of the goverment officials from Basel, a representative from the U.S. Embassy, another teacher from a neighboring school, and from Osi. Our students also took part in the reception. Logan and Annie volunteered to share their thoughts and opinions about Switzerland so far, and both did a good job in quite an ambitious setting. They shared views about the welcoming nature of the country, the strong relationships they have been able to form with their host brothers and sisters, and Annie used the idea of the various drinking water fountains found around town as a way to represent both the foreign nature of the country but also the intrigue that Switzerland has to offer. After the speeches we had a chance to have some lunch, before a bit of free time to explore a bit of the Old City of Basel.
When we met back up, we headed to a museum on the outskirts of Basel known as Fondation Beyeler Museum. Ernst Beyeler was an avid modern art collector throughout his life, and his collection is on display to the public here. The museum houses some of the most famous names in the art world, from Matisse to Giacometti to Monet to Van Gogh. The students explored the museum for about an hour before we got to explore the work of art that is outside the museum: the Swiss countryside.
The museum is in a part of town that is rather lush and bucolic, and we strolled through the green fields with the hills of Germany to our backs. The weather was perfect today, with temperatures rising into the low 70s and the sky cloudless. It felt wonderful to have found Spring over here in Switzerland.
Students headed home with their hosts and we are back at it tomorrow with some more lessons, a visit to a music museum, and a walking tour of the city. Until then!
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