A full week

There seem to be some weeks where I come to my computer on Thursday evening and I say, "what should I blog about?" Then there are other days where I come to my computer and I say, "of the multiple events from this past week, which do I want to blog about?" Tonight would definitely be the latter of the two. This past week we had two major events; on Monday our entire student body invaded the city of Basel for the annual fair, "Herbtsmesse" and then on Tuesday we had our third annual 3on3 basketball tournament.
Herbstemesse:
Every fall the Swiss city of Basel puts on a fair (Herbst translates to fall/autumn and messe translates to fair/party.) It isn't quite the size of a state fair, but is larger than your local town fair. Every year our school takes the entire student body down for Herbstemesse and we walk around the city enjoying the rides, food, and atmosphere.
This year as we turned the corner entering Herbstemesse we found a ride called "maximum." A few brave students bought a ticket and immediately hopped on. I was walking with students and we too stopped, and stared. The ride looked insane. Two guys I was with started trying to convince others to go with them. For some unknown reason I gave in and decided to go on with them. So after a few minutes four of us got strapped in and went on one crazy ride! The ride lasted for five minutes, but it felt like thirty. I am glad I went on the ride with the students, but am fairly certain I will pass next year. I came off with shaky hands, light-headed, and an uneasy stomach.
Clearly the best part of the night is when our school takes over the bumper cars. Close to 300 people meet at the bumper cars at 7.30 and for the next hour it is chaos. As I stood on the outside watching I thoroughly enjoyed the community. Looking around everyone was smiling, laughing, having fun and enjoying being together. Teachers were riding with students, dorm parents were crashing into students, coaches were bumping into anyone and everyone. I cannot fully explain it, but it was a magical time.





At the beginning of the year I was delegated the task of organizing and running this year's 3on3 tournament. Always up for an adventure I took on the task. About two weeks ago I started working on the tournament daily; setting up the rules, contacting adults to be refs, getting team rosters out, and collecting them, setting up the bracket, etc. Thankfully all went smooth and there were no major setbacks on Tuesday.
The tournament was specifically planned for the day after Herbstmesse, because it is a German national holiday. Therefore we did not have school. It was a little strange going to school on Monday, and then having Tuesday off. Monday night felt like a Friday night, and now... I just don't even know what day of the week it is. I guess that is part of the journey of being an international school.
Even though I was in charge, I was still able to put together a team. For the third year in a row I was a part of team, "Zimties." We made it to the semi-finals before finally losing and being eliminated. We eventually took 3rd place.
Overall we had 12 teams sign up with close to 50 people playing. Adults were allowed to play, so it was once again another unique opportunity for staff and students to come together and have fun. That is definitely something I have continually enjoyed being a part of here at BFA. While we will inevitably have our differences, we are a big community working together.





Needless to say after a long day on Monday, and a full day of basketball on Tuesday, I was a little tired.

Thanks for checking in on the blog. Next week I will post about the College Fair we are having on November 9.