Summer holidays

It's summer holiday time in Switzerland. For those of you who don't know, when Europeans say "holiday", they don't mean Christmas or your birthday or something. They mean "vacation" (as us Americans would say). I have to admit that I've converted to using the word holiday, at least while living in Basel. Everyone knows that Europeans take their holidays very seriously. Nothing like just a quick trip to Disneyworld or a week up at the cabin or on the beach as lots of Americans do. They often take a whole month off at a time. Lots of northern Europeans (Dutch, Belgian, and German, for example) drive in big caravans (RVs) through Switzerland in the summer to reach someplace southern like Italy. Some of our friends left this weekend for a month in Lebanon (where she's from), and another woman I know will be going to Sweden for a month to visit family. Even businesses close. Like the neighborhood bakery that has reduced hours during "Schulferien" (school holidays) and then closes for a few weeks later this summer. For me, other than traveling to Wisconsin for my summer holiday, the real excitement is that I have almost two months off from German lessons! Between my travel schedule, my classmate's holiday in Lebanon, and our teacher's holiday to the south of France, the next time we will meet is September 5. That is so cool. As much as I'm glad I've taken classes while I've been here, I'm beginning to get sick of it, especially knowing I'll only be in a German speaking country for another 7 months.