Host Family: The Gunterswilers!!!

I've been supremely blessed with some phenomenal host families, and my week in Frauenfeld, Switzerland was no exception. I had the absolute BEST time with the Gunterswiler family and miss them terribly already! My hosts were Dagmar, Walter, Milena, and Raphael Gunterswiler. I was thrilled to see I'd have more host siblings. I'd only had one host sister up to this point, Kellen in Orlando, and I had such a great time with her that I wanted to have more siblings throughout my tour! Wish finally granted! Milena (18) and Raphael (15) were such phenomenal host siblings. We had SO much fun together and got to true sibling status...giving each other a hard time, goofing around, and laughing ALL the time!

It was an added blessing to have two other host families in our little village/neighborhood. That added more UWP students, host siblings, and host parents to the equation! We had such a great time getting together after hours and having an absolute blast throughout the week! Ah - I just want to go back and keep hanging out with everyone! =)

The family is HEAVILY involved with gymnastics and helps run Turnfabrik, a local gym where we met as a cast on Tuesday and then had brunch as host families on Easter Sunday. Everyone in the family does or has done gymnastics, and Dagmar coaches at Turnfabrik. Milena and Raphael are both VERY talented gymnasts, and Walter is one of the head honchos at Turnfabrik (on the board, I think). Turnfabrik was our beneficiary for the Frauenfeld show, so it was nice to have a personal connection with something UWP was helping through our show proceeds!

We had so many great memories throughout the week, including overcoming language barriers (Ich spreche ein wenig Deutsch - and even then, I don't speak Swiss German...there's a difference), eating the BEST homemade cheese fondue, learning how to cook and eat Raclette (another traditional Swiss hot cheese meal), laughing around the dinner table, taking LOTS of pictures, drinking Eve Litchis (my new favorite - aka "beer for the woman!" haha), learning to make Swiss bread, having three incredible host family days to explore the area, clubbing with Milena and the UWP cast, and having all sorts of adventures in general! There was never a dull moment!!!

I'm hoping they will come visit (for their first time!) in the United States so I can see them again. I certainly felt loved and accepted into their fun family! Thanks for a great week, Dagmar, Walter, Milena, and Raphael! 

I'll post more about our adventures because we did SO much this week with all our time off! Look for more to come!

Host pick up - host code: Snow! It was perfect since it was snowing outside and my roomie, Giselle, just saw snow for the first time in her life!! =)

With Milena and Raphael after our show on Thursday

The whole family! =)

Yummy, YUMMY cheese fondue!

Neighborhood hot tub on our last night in town

Saying goodbye

Whole UWP neighborhood shot before our departure