Farewell Entry

I came to the realistic conclusion that I am way too behind in this blog to write about everything and do it all justice. I'm disappointed in myself and I know that you are disappointed in me too.


Instead I will make some lists for your reading pleasure.


THINGS I DIDN'T GET TO WRITE ABOUT THAT DESERVE MENTION

End of Fribourg:

-Some Exams-- 2 oral economics exams in French in front of the professor, pulled through with 5.5's!

-Schwarsee Hike-- somehow me and Mauricio got off at the right bus stop, hiked the mountains around Schwarsee, almost got attacked by bulls in a cow pen, braved death crossing a snowy avalanche path, bonded, and made it back in 1 piece.

-Pool in the old town. Spent many-a-day chilling with kids at the pool and many-an-afternoon walking a shamefull walk back as my still wet bathing suit created large damp circles on my t-shirt.

-ACP Goodbye Dinners. Went to an Italian restaurant I had hit up with my parents--the one with my professor and the weird waitor--all dressed up and the Shnitz (our director) made long, loud, intentionally sappy speechs in English to the group and I felt awkwardly stand out as an American. But then we had a kickass meal with appetizer, salad, main course, and rich tiramisu for dessert. The menu for us was pre-planned, which I feel partly (or maybe fully) responsible for after that first group meal in Zurich ages ago. The whole time our waiter gave us endless bottles of wine and refilled every time we took a sip. Eventually we were all like...is he gonna stop? and everyone was pretty tipsy, if not drunk, by the time we stood up to leave. The next night we had a goodbye dinner Mondial-style, with the whole St. Justin crew.

-Erasmus BBQs,picnics,&fetes--not enough time to list all the stupid things the American boys did (I can remember one night that involved throwing a sack of flour on charlie from 4 stories up, for his birthday), playing some footie in Bernardo's kaka jersey and inheriting the nickname, kicking locals out of a telephone booth and into the rain as we crammed as many foreigners in as possible, grilling, wine, and dancing.

-Fete des Perolles-- street festival that involved more Native Americans than I've ever seen in America, food/alcohol booths, coconut, spin the bottle with Lauren's dad, and owning the place at Rex's

-Prize day at the baths at Bern. Went with the fribourg football festival team and our cheerleaders for a complementary day at these brand new baths with water slides and relaxing stations.

-Skiing at Zermatt. June 11th with Dan, Helaina, and Franc... train was like 25 minutes late for the first time ever, we finally get to the mountain after seeing a parade to find that lifts close at 2pm and it's now 12pm. We hadn't come that far not to ski so we paid a full day for 2 hours on 2 trails on the glacier and skied as many runs as we could and loved it. Nothing like being on skis in June... then went on a hike with Helaina and crossed a waterfall while Dan/Franc got hurt in a ravine.

-Saying goodbye-- way too many sad goodbyes to so many amazing people

-Trip to Spain-- went to sevilla and stayed with Marta and her family who were amazing and loved feeding me homemade spanish food, 41C or over 100F (hot) and being the only 2 people outside during the heat of the day, circus band performance with esther and crew, getting kicked into a bar at 2 in the morning because of new laws against drinking in the street, tapas hopping with Marta's parents, sweet wine, sour oranges, tourist sites, eating dinner at 11pm especially the time me Marta and Esther were dying of hunger. Took the train to Malaga to celebrate Cristina's birthday where we did some more tourist things, saw her beautiful balcony, went to the beach (where i ran barefoot and the sand burned enormous blisters into the bottoms-walking for the rest of the trip was difficult), stomach problems that made me unable to eat all day long.

-Trip to England. Went to stay with Jack in Nottingham where I saw Robin Hood, the oldest pub in England, and a Church-gone pub. Then went to his uni's club, Ocean, for their goodbye, i'm graduating party where we all danced and had so much fun until all his friends started crying-everyone in the club cried too-and I felt so weird... didn't help it was 5am England time and I had been up at 5am Spain time (after spending the night out until4am) to get to a flight and had flown 3 legs for a total of 10 hours. Then to Jack's house in Waterford where I saw how good some people have it and we rode scooters, and then to his flat in London where he took me to all the places I had always wanted to go in London and then we met up with Jeni and went to some of the more bohemian places and markets and then we partied all night and repeated it the next day. Laura Hogan joined us on our quest to find me some Fish n Chips.

Monte Rosa Experience:

-Teaching. Interesting teaching English to students that speak a different first language--all Russian and Saudi Arabian students with a few Japanese sprinkled in. My first few weeks I had the biggest trouble makers in the school and it was so stressful, but ever since they left it's been fine. Seeing the progress they make is the most rewarding part, but I'll never become a teacher.

-Students. Started out way too spoiled and all Russian--didn't seem to be happy ever and didn't like hearing "no." Weird seeing 8 year olds with the newest iphones and the word "RICH" splattered across their chests with burberry shoes and matching accessories (boys and girls). Then part way through came a divide with Saudi Arabians--much happier, harder to control, lots of conflict with the Russians. Japanese came too, great students and very isolated--didn't mix with the other students. All had way too much money and love to shop everyday.

-Teachers. So many Irish! All the other English teachers were Irish and as expected, very funny/love to drink/hard to understand. The French teachers were either French or Swiss, but love to speak to me in English. Overall the teachers were all super friendly and outgoing and good for going out. One was borderline crazy and gave me night terrors for a week.

-Apartment. Breathtaking view of the French Alps and lake geneva, saw the sunset over the lake every night and sometimes crazy lighting storms, huge room, bathroom light that was on a 30 second delay so had to feel in the dark for the toilet. Great irish flatmates who took care of me and filled me with words of wisdom. Difficult living with so many smokers though.

-Montreux Jazz Festival. 15 nights in a row of free and unfree concerts inside and outside, drinking in public, various food and clothing vendors, thousands of people from all over the world, and free transport. Went down almost everynight and saw Gunia and Ruth the first night and made Swiss friends after that, spent one night looking for Amy from Tufts but never found her.

-21st Birthday. Went to the jazz fest to a concert in the cafe and people were buying me drinks left and right. Woke up to go with Seaneen (one flatmate) to Yverdon where we walked through corn fields until we found the teeny aerodrome where our teeny plane flew us up strapped to random men until the door opened, cold air rushed in, and the only way out was down. I started screaming the second I sat on the edge of the door and screamed throughout the freefall (couldn't close my mouth anyway due to wind) as we fell through a cloud and out into a full view of the alps and a lake and a city. Most incredible feeling ever. When we got back to the aerodrome I asked for cake and they picked me up and dumped me into the training pool fully clothed. Then that night went to an unfree concert with Sebastian something, We Have Band, and Bloc Party courtesy of a student who had us all driven there and back with his family's personal driver. Lots of cards from lots of great people too.

-Swiss National Day. Airshow above our balcony, yodelers at the school, and fireworks all around the lake all night long.

-Zermatt ski and hike. Day tripped to Zermatt once in July and once in August to ski on the glacier (a different one than in june) and then hike the mountains. Incroyable. The second time a wild dog led me on my hike and didn't attack me! Weird.

-Montreux itself. The beautiful "Swiss Riviera" never ceased to amaze me... huge mountains surrounding a beautiful lake. I spent so many hours running trails in the mountains (some where I thought I might die and never leave a trace), biking through cornfields, along rivers, and mountains, waterskiing on the lake... never got old.

-Zoos. Every wednesday that I worked for the full day excursion I went to some type of zoo. I think I've been to every zoo in Switzerland. Also, every pool and every shopping center.

Disclaimer: the next 2 lists are wildly overgeneralized observations.


OVERALL CONCLUSIONS ABOUT SWISS LIFE AND PEOPLE

-Swiss people are not immediately warm and friendly, but they are when you get to know them.
-They meet up to hang out in public, so don't expect to see many swiss-house-interiors.
-Incredible public transportation system.
-"Always" on time.
-Everyone wears or at least owns a nice watch.
-Efficient use of barely any land--farming on steep mountain slopes, trains like roller coasters.
-Skinny males.
-Smoke too much, even the little ones, and EVERYWHERE although that will change Sept 1st.
-Can drink outside legally, but rarely see public drunkeness.
-Swiss youth are rich little punks.
-Almost no homeless people.
-Very precise.
-Inflated prices.
-There is no patch of land unaltered by humans, even in the mountain peaks. I found paved roads miles above where they should be.
-Very judgemental of foreigners or other people who don't fit in.
-Incredibly hard to become a citizen.
-Breathtaking views.
-Amazing system of trails marked out all over the country for any type of activity or travel.
-Great French accents, speak slowly.
-Impressively multilingual.
-Migros.
-Swiss boys are terrible at dating.
-Promiscuous as children.
-It's legal to grow marijuana.

OVERALL CONCLUSIONS ABOUT WESTERN EUROPEANS

-Style and make-up in public is a must. No flip flops, sweat pants, or mascara-free lashes ever.
-Very well traveled.
-Smoke a lot more in general than Americans.
-Proud of their nationalities.
-Purple clothing.
-Won't move over on the sidewalk.
-Love our media, movies, music, etc.
-Big techno lovers.
-They work so many fewer hours/days/etc
-Great food all around.
-Scarves.
-There's no such thing as a free packet of ketchup.
-It's impossible to learn every different country's taboos.
-Big sunglasses.
-Pants and long sleeves no matter how hot the weather.
-Black for winter, color for summer.
-Everyone speaks English.

WHAT I MISSED WHILE I WAS HERE

-Peanut butter.
-My friends.
-My family.
-Tufts.
-Wide roads.
-Air conditioning.
-Quality gum.
-A cell phone that I use for more than just a clock.
-Fiber.
-English as a first language.

WHAT I WILL MISS WHEN I'M GONE

-Hearing the trains go by.
-Swiss chocolate.
-Muesli, especially the chocolate kind.
-Not the church bells.
-All my friends from Fribourg and Montreux.
-No stress or pressure.
-Speaking French.
-Hearing a million different languages every day.
-Trains.
-Public transit that you can rely on being on time.
-Eurotechno.
-A piece of chocolate when you order a hot drink.
-The mountains and the paths.
-Migros' fresh produce.

THINGS I DID THAT I WANTED TO DO HERE

-Travel all over Europe.
-Learn to dance like a European to European music.
-Ski in the Swiss Alps at least once a month (including summer).
-Eat dangerously massive amounts of swiss chocolate and milk products.
-Become fluent in French.
-Drink on the trains.
-Begin to blend in with the Swiss.
-Take advantage of the international jazz festival.
-Go to the thermal baths.
-Skydive in the alps.
-Pass my classes.
-Get good at fussball tennis.
-Make Swiss and other international friends.
-Eat fondue, raclette, rosti, and other Swiss specialties.
-Travel all over Switzerland.


THINGS I DIDN'T DO THAT I WANTED TO DO HERE

-Improve my German.
-Visit the Eastern cantons of Switzerland.
-Travel to countries north or Eastern Europe.
-Swim in the Aare River at night.
-Try absinthe in it's birthplace.
-Visit a Romansch village.
-Figure out when I should really be using 'vous' instead of 'tu.'

But we can't do everything right? I think overall, this experience was a success. What a crazy 8 months this has been... Time to get back to America and also never write in this blog again.

Hope you enjoyed reading about my travels!!!!

Les Champions de Fribourg!

Before I explain the story behind this entry's title, I'll summarize what I think I remember happening between Barcelona and the Fribourg Football Festival. One of the days of the week I got back from Barcelona, I went for some late spring skiing with Dan. I thought my last day out had been with Eric in the whiteout a month earlier, but luckily we were able to get down to Verbier to end the season the way we had started it in May! Turns out it was the last day that mountain would be open and we lucked out, it was also mid week, so we owned the place.

A horrible thing happened on the way up, however. We were in a small, 4 person gondola together and Dan was playing his harmonica until he ripped a big one. Now, this is one of Dan's favorite past times, but man, was it strong. The worst part was that the gondola was tiny and so were the windows. It smelled so awful and was so suffocating that for the rest of the ride up, I was trying to stick my head sideways though the small sliver of a window as Dan laughed uncontrollably and video taped my reaction. I couldn't breathe.















Anyway, once we got up to the top, we did some on-piste skiing which was ok, but the snow had a really weird consistency and there weren't many open trails. We weren't sure, with such spring-like, melty conditions, what off-piste skiing was relatively safe, but we went looking for some anyway. We decided to follow some experienced-looking people and ended up taking a full mountain run down a steep slope and then through trees, all the way until we hit the line of no more snow. Then we had to take off the skis and walk the rest of the way to the bottom through the mud. We did that run a few more times because it was incredible.


I had made fun of Dan earlier for not wanting to go on a slope that looked pretty baller because we didn't see any tracks that had gone that way. He changed his mind on our last run, but I had become reluctant. We ended up taking it, which was fine, but was a potentially bad idea, because as it turned out, this steep corridor was nothing more than an old avalanche slide path. I guess skiing on an avalanche is a pretty cool story though.















To sum up the academics that week, we didn't have to present our Phuket bullshit and my genres litteraires teacher made fun of my accent again when compared to the next American presenter. One more time and I was going to throw my SIGG water bottle at her face.

The University of Fribourg finally had some end of term university events that week. We went to Campus Fever on the weekend, which was a bunch of student bands performing with food and a carnival outside. It finally felt like college. I think that was the first time I had seen so many Swiss students in one place!


















The concerts were good and a bunch of Erasmus students were there so we danced all night. At some point in the night, I met a Swiss/Serbian friend's friend who said some of the most sovenistic things I have ever heard. I had recognized him from futsal and he was like "oh? were you there? If there are girls there I just ignore them, I think it's disgusting when women play sports." He went on to tell me that he believes equality of women has been imposed on us as a society, and that he doesn't think women should play sports or do anything else that men do because these activities are for men. Little did he know how basically my entire life/personality is dead set against these claims. I really only said agree to disagree though because we had just met and he seemed way too thick-skulled to be open to discussion. Gross.

After the concerts, it was about 1 or 2 in the morning and someone made a decision to go to a club called Frison instead of the disco that was part of Campus Fever. By the time we got everyone ready to go there and actually walked there it was like 2 am. Meanwhile, Marta was so um out of it that she was (trying to) speak English and offering her left-over sandwich to people on the street. All of this was hilarious and captured on video. Anyway, so it was 2am and me and Pinar were exhausted so we slipped out of the group to walk home. Took almost an hour to walk home, not sure why.

So now I am going to skip forward to that Thursday, because it is such a good story that whatever happened Sun-Wed (even if I could remember) is just wasting your time. Thursday was the Fribourg Football Festival. Around noon, another American, Sophie Allen, and I walked along the train tracks to the big outdoor turf complex. There was going to be this huge soccer tournament run by the school. 48 teams showed up, so there were people everywhere and vendors and red bull sponsorship and a dj and massive amounts of alcohol.

The tourny was supposed to be "fair play" so they made some rules to favor the ladies in this coed event. Rule 1 was reasonable--always have a minimum of 2 girls on the pitch, but rule 2 pissed me off--every goal scored by a female player counts twice. What kind of trash is that? My goal for the day became to use my anger against this rule by fully taking advantage of it.

We had a really good line up for our team, mostly international--only one Swiss. We had me and Sophie obviously for the girl requirement and both of us played in high school and college, then we had Bernardo, a Mexican/Swiss guy that was semi-pro in Mexico, Greg, who plays for his uni in England, Pawel, who was once a professional goalie until he busted his knees, a French guy Mika, another Swiss, a Spanish, and then some cheerleaders. No one on the team was a weak player.



















Since there were so many teams, you were put into brackets with elimination. In the first bracket we never lost a game and I think only 1 goal was scored against us. In the second game I dominated Rule 2 counting for 4 points in a 20 minute game. That rule actually ended up making me the team's leading scorer with like 12 points total or something.

We continued to win game after game. Some were more difficult or closer in score than others. All the girls though, I noticed, were terrible. They needed rule 2 to ever be passed to on the field because they were just so awful. To solidify my beliefs that Swiss girls are terrible soccer players, there were 2 wearing baseball hats with the brim in front (not even pretending there's a chance they'll head the ball), one wearing jean capris, and another I saw loaded down with make up and jewlery. It's kind of sad. But I think the reason good female soccer players in Europe are so rare is because they don't have opportunities to really play as they grow up like we do in the US, which hopefully will change.

The whole day I found it interesting how many people were smoking and drinking in between games--even our goalie! We made it through the next round and the quarter finals and the semi finals. All the way to the finals! At this point it was our 9th game, and remember with only me and Sophie we had never been off the pitch except between games. Everyone was watching and there was someone making loud commentary on the loud speaker in Swiss German. In the end we tied. So it went to penalty kicks. Good thing we had an ex-pro! and that's how we became the champions of Fribourg.

We were so excited and people were ripping off their shirts and spraying everyone with water. There were lots of photos and we were video taped in an interview for TV. Then the bar gave us a winning handle of Absolute vodka, so we took victory shots. Lets just say after spending a day in the sun and playing hours of soccer, that stuff will hit you fast.















The celebration and prizes would take place at the Irish club around 10, so we hung around there for awhile not believing we were #1 out of 48 teams. I ran back to st. justin, elated, almost drowned in the shower, and headed down to our meeting spot. We got some pizza and then headed to Irish. Greg was giving out team prizes and I got a drink for being the top scorer :-) Everyone was so happy, it was wonderful.














Then we went up stairs for our prizes. They didn't come right away so we danced until we were called up to the stage.














We got a giant trophy cup that came with endless refills of beer and 1 free day entry to these new thermal baths/aquapark at Bern. The TV guy was there again for more interviews and the Swiss player said I was American/played at home/top scorer, so he turned to me and interviewed me on tv in english and I was super embarrassed and ran away as quickly as possible.

This day was unquestionably the best day I spent in Switzerland. I even made a bunch of new friends from my team, even though we really only had 2 weeks left to spend together :-( Plus the celebrations didn't end there--we still had a day to spend at the baths which I will talk about another time.

I haven't done Swiss observations in awhile so here's a few:
-Swiss females can not play soccer well at all.
-There seems to be more conservative beliefs towards women in general.
-My feet are wayyy above average in this continent apparently.
-Smoking/alcohol is perfectly acceptable during a soccer tournament--even for the players.
-Pillows in Switzerland are terrible and flat, I'm surprised the whole country doesn't have a stiff-neck epidemic.
-Douvets are too hot for spring.
-I was excited about the beauty of spring, and it definitely is beautiful, but they really don't cut the grass so it's so high on all the paths! I even found a tick on my leg after a run, luckily I found it.
-Air-conditioning is not a standard in buildings or homes.

Barthalona

That Monday after my econ classes, I had to meet with a group to prepare an oral presentation for my strategic management class. We had been given an assignment on Phuket, an automotive company looking to open business in Switzerland--the questions and information were really convoluted though. This led to some problems. There were 4 Swiss Germans, one other Erasmus student, and me--aka no native French speakers. On top of this, I never realized how difficult it would be to work directly with Swiss students. I had my problems with the girl I worked with for my art history class, but that's mostly just because she was trying to use my work for her own. This was different. I offered a solution (they had none prepared) and we all discussed and worked on it, but everytime it seemed we had achieved something, they would find something they didn't like and reject it all. The process went on for over 2 hours and in the end we had accomplished absolutely nothing at all. We ended up using the first variation of my answer. It was 2 hours wasted walking in a circle. I wanted to shove pins in my eyes.

After that I had fussballtennis and one of the last crazy mondays. I think it was the last official one before exams, after that, populaire no longer cleared out the tables for dancing and Irish closed so early you had to go to Rock Cafe before 3am! (It's no good until then). Next day was probably art history which I probably skipped and then African Dance with Esther and her sisters, who don't speak French, but loved the teachers acting and were cracking up the entire time. It was great.

Wednesday during genres litteraires, Allison Dotts (another American on my program who is a good seed) had her presentation, and instead of leaving last week in the past, the teacher had to once again bring up my accent comparing it to Allison's presentation. I really appreciated it seeing as she had never brought someone else's mistakes up again after their presentation.

That Thursday, I flew out from Geneva to Barcelona! I almost didn't want to go, I had just got back from Paris and was all-traveled out. I arrived in the airport and used my verrry basic spanish to find the trains. Then I bought a more expensive ticket than I needed because I couldn't change the language settings of the machine. Soon I was out near my hostel (it was Urbany Hostel, brand new and really good and not too expensive if you're ever in the area). After walking the wrong direction for several blocks and almost getting hit by a car when I didn't see the pedestrian red light, I finally found the hostel. It was big and new and came complete with gym and swimming pool access. I was meeting Rachel and a friend of hers from Geneva-James-but their flight wasn't coming in until night time. So i dropped off my stuff, and since those two weren't in yet, Graham had a take-home exam to finish, and Julie Mitarotondo had I think exams too, I got a map from the front desk and went exploring on my own for the day.

First stop was Sagrada Familia (although on the way, I finally stopped and bought a towel after a semester of using the hand towel from my dorm. It is black with a spanish bull and I was able to bargain with the tourist shop guy--still way over priced--but I felt accomplished for changing it at all). It's this huge cathedrale designed mostly by Gaudi that will be finished in about 30 years. I didn't know it wasn't finished yet, so I just assumed all the cranes and construction were part of the never-ending trend of renovations at every major monument I've visited this semester.

It was really cool though. Gaudi's side looked like the building was melting

and the spires looked like lollipops with the little colorful balls on top.

It was so refreshing to see architecture that wasn't gothic. The front of the building was done by someone after Gaudi's death and it seemed like the Star Wars version of Jesus Christ's life. I thought it was really cool too, even though the style totally clashed with the other half.

I spent awhile in the park next to it and then went to see more of Gaudi's creations. I followed the icons on the map through several of his museums and other people's cathedrals. I almost tried to go into one of the museums posing as a member of a school group, but then realized how bad an idea this was considering they were half my age and I didn't really blend at all.

I continued down a major road and passed tons of shops, a major park where people were putting birdseed all over their arms and bodies and waiting for the pigeons to go to town, and a reggae band in the middle of the street.

It was fun to people watch and wander around, but it did kind of suck that I was there to visit friends and still had seen none. After watching the band for awhile, I continued down into their old-gothic city. Finally like the rest of touristy Europe! It was an interesting maze of buildings around a central cathedral (which was naturally under construction). I got some chocolate truffle gelato and sat down in the shade to cool off.

I kept heading down the same road towards the water. I got to the beach around 5pm, but it was still hot and sunny and the beach was packed. I dragged out a lawn chair--which apparently you are supposed to pay for?--and set up camp. I felt like such a loser with my economie internationale notes (studying for my final exam) alone on the beach surrounded by tons of groups of friends sitting and drinking or playing with soccer balls. I didn't get much studying done though, because of the beach sales(wo)men. There were so many of them and they were so annoying and persistant. I can't even tell you how many people tried to sell me "water, fanta, beer, soda", sunglasses, and massages. I kept saying no no no and they kept being like come on, would move on, and then the next guy would come bother me. There was one cool salesman though. He was dressed in a toga-like outfit with a large plate of fresh donuts balanced on his head. He would dance around the sand to the beat of his small triangle and then spin and sit down, never losing the plate, next to a group of beach-goers. Respect.

I started trying to contact Julie, because we were supposed to meet up at my dinner time/before hers. She didn't reply though, so around 6 I headed back in the opposite direction hoping to get to a more central location to meet her when she called. Then I get a text that she was running late, but could see me real quick (like for maybe 30 mins) and gave me a location I couldn't find on the map. Turns out it was a small street along the same beach I was chilling at earlier but had walked far away from to get closer to her? I had so little time to see her though that I ended up just booking it--yes running--back down the very same main street. When I got to the outside of her homestay I was out of breath and kinda gross, but yay! I finally got to see someone. I couldn't see the inside of her homestay because of strict rules, but I could see that it was 4th floor on the coastline, so not too shabby a place to stay. She led me to a good sandwich place and helped me order a good sandwich and then watched me eat it, since she was about to get dinner cooked for her in the 4th floor apartment. It dripped all over my pants, but it was tasty and I got to have a verrrry brief catch up with Julie.

Then I decided to pass the time by walking all the way from the beach back to the hostel. I walked a different way and got to see Barcelona's version of the arc de triomphe, a small dog park, and some sketchy back streets. The rest of the walk was along a highway with a view of the ugly modern building thats shaped like a giant bullet.

I was getting nervous because it was taking so long to get back and the sun was setting and I was alone as a girl where I didn't speak the language.

I did get back okay, but Rachel and James weren't there yet. They didn't reply to my texts and I had no idea what happened. So I went online to contact Graham--apparently his phone wasn't working either which is why he didn't contact me after finishing his exam 5 hours earlier--and he invited me and Rachel to a plaza to drink wine with him and his friends who were celebrating the end of exams. As I'm messaging with Graham in the computer room and saying how I was worried about Rachel, guess who pops out of the elevator onto the wrong floor? Rachel herself, I heard her say oops this isnt our floor and I was like waiiiitt!

They were too tired from traveling and too hungry from not eating to meet Graham, so instead we went on a quest to find them dinner. We were told there was a mall nearby with tons of restaurants (the hostel wasn't too centrally located) so we followed the instructions and couldn't find anything for ages. We eventually did find a strip mall, which may have been the one they were talking about, where the 2 of them got pretty bad sandwichs at a chain restaurant. They were way happier though after eating. We called it an early night, because we knew we'd be staying up really late the next night and have a long day tomorrow.

Our hostel room was shared with 5 others, mostly girls who were not on the same sleep schedule with us but whatever. The next morning we had breakfast included and it wasn't half bad. There was cereal and muesli, and bread and nutella, and a machine that served juices and hot chocolate and coffee. We ate it outside on the deck. Then of course, the two of them hadn't seen Sagrada Familia yet, so I showed them the way and we did an abbreviated version of the exact same walk I had done by myself the day before.

Then we changed it up by heading to Las Ramblas instead of the old city. Las Ramblas is this incredibly busy street, with tons of live statues

and street vendors selling everything from flowers to pet rabbits and birds.

You had to make sure to hold your bag shut, to avoid pick pockets. Rachel dropped a coin in one of the large statue bins, but refused to go in a picture with them so James and I did instead.

Then we branched off the street into this incredddible food market, with tons of fresh looking fruits, veggies, fish, meet, nuts, everything! They got a mango, but since we were headed to meet Julie and Graham for lunch by the water I made a note of the market and would return there to get supplies for our picnic dinner.

We passed by the monument for Cristoph Colomb (yay for the guy who nearly annihilated an entire race of indigenous people by disease and slavery), and then headed along the coastline to meet Graham and Julie for lunch. Julie was running late so we went to get food without her. We picked up some eats along the beach and sat outside to eat them. Then we walked to the far end of the beach to find Grahams friends. They weren't there, but we set up camp anyway. Julie never made it. The 4 of us tanned and observed. There were waaaaay more boobs out in the open than one is accustomed to in the US. Apparently no one wants any tan lines. To make matters worse, the high PDA level which I already discussed in my Madrid entry coupled with topless girls = what some might define as softcore porn right next to us. Hey, at least she got an even tan.

Rachel and James went off on their own and me and Graham stayed a bit longer and then went for a walk past Las Ramblas. I got to see more of the old city and his university, and a Spanish Starbucks. Then went back to that food market I had gone to earlier. I got ripped off at the entrance for a mango-4 euro for 1 mango which is like $8 for a piece of fruit. I was like Graham isn't this a lot for a mango? And he was like no, no it's a big mango. Then you walk past the entrance and all of the mangos are going for 1 euro to maybe 1.50 at most. Anyway I got a combo fruit salad and regular salad for less than the price of that one mango. At least it was delicious! All this food was for the picnic I was going to have with Rachel and James at Park Guell for the sunset.

Graham had to go back to his homestay for dinner and Rachel/James were running late, so I sat down in the same park with the pigeons from the day before and entertained myself by watching adolescent spanish kids interact. They seem like they do things so old for their age compared to our pre-teens. They are already smoking, wearing make up, drinking, PDA-ing with their boyfriends, and having dance-offs. By the time Rachel met up with me, the sun was setting and my tank-top and shorts were not keeping me warm. I was freeeeezing and had no more clothes--the thought of the sunset on a hill was not looking good. Instead we went and got wine for the picnic and they went to park guell, but I went the other way--back to the hostel. I really regret not going after seeing pictures--the park looks incredible. But I would have probably been too cold to enjoy it.

At the hostel I ate my picnic and took advantage of the gym access, waiting for the others to return. They had met up with a girl from their program and changed their minds about going out with Julie and her friends. So i met up with Julie, Graham, and friends with my wine and went to celebrate the birthday of a girl I'd never met.

Everyone I met from Julie's program was really nice and welcoming to me and Graham. Eventually we went from their apartment along the beach to go to a club (it felt like it took 3 days to get there!) whose name I forgot, but whose list we were all on for the party. They cut off entry right when we got to the front, so we went to the club next door. Graham must frequent this second club, because he was already on the list and we all got in. It was a really nice club, that was big and spacious with good music and effects. We danced for a long time until Graham got tired and left, and then I was with Julie and her friends. Meanwhile I met a friend of a friend of Julie's who is from the same area of New York as me. When Julie wanted to call it a night (it was only around 3am which is early on Barcelona/Spain time) I decided to stay with this friend of a friend and his friends.

It was these two boys and a female friend that was visiting them. We hung out at the club until about 5am and then left. We walked out of the club, took off our shoes, and went onto the beach. The beach was really relaxing at night. Turns out the girl who was visiting was studying abroad in Paris... on Sarah Tishler's program! Small world. We talked about that for awhile.

Then we all took a taxi to the kids' apartment. After a day where I was in the sun at the beach, worked out at the gym, didn't have any water with me (long story short, the first day I filled my bottle with the hostel's water and drank it, not knowing that it was recycled water and non-potable) and a bottle of wine, I nearly passed out from dehydration in their kitchen. After this fiasco, we sat in the kitchen talking and drinking water until about 7am, when I took the metro back to the hostel. Interesting night, but very very nice people.

The next morning I had only slept for 2 hours when we got up to get breakfast together--and this time the hot chocolate machine was broken! I was a mess, but had to make the most of my last half day in Barca. The three of us went to some outlying area where there was a bull fighting arena and then walked up the hill to a complex of sorts. There were incredible views of the city as you got higher up, and at the top was the old olympic stadium. It was a really cool stadium and HUGE.

We got to go into the soccer stadium where Spain's national football team still plays.

After that we stumbled upon a reception for a good cause, I think AIDS, and then up to the botanic gardens, which we didn't enter,

and up and up and up to a castle at the top!

The castle also had a good view, and after we got there, I had to go to make sure I got to my plane in time (I was really nervous after missing the train home from Paris that Sunday). I walked down through the windy streets and just before I got on the metro, a waiter was standing outside his restaurant taking orders. I hadn't had some spanish paella yet, so I decided to risk being late and get some to go. It was funny ordering and trying to make sure I could get it quickly to go to the airport in spanish.

Eventually I got to the airport and enjoyed my super hot paella-- I had arrived more than 2 hours early and there was almost no line for security. Better safe than sorry? I had to empty my bottle to get through security though, so I asked a man at a restaurant to fill it. He only had hot water, like for tea, and this made a problem. He filled it all the way up and then you couldn't touch it, it is aluminum, so we couldnt get the cap on. He finally screwed it on while holding the bottle with 2 towels and put it in a plastic bag for me. Obviously I couldn't drink it and it was a hazard on the plane.

Anyway, long story short, I eventually took the plane, eventually took the train, and eventually got home.

Catalan Observations:

-Catan looks like spanish minus the last letter or two.

-Very "mature" teenagers.

-A lot of very expressive clothing styles.

-Good night life.

-Big fan of Gaudi's architecture.

-You can buy your pets from street vendors.

-Beachs are topless.

Prochain arret: Paris

The weekend after was still in April, so I'm guessing I didn't do much but recover and hang out with kids. That Monday night, however, was the Feria de Sevilla party hosted by our sevillans so we put big flowers in our hair and ate the typical foods and drank the typical drinks to celebrate. Then of course we headed out to Irish, I assume. Damn, I just realized that these posts are so out of date I won't be able to remember all the details! Lucky you! Maybe that will make me catch up to the present sooner. Probably not.

That Wednesday I had another oral presentation, this time in genres litteraires which apparently is a course for students looking to become french language teachers. Seeing as that is not at all the case for me, I was at a slight disadvantage. I presented Silence de la mer by Vercors, which is short but pretty symbolic, so I set up this powerpoint with lots of bullets so people could kind of have a clue what I was saying. Then I get to the classroom, where my laptop test had passed with flying colors the week before, but naturally on the day of, it wouldn't work with the projector. My french (not swiss) teacher knew these slides were necessary, so she had the whole class gather around my laptop. Everyone was super close to me and I had to make awkward eye contact the whole time. I think it went really well, I was really comfortable and not reading a script but actually discussing for the 45 minutes. Then she gave me the customary review in front of the class saying how she's not against accents or anything, but that mine is terrible and she could only understand 1 out of every 5 words. Bullshit. If she had stopped inspecting her nails and the ceiling panels long enough to pay attention, that wouldn't be the case. She recommended I go to the learning center and listen to tapes to get better. What a blow to the self-confidence.

Who cares though, my grade was fine, and right after the presentation I packed for Paris. Pas mal. The next morning--bright and early--I took the TGV and passed by giant yellow fields (some plant used for oil) that I saw between nodding off.














When I arrived at the station, I was supposed to meet the one and only Sarah Tishler at the "clock". So I'm walking all around and don't find a clock, I asked someone who looked Parisian where a big clock was and he didn't even know one existed. Eventually I found it, and with the clock, the Tish. It was great to see her again, but very brief since she had to go to class and I had to meet Tufts kids for a little afternoon exploring.

I decided to walk from the Gare de Lyon to the Louvre to meet Sarah Cleary. I had google mapped it before and just walked quickly with the Seine to my left














until (eventually) I found the big glass pyramids I had seen in French classes over and over.



















Since I had taken a few accidental detours on the way, I was a few minutes late and apparently Sarah left and went home. I waited around till she called and then she came back; luckily she lived near by. We walked through the Tuileries Garden until we could see the Arc de Triomphe in the distance then had to turn around to go meet another girl on the Tufts in Paris program who I didn't know, but also to meet Katherine Sadowski who I do know! to get some food since I really hadn't eaten all day. We ended up striking out, because I only wanted a little snack and all around the Louvre and gardens prices were like a million dollars for nothing I was interested in.

Sarah and her friend wanted dessert instead, so we split up and I went with Katherine.














We eventually found a boulangerie and my baguette sandwich with brie and salmon had never ever tasted better. Katherine filled me in on Tufts in Paris, which wasn't her best decision to do as it turns out, but shit happens and she made the best of it. Then we walked from the musee d'orsay where we were eating across town to pick up the RER train to Tishler's apartment. We walked along a really nice boulevard along the way.

I took the RER to the middle of nowhere where Tish's apartment is, and she was waiting for me on the steps. I had just eaten, but she was starving, so we set out to go to her university's dining hall. I got to see her little park and her neighborhood on the way which was nice and less busy than the more touristy areas I had been walking through earlier. We got to the place and she treated me to a meal where each dish is like a point or two and you have 6 points or something. I don't know, but it was free and not unedible and we had fun catching up on life. (In between me refilling the water jug which took foreverr) It was really interesting to talk to her right after Katherine, because she absolutely loves Paris. It's funny how the same place can get completely different reactions.

Then we went and watched the sunset on a pieton bridge that faces the musee d'orsay.














The bridge was filled with students picnicking with baguettes, cheese, and wine and playing guitars--and, of course, smoking. There was also a big crowd on a point of the river that screamed every time a big tour boat went by. Speaking of the big tour boats, they filled the river, and cast giant spotlights on both banks. Apparently this makes night photography easier, but in the big scheme of things its really just light pollution and probably sucks for the people living on either side.

Then we took a night walk through Paris, hitting up more monuments. It was a beautiful night, but Tish had to pee reallllly bad and at night in Paris, unless you are dining, there is really no place to do it. Our destination was the Eiffel Tower (I wanted to see it lit up at night!) so we figured there'd be public ones there. As we approached the tower, you could see it lit up and every so often it would glitter like a giant christmas tree. When we got a good view of it, we saw some tourists pretending to hold it up in their hand for a picture. We got a better idea, long story short. It was pretty hilarious, but pictures are probably not going up here. Instead I'll put one of me after getting called out for doing it:

The closer we got, the more and more people there were selling light up mini towers. They all sold the same exact ones and there was at least a hundred of them--doubt they make any money. Naturally there were no open public restrooms at night (sorry, sarah) and we decided it wasn't worth it to go up, but that we should head back to her apartment where there was one waiting. In the mean time, we had a photo shoot with japanese tourists, they took our picture and we took theirs until we got the angle and lighting just right.



















During this, we almost got hit by a mechanical bird that some vendors were selling along with their light-up towers. We eventually got back to the apartment and I curled up for a nice night on her floor, I don't really mind where I sleep anymore.

The next morning we got up and ready to start hitting all the sights left on the list she made me make of places I wanted to see. Next stop was the Sacre Coeur.














This place was a tourist zoo, especially because of the gorgeous weather, and you had to make sure to hold your purse.














Along the way some vendors grabbed my arm to try to get a bracelet on it before I could say no and I hit them. Serves them right for grabbing me. We finally got up there and saw the gorgeous view and then had to wind through impossibly crowded streets to get breakfast picnic materials. We got a baguette and some jam and headed back to the sacre coeur to meet Sara Deforest (no h here) a Tufts friend also from upstate NY who knows Sarah through a chain of relationships in high school--small world.

It was a sweet picnic with a sweet view, but then we parted from Defo and headed to Notre Dame. The line was super long, so I left Tish in it and went to find a bathroom. Luckily I found a Subway nearby (and it was like the US embassy to me--mitch hedberg anyone?) but the line there was long too--and it cost a euro--so by the time I got back, she was no longer in line. I didn't have my phone with me so I looked all around and couldn't find her anywhere. I ended up standing at the entrance for a good 20 minutes, while she was apparently sitting down somewhere else until we finally met up again. Then we decided to cut the line anyway. It was cool inside, nice big stain glass windows and vaulted ceilings, but a cathedral is a cathedral and I think I've seen too many of them this semester!

After that we headed to the old Jewish ghetto, because it's pretty and has amazing falafel. I know it's weird to get falafel in Paris, but she made me do it and it was delicious. We sat down and ate in a nearby park and saw a guy walking his giant rabbit on a leash. Yes, it was a rabbit.

Then we walked through I think the gardens of the Palais Royal (which we weren't allowed into the night before because we got there at 8:44 and it closed at 8:45 and the guards were power tripping). And nearly into none other than a labor day manifestation! Leave it to the French to publicly voice their rights. We tried to avoid walking through it though, because it was massive. The massive-ness didn't allow us to completely avoid it, so we bumped into it a few blocks down. There were groups protesting everything, and people of all ages--little kids played a big role. There were flyers all over the ground and parades and loud speakers and a guy dressed up as Sarkosy that people were boo-ing, and food to keep the protesters protesting.

All the while we had been carrying a lot of food and wine with us since the Jewish quarter, because everything was closed or closing early due to Labor Day. We then went to the Louvre because its free entry on Monday nights, but Labor Day also meant the Louvre was closed, so I was bummed but instead had Tishler describe to me everything I may have recognized inside. Then we went in search of a plastic knife (we didn't bring one for fear of Louvre security) and plastic cups even though most stores were closed. We found a guy in a restaurant who didn't have either, but instead took our tomato and sliced it for us then rapped it in several bags to make it less messy. Then we found a guy willing to give us ice cream cups. Sometimes its useful being a girl. We eventually brought this stuff back to the pieton bridge where we met Sarah's friend, other Sara, and Leroy Prowse (another Tufts kid on Sara's program) so we could have our picnic as the sunset just like all the other Parisian students.














It was a little cold and windy as the sun set, but we had our wine to keep us warm as well as French cheeses (some stinkier than others), baguettes, strawberries, and other food too. We were so cold that we drank the wine super fast and it was interesting standing up later. But the sunset was so beautiful that we did prom photos and then peaced out.

From there we went to an interesting bar Defo had heard about that had a lot of character, I think mostly middle eastern and some influence by Andy Warhol. We stayed there for awhile, hoping dancing would commence given the good dj and wooden dance floor, but when it never did, we decided to head back. I was switching to Sara's place that night, in favor of a bed.

Defo was with a homestay, but a very odd one. Odd in that they didn't give her any meals and didn't let her use the washing machine, but she could have visitors and overnight guests (aka me). We tiptoed in and went to bed. In the morning, bright and early, I had to go to the bathroom so I had to pass the two elderly host parents and speak french right away. I usually need a break in the morning. But I did it, and they were surprised I could speak French so well--go tell that to Madame Banon of genre litteraires.

I took a run around her family's neighborhood, which had flowery tree lined boulevards that led me to a park that led me to a lake. It was very beautiful and relaxing.

After that, we hit my last stop on the list--the arc de triomphe.



















We went and met Tish there and I took pictures, and then we explored the champs elysees. The whole time we did so, I couldn't get Ohhh Champss Elyseess OHHHH champs elyseees! out of my head, but it was ok. We wanted to sit and drink, but that whole street is super crowded and a giant rip off, so we went on the side streets to find coffee. We sat down in a small cafe/restaurant and the 2 Sara(h)s ordered coffees, and I don't really drink coffee, so I said nothing for me. The guy proceeded to remove everything from our table saying that this is a restaurant and unless we were going to order we needed to leave. So we left, which was kind of embarrassing, and went to another place where I split a really interesting cheese bread puff thing with Defo and we weren't kicked out or anything.

The weather was looking iffy, but I still didn't want to do a museum day, so we tested our luck and went to another park. This was Sara's choice, and I think it was my favorite because it had the most grass and flowers of any (most of the others had really no grass to sit or play on). We sat down in the sun and people watched--we people watched, not people watched us. There was even a guy with a magic ball that I couldn't stop watching. We walked around the park for awhile and felt bad for a family of ducks that was outside the fence for the pond.

Me and Defo went back to her place to get ready for a dinner party hosted by her friends who attend the Cordon Bleu--aka amazing chefs-to-be. It was a small dinner party, but they cooked enough for like a million people and same goes for the many drinks they made as well. It was a one million course meal with a Mexican theme and the food never stopped. It was incredible, I wish I went to a top notch culinary school or had more friends that did...!

We stumbled back to the metro and somehow walked right inside.



















Again we snuck quietly into the house. Defo said it took her only like 20 minutes to get to the gare de lyon from her place, so the next morning I left 45 minutes ahead to get to my 7:58am train. The trains were infrequent and slow because it was so early in the morning on a Sunday, and I was getting super stressed I'd miss my train. I got to the station at 7:57 and shot out of the subway. By the time I ran up to the platforms it was 7:59 and my train was already no where to be found.

Then panic sunk in because I had only taken such an early train because the rest were already booked weeks in advance. I went desperately to the ticket counter and the woman looked and looked and said all the trains were full--the best I could do was wait in the station and ask the conductors of each train if a spot was available. I had no choice about getting back that day because I had to meet with my group to prepare an oral presentation in my strategic management class the following morning whose solution was due the Wednesday right after.

I again freaked out (traveling alone is stressful!) and tried my luck with a friendlier-looking male teller. I laid it all out for him. I said I have a eurail pass that covers all of France, Switzerland, and Italy and I have to get back to somewhere in Switzerland before tomorrow. He felt bad for me and spent a really long time searching every possible combination of these 3 countries. He eventually found one possibility that took me from Paris, to another french city, to another (Chambery) where I would have a 5 hour lay over and then finally a train to Lausanne in la suisse and I could take it from there. With this plan, I left 1 hour later than originally planned, but got in 11 hours later. I took it.

In Chambery, a nervous-looking teenager asked me if this was the stop and once I said yes she clung to me like white on rice. She didn't speak French and had to take a train to somewhere in Italy, so she had me go ask everyone and everything her questions for her and then translate. I was trying to get away because she kept holding on to me and my back pack, and clearly everyone in the trainstation could have spoken to her in English. After about 45 minutes of trying to help her, I left her in the area where the buses leave from and she finally let go of me. Then I walked around Chambery and got some lunch--my first ever kebab in Europe, which is actually very bizarre since every European city I've been to has many many kebab shops. I ate it in this nice park and then decided to go rent a bike to fill my time. I took the bike and biked along a path through the French alps (it looked a lot like Annecy, so I don't think I was too far away) with my destination at a lake. The path was filled with people since it was so nice out and Sunday.

But I got to the lake and turned back. It started to rain when I dropped off the bike and I still had more than an hour until my next train. I bought some food and ate really slowly.

I got back to Fribourg around midnight. Exhausted. But before Monday.

Observations French, but really Parisian, edition:

-They're big on protesting and having their voices heard.

-Baguettes + cheese + wine = staples.

-Could (most of them) have sticks any higher up their asses?

-Parks without grass.

-"Cultured"

-Big smokers.

-Tishler says women use all different types of creams instead of exercising to look good, she could be right.

-Paris = the French NYC
-Everything is closed on Labor Day.
-Picnics are popular in spring time.
-They have infamously nice lingerie, but it's all small chested. They also have great shoes, but again, too small.
-No one, or almost no one, actually wears barets.

Mes Parents à Fribourg

My parents arrived in Switzerland the day I got back from spring break, and I was exhausted, but it was so nice to see them. The first thing I did was to take them to Chocolat Villard which is the chocolate factory in Fribourg that produces our canton's chocolate. We ordered hot chocolates, which are made the way hot chocolate should be--melting real chocolate. Then I took them on an abbreviated tour of Fribourg before the sun started to set, through the old city and across the Sarine. After that they settled in the hotel and we went out to dinner at a nice Italian restaurant even though they had just come from Italy. I tried to do most of the talking in these places because my mom's french is a little rusty/hard to understand and my dad's is nonexistant. Sometimes he would speak to the waiters in English as if they knew what he was saying--nope. Anyway it's more funny than anything else and eating out in Switzerland was definitely a change.

That night was Monday night, so somehow, I managed to go out to Kasia's birthday party and crazy monday after getting almost no sleep in the previous 2 days, I'm sure that didn't help my recovery, but you gotta do what you gotta do. (I chose this picture also because of all the happiness!)














The next morning I almost went to class, well I went, saw it was going to be in German, and snuck out. Then I took my parents to Gruyère. Somehow we got lost on the way, my dad drove over a raised rotary instead of around it, and we almost got all the way down to Montreux. Turns out we made a wrong turn when we were right there, and I think that decision was probably my fault. When we did actually get there, we went to the cheese factory of Gruyère in time for the tour and demonstration! They gave us cheese samples and a headset where Daisy the cow told us the story of milk and cheese production in Switzerland. Then the demonstration involved them turning on a machine that stirred the milk curds. We agreed that the highlight of this experience was the cheese samples. I do not recommend the museum-esque part.

After Daisy, we hiked up the trail to the old city of Gruyère.














It is a small town on a hill with a sweet castle on one side. Every restaurant was offering Fondue and Raclette and Quiche, basically the exact same menu so I wonder how they all stay in business. It was still pretty early after we saw the whole (small) city, so we decided to get a map and take a hike.














The trail went down from the city to the river where we passed by the cows responsible for the famous cheese.
(The one on the right ;-) ) (just kidding, mom!)













I kept mooing at the cows to all look at me at the same time and voilà!














Right before we were about to cross a covered bridge, a street cleaner passed by us and decided to "clean" it first--typical Swiss right? Problem was that it stirred up so much dust and dirt that was trapped that we couldn't cross for a really long time. Once the dirt settled we crossed and took this path along the river.














It was a beautiful nature walk, I wouldn't call it a hike. On our way back, it started to rain even though the sun was out, so we got soaked really fast but then it stopped just as suddenly as it started. The hike back up to Gruyère was tough on my parents, so I gave my mom a piggy back ride for some of it. When we got up to the city it was time for raclette, especially since I had never tried it before. We pretty much did eeny meeny miny mo to choose the restaurant and went inside a cute looking one. We got raclette for the 3 of us which was a block of gruyere cheese on a melting block that you scraped off every time the top layer melted and applied to potatoes, pickles, onions, and bread.














It didn't see too different from fondue to me; the only difference was that you bring the cheese to the food instead of the food to the cheese. I guess there is not much flexibility with melted cheese meals.

Then it was Wednesday and I had classes in the middle of the day, so they went to Montreux without me to see where I will be working this summer and have now explored the city more than I have. I took them to my favorite view of Fribourg and a much bigger tour of the city.




























That night, since we were already in the basse-ville, we stayed there for drinks and dinner. We went to this restaurant on the German side and when it came to ordering drinks, I didn't know the French translations. The only 2 I knew were rum and coke and gin and tonic, neither of which I wanted and I don't think the waitress believed I was old enough to drink hard liquor anyway so I felt embarrassed and pressured and ended up without a drink. That was a weird experience. Then we went in to eat and I had fresh lake fish from Neuchatel and it was ok again.

The next day, my parents and I went up to the top of the cathedrale st-nicolas--another thing I had been waiting to do till they came. The view was great, 360 degrees only interrupted by gothic spires.




























Then we went in and checked out the inside of the cathedral. (Giant organ)



















Next stop was Yverdon-les-bains to go to the thermal baths. We drove to Yverdon and explored a little around the tiny city and then walked along the lake (Neuchâtel).














I finalllly got my mom to drink out of a public fountain (you can drink out of almost any in Switzerland) but she only did it because it was shaped like a turtle and I did it first.














We went back to the baths, and went through the 3 different outdoor pools of different temperatures with different relaxation stations. It smelled of sulfur and other minerals, but I think that stuff is good for your skin. In the hottest bath, there was a flashing light that I thought meant get out youve been in too long! But it in fact signaled station changes as a series of jets massaged you starting from you ankles and ending at your neck, I felt like jello after! Since none of us knew we had to bring our own towels we headed to the solar room to dry off and my dad and i ended up passing out. When we got up we tried to find lunch, but it was about 3 or 4 in the afternoon and apparently they don't serve food at that time in Swiss restaurants, just drinks until dinner. Instead we found a grocery store that had pizza and ate it in the central plaza. While we were eating a team of police men and police dogs ran by. They were training the dogs and who had to track down this guy that was running in and out of shops, they got a nice big crowd to watch and when the dog succeeded everybody clapped, yay! When we got back to Fribourg we had a really nice dinner again, not bad having your parents visit.

Friday was my parents last full day in la suisse, so we took a trip to Interlaken to see the my favorite place in springtime.














I think I preferred it when it was snowy and the mountains were majestic and white instead of green, but it was still beautiful. We took a long walk around one of the lakes, but with only 3ish hours on the car meter.

































So when we were half way and there was a restaurant nearby we almost had to run, but never found it because the guy pointing it out to us had us look for this red thing and I think we all saw a different red thing--oh yeah I see it/it's right next to that--and had to turn back. Around that time, the typical afternoon mountain storm rolled in and we were hurrying through it. We stopped to get lunch, but realized we didn't have time and went the rest of the way back.

When we got back to Interlaken and somehow like 3 hours were still left on our parking meter (so glad we rushed back), but we drove to the other side of the city anyway. There we found a cute cafe for lunch and tried to practice our German, and then got souvenirs for all my family members. We checked out the old city--somewhat of a disapointment since there's nothing there, really--then saw the casino which my dad claims he remembered from his last visit.
The casino is beautiful and surrounded by flowers and the alps and has a great reception room, if it weren't so far away from the us i'd consider having my wedding there ;-)
















The great thing about the city of Interlaken is that you can see the alps at the end of every road



















and also that they have signs like this one: I'm sorry, I had to...














By the time we got back to Fribourg, the 2 weeks of constantly doing things and not getting any sleep had caught up to me and I felt really sick. Since they were leaving early in the morning, I decided to come out to dinner anyway and just get some soup. We went to another nice restaurant--where I saw my belgian symbolism teacher but didn't say bon soir because he was in a big group--and I got some good soup and weird conversations with the waiter. He was an interesting fellow and I'll leave it at that. Then I said goodbye to my parents and stayed in. and slept.


Further Swiss Observations (some of which I've come up with since, but I have no idea the exact time I first observe these things, I'm not perfect, you know):
-Gas is super expensive, you don't realize it until you try driving here.
-Rotaries are meant to be driven around and not through.
-Some of the highway signs are in purple--feels like you're in Disney World.
-Spring in Switzerland is either gorgeous or rainy but mostly rainy, my parents lucked out.
-Raclette and fondue are not very different.
-Swiss cheese factory tours are not worth your time. Swiss cheese is.
-Rules are rules and are not meant to be bent or broken, but followed.
-There are cows everywhere here and they eat well and do hill work outs. You should see some of the slopes they live on.
-Window screens don't exist.
-Doors must be closed during class.
-Saying bonjour/bonsoir/hallo is more of a formality than a friendly greeting.
-Sports bras are discouraged.
-Capris for men on the other hand are accepted and even encouraged.
-People have no shame in giving you the once (or twice) over.