Italia: Florence and Siena Edition

MMM so after my triple header (I decided to stick with my church history class so that I don't A) feel too guilty about skipping the one on Thursday to travel B) spend too much money making sure I leave after it C) have any classes in English and D) I can still say i have a monk for a professor) so woo Thursday-Sunday weekend!

Anyway, back to things that are somewhat interesting. I embarked on my journey to Florence around 10 pm Wednedsday and made it to Brig at 12 am where I was supposed to make a quick transfer to go to Domodossola for a 1am-5am layover in a train station that for all I know doesn't have an indoor part. In preparation I brought my swiss army knife and a hat. It's cold in Brig at midnight so I walked into this door and hid behind a corner until eventually a Swiss German man in uniform told me that this is not a waiting area and fearing german-speaking, uniformed men (instinctually), I got out asap and looked at the departure board.

There was my 00:16 train to Domodossola but below that, and the last train out of the station for the night was a 1:00 am train to Bologna and then Firenze (pronounced Fear-en-zay, ok? stop saying it wrong). I read and reread the definitions for the symbols and the big R with the circle around it--ie reservations required--was not next to this "EuroNight" train. Unfortunately it being so late there was NO ONE there to ask, so I decided to let the other train leave and test my luck. Eventually I found the conductor who was a skinny little Italian woman who would talk to me in broken english but only while walking away from me, and she said I had to pay for a couchette car, but I figured in the end it was the best bet cuz then i could avoid being raped/mugged/killed in Domodossola (maybe) and get some sleep so I'd be able to enjoy the weekend.

The train was pretty empty so I got a 4-person room to myself, which was sweet. You get a clean sheet and pillow and a dirty blanket.



















Sleeping was interesting, I kinda woke up every 3 or 4 minutes either because the train was coming to a stop or because it was making noises or because people were talking or whatever other reason. Around 6 am there was a knock on my door and the conductor was there with an Italian muffin with raisins (really just fatty bread with raisins, not much flavor) and said my stop was next.

Woo! I was in Italy. After navigating the Italian public transportation system, I arrived at Santa Maria Novella and waited from a reply text from Becky Abrahams. (I was supposed to meet a high school friend, Kelyn Petrie, at 1 pm when my train was originally supposed to arrive but she decided not to give me her number so I texted Becky who is an old camp friend I hadn't seen in more than 5 years and who's cell phone's screen was broken so she really couldn't see my texts.)

Anyway, I decided to explore Florence at sunrise while I waited. I took some pictures--subtly of course so no one would know I was a tourist--and walked around. As I was walking, I was thinking to myself how many pigeons there were, until one decided to shit on my head. I was like that better have been rain, but turns out it wasn't. I had had such a long streak without animal problems! Mmph, all good things must end.

After an hour of wandering I got Becky's text which gave me directions from the SMN so I had to find that first and then eventually--using a combination of English, French, and German--"wo ist der strasse via de servi?" that bus guy laughed at me, but anyway it was near the duomo and a piazza neither of which meant anything to me, but I made it to her apartment. She lives with 13 girls in one apartment, but it is a nice place and she let me leave my stuff and take a shower (needed one after the bird poo) and gave me a map.

That map turned into the guide book for the next 4 hours of walking. I made sure to hit every site on the map, and along the way saw a park with a fountain that looked like it was made out of shit.














I took pictures of basically everything and everyone and every church/museum/statue whatever.



















There is a lot of art in Florence, everywhere there are old Renaissance things which is cool. More than art, there are a lot of tourists, there were so many tourists i even took pictures of them taking pictures of the art.














At 1 I went back to the SMN station to surprise Kelyn who was like whoa, you're early! and I was like yeah 6 hours early and we went right back near the Ponte Vecchio from which I had just walked. We got the mandatory Italian gelato, which by the way was amazingly delicious and perfect for the upper 60s and sunny weather. We ate it on the balcony of her 8 person apartment and life was good.

Then we walked up to the top of a mountain to the Piazza Michaelangelo for nice beautiful view of Florence. She thought it was a mountain, but compared to Fribourg... piece of cake! We took the necessary photographs and then caught up on life for awhile while dangling our legs over a fancy cemetery. Then we explored on the way back and Kelyn got a cappuccino at her favorite place and the server put a heart design in chocolate on top, so I think he's in love with her.














After 7 hours straight of walking and not getting any sleep the night before I was starting to crash, but eventually Becky called to meet up and I met her and her college roommate (who was also visiting) at the San Lorenzo market. This place is filled with good leather products, souvenirs, knock off purses and sunglasses, scarves, clothes, Rastafarian apparel, and jewelry. Becky's friend got some belts, Becky a jacket, and me the mandatory terrorist scarf in white and purple (I bargained and got off 0.50 euro! Go Jen!!)

We then decided to go to Becky's favorite pizza place and the waiters loved us/made her speak Italian and we ordered two big pizzas and some wine. One of the pizzas turned out to be missing half of the ingredients but the complementary extra wine made us not realize this till hours later. Of course the pizza and wine were delicious, I was in Italy.














We headed back to Becky's apartment where we hung out and they got ready to go out as I waited for a call from Annie Wermiel/Alex Leonard that they were back from Copenhagen and I could come over. That call never came (turns out our phones don't connect in either direction, and I was out of credit anyway) so I skyped them and turns out Alex lived right by Becky.

I went over and talked with Alex for a little, but we were both exhausted and went to bed in like 15 minutes. The two of them woke up early to pick up Nicole LeBlanc from the airport while I slept, and apparently we never told her or Dave Bader (who was coming later) that I was coming in to see them, so I was the surprise and it was all very exciting.

While Nicole slept, Annie and I walked to her homestay in the suburbs, but sadly none of her family was there. It was cute though and I got to watch Annie pack for the weekend in Siena which was exciting too.

Then all four of us went to this nice sandwich place near the duomo and took our eats to sit on the piazza in front of the duomo. It was really nice to catch up and eat and such.














Alex wanted some gelato so we went but she couldn't pay because she had lost her wallet complete with credit cards and passport. We then had the most silent/nervous walk ever as we retraced our footsteps from the morning. Luckily someone at the sandwich place had brought it to the front. Phew.

Alex left to pick Dave up from the airport so me, Annie, and Nicole walked around, saw the one church I hadn't seen yet, and then went looking for a bathroom for me. Annie had to buy a cappuccino so I could use their toilet, and I struggled with the key opening the door as well as figuring out that I needed to use the petals with my feet to wash my hands--the waiter thought I was retarded.

While we were talking, I brought up how I got a swiss army knife and brought it for safety. They wanted to know what was in it, so I was like "I'll show you!!" I opened up the whole knife, and then OBviously sliced my finger open. I was bleeding everywhere, and the waiter definitely now thought I was an idiot. We had to find a pharmacy since I wouldn't stop bleeding and got these weird gauzy bandaids. I spent the rest of the afternoon touring Florence with my hand raised above my heart and applying pressure. It didn't stop bleeding for like a day and a half.

Later we all headed to the train station, I walked and they took the bus, so that we could take a train to Siena. Somehow I was running late and we had to literally run to catch our train (Annie had some difficulty running in heals on cobblestone) and apparently we were fun to watch.

By the time we got to Siena, which is a cute medieval-esque town a lot like Fribourg, and got to our cute hostel/bead and breakfast, it was like 10 pm and time to find dinner. We went to a restaurant with blue lights outside because apparently we are attracted by blue lights. We got some wine and some food and all was good.

Then we explored the city a bit and went to bed. The next morning we got up for our included breakfast and went to pick up the bikes I had reserved for us. The bike route I had found started back near Florence so we eventually decided to take a map and just explore. None of the bikes worked right and when we kept exchanging them, they started blaming us for breaking them even though we hadn't gone anywhere. They wouldn't let us change anymore so Annie got shafted with a bike which wouldn't go higher than first gear.

We biked to Castellini in Chianti and the ride was GORGEOUS. The weather was perfect and the vineyards went on forever with the occasional villa on the hillside. Naturally, many photo-ops were had.














It was a long trek to Castellini and after a huge downhill that made my eyes water, it was a huge uphill the rest of the way. There was some struggle, but at the top we went to this cute restaurant snuggled into the hill and overlooking the chianti countryside. The bread and pasta were homemade and the olive oil was rich, and I tried some boar ragu (a chianti speciality).














We then realized that we still weren't in the city center of Castellini nor were we at the top of the hill. Eventually we made it and it was a really cute town, except we made it during their siesta so there was no one around and nothing to do but walk around. The girls took the bus back, but Dave and I decided to bike back. We took a different route and it was absolutely incredible. I'm not just saying that cuz no one else went either. The slope of the road was about 15 degrees (there was a sign) and it winded downhill through expansives of green scenery and castles.














We went so fast I was afraid we were going to die, but it was so exhilerating that the uphill on the other end didn't even take away any of it's wonderfulness. Somehow we got back to the bikeshop before the busers, but since the man there only spoke Italian we couldn't really do much, because, well, me and Dave don't speak Italian.

That night we obvi got another nice Italian dinner but then were too tired to go out as planned and played this card game I forgot the name of instead. The next day we saw the duomo and the horse race piazza before I had to roll out to catch my train. Good to see those guys, sad to leave them.














The train strike that had been planned for that weekend (which I was so stressed out about ever since I bought the tickets without knowing about it) either happened on the Wednesday before or maybe would have happened next week, according to the laughing guy on the phone at Trenitalia. Thank goodness for that. 9 hours of training later, I was home.

The next day I had econ/soccer-esque activities all day, so by the time it came to crazy monday, I was way too exhausted to even consider. Luckily though, not going out allowed me to make breakfast on Tuesday where I asked my fellow Americans "Should I go to class or go skiing instead? It's way too beautiful outside." There was a resounding you better skip class or I will kill you, so I packed my stuff and went to catch the bus to Schwarzsee. On the way I saw my friend Sophie who was actually on her way to the class I was skipping and happened to have her season's pass on her. Not bad, only had to pay for the half-price bus ticket.

It was gorgeous as usual, but the snow needed to seriously thaw before you could even attempt to turn on it. I found some decent stuff and it was totally worth it, but the best skiing was definitely in early February.

The next day, by the time I got to church history, I was so tired and hungry that when this guy did his 1.5 hour presentation on witchcraft in some place between France and Switzerland I zoned out after the first 5 minutes (see I don't even remember what he was talking about!) It was terrible, I literally sat there staring at him, but didn't hear a single word for 115 minutes.

Then it was time to pack for Madrid... (to be continued. I don't have all day to write this and I'm sure you don't have all day to read it either!!)

Now for the Italian peoples' observational section:
-There are lots of pigeons.
-Dark purple is in. So in. Ew.
-So are shiny gold sneakers, also ew.
-The Italian reputation for good pasta, bread, olive oil, gelato, and wine is well deserved.
-Italian people can be aggressive/non accomodating.
-There are many many many mopeds.
-Piazzas are a good place to sit.
-We need to introduce deodorent into this country.
-The men actually do say "Ciao Bella" all the time (what can I say!)
-They use foot petals to turn on water in some sinks.
-You have to order pastas, meats, veggies, etc separately.
-Lots of talking with the hands.
-They walk slow on sidewalks.
-You don't need to speak Italian, at least in Florence, everything and everyone is in English.
-When you order a cappucino you are supposed to stand at the bar to drink it.
-Penis shaped pasta.

Bien établie

Last week after I finished writing my entry I went to go play with this girl's indoor club soccer team per someone's recommendation. I figured it could be a good way to make friends, and maybe be kind of nice to play with girls again. I get there and the coach is this crazy cook that is shouting in german at all the girls. I join the practice, and no one is really all that friendly, but it was interesting that the coach would explain drills in French sometimes, German other times, and sometimes a mix of the two. We did some basic drills and then scrimmaged, and I'm never going back because they were some of the worst soccer players EVER. There was maybe 3 people tops with potential to be good players, and maybe 4 people dressed the part. The team couldn't string passes together or shoot or sprint or anything, and one girl was even wearing hoop earrings and capris. You'd think europeans would be good at soccer because they watch it so much, but I guess it doesn't necessarily follow that they'll be able to play too.

Immediately after that let down though I went with some Erasmus friends to Danse Africaine! It was so sweet, the language barrier didn't even matter because words weren't really necessary. The guy who was teaching the class would just shout out eh! eh! eh! eh! to the beat or un! deux! trois! quatre! and show us the moves. It was so much fun and everyone was getting really into it and flapping their legs and arms and everything, it's Tuesday night now and I'm actually about to go back! To african dance that is, not girls soccer.

On Wednesday I got to sleep in but then had 6 hours (kinda) of class in a row from 1 to 7. It was very tiring, and then I get to my church class and the monk/professor talks so fast that I have NO idea of 75% of what was said in that class. I did, however, catch that in this class the existence of the devil is a given and the inquisitions were a legit response to the witchery of the middle ages... hmmm, not sure how I feel about this one anymore. PLUS get this, there are two grown men -- I'd guess early 30s -- that spend the ENTIRE class staring at me ever since I said I was American. It's not even the abashed kind of staring, it's the kind where when I stare back they continue to look at me and laugh/smile. They were sitting on opposite sides of the room, so I really didn't have anywhere to turn. Very very awkward experience.

Thursday I was able to get myself out of bed to go to the class I'm still not sure if I'm dropping. I made a deal with myself that if I went, I would bring my laptop and look up bus times to get to one of the mountains in the pre-alps. Because it was snowing that day no one was interested in going, but the snow was what was making me really want to go! The class got out early and I ran home, packed my ski stuff, and made it to the train station just in time to take a bus to Charmey by myself, ski half day, and get back by dinner. It was incredible, 6 inches of fresh powder and still falling, and like maybe 6 other people total on the mountain. The T-bar was scary shit though because it was way steep, but I got a lot of fresh off-piste skiing without worrying too much about avalanches since I make better decisions when I ski alone. I didn't bring my camera because the snow basically made it a white-out.

Then I took the bus back--by the way, very scary, the roads were slippery and I'm on this bus going a million miles per hour around tight mountain curves on narrow roads, but I guess that is their deal. It did, however, make my skis almost decapitate me every 2 or 3 minutes. All in all, it felt very good to be able to spontaneously go skiing in a foreign country all by myself and come back on time and in one piece! After that I went out to dinner and to a birthday party for a girl who had been away, so I met her at her birthday party. I was kinda sleepy so it was fun-ish, but I was like passing out on the couch, mainly because in that one day I had woken up early, gotten breakfast, went shopping, went to class, went skiing in Charmey, and went out to dinner then to a party. Friday I don't have class so it was sweet and I slept in and snuck into the gym to work out. Then I went out to Mondiale with a Swiss boy from futsal, which was a lot of fun, and also a lot of French. He lives nearby Fribourg and commutes to the university, which it seems like a loooot of people here do. I feel like it changes the college experience a bit to live with fam and go into school, I don't know, I'm glad most of us live in dorms/apartments together in the US!!

Saturday I sat around doing work and went on a sweet run without knowing where I was going. It's so cool to run here and find pedestrian paths everywhere and gorgeous views of mountains. I ran for over an hour and got severely lost, but for the first time ever my sense of direction got me home. Phew! That never actually happens. Along the way though, when I first realized I was lost, I followed signs to Beaumont which I later realized I recognized from Boston and not from Switzerland... different Beaumont, or maybe in Boston its Bellmont. Who knows.

The next morning bright and early me and Dan headed to ski at Portes-du-Soleil with these two really nice French Canadians who are studying in Lausanne. The train ride, as usual, had breathtaking views but it was 3 hours each way instead of 2. The last of which was a steep mountain train. It was cool, along the way we saw an ostrich farm, green grass next to snowy mountains, and vineyards on the steep sides of mountains (extreme agriculture!). Three trains and a gondola ride later, we made it to Portes-du-Soleil which is an enormous resort that straddles the border between France and Switzerland. Each trail says which country you are in and you can ski back and forth without ever presenting a passport!













So for my first (and 2nd and 3rd and 4th etc) time going to France, I skied in :o) I didn't notice much of a culture difference between French Switzerland and France, just a few different offerings in the restaurants and a whole lot of men peeing on the trails. I am not sure if that is French culture or just a result of a lot more skiers and maybe over-hydration. It was again a gorgeous bluebird day so all the Swiss/French were out on the slopes. It had warmed up and then cooled off overnight so the powder froze into painful chunks and off-piste was brutal.














Luckily by noon one face of this enormous bowl of a mountain (biggest resort I've ever seen in my life. Total 360 degree views.)














had softened up so I split up from the others when they went to lunch and spent most of my day exploring the slopes in France. I made some risky decisions alone, but tried to check out locations of cliffs as I rode up the chairlift and luckily found fresh stashes of heavy powder up to my mid-thighs without dying.

On the way back, Franc (one of the Canadians, not to be confused with the Swiss __) had his skis stolen by a tourist from Holland and in the commotion I ended up getting dinner without everyone, the guy returned the skis, but when they went to get fondue, I rolled out since I had already eaten. He ended up getting his skis back but losing his poles, I guess that's better? On the next train, I sat across from this man who enjoyed food in a way I've never witnessed anyone enjoy food. He bought bread and apple juice from the train man and he took the smallest sips of apple juice letting it sit in his mouth and then swallowing and smacking his lips. Then when he ate his bread he closed his eyes and really looked like he had died and gone to heaven. I don't know, it's either really weird or really admirable, not sure.

It was rough getting up on Monday for classes but I think I'm getting better at understanding while note taking and I wanted to answer so many questions in class, but I still lack the confidence to speak aloud in a lecture. Instead there were just a bunch of awkward silences every time he asked something. Obvi I went to futsal and fussballtennis but nothing new to report on those. I went out for tea with Banu after fussballtennis, also at Mondiale, which was good times since I hadn't seen her in ages. It also gave me a bunch of observations to write at the end of this post! woo!

Then it was crazy monday! and I finally had enough motivation to participate again. We got ready at marta and ester's as usual, but luckily there was a more even girl:boy ratio and non-swiss: swiss ratio, although the groups of people talking were still kind of self-segregated. We skipped Popu and went straight to Irish, where I again forgot my ID but this time it was a different bouncer so he made me stand off to the side and wouldn't let me in with all my friends. I saw how he treated this guy who tried to sneak in so when people were trying to hide me and get me in i was like no no no! but then eventually gave in and snuck in and the bouncer was either too busy to care or didn't see me leave. Then we had such a good dance session from like midnight till it closed at 3 am. Everybody was dancing and they played a very eclectic soundtrack that had everything from techno/rap/reggaeton to swing/oldies/irish step/greek music. Lots of random people kept asking me to dance but I kept saying no because I am still a bit creeped out by random european men who show interest in me.














I bumped into a Swiss German friend from futsal and now he knows I'm american and just kept putting his thumb down and laughing in a kinda scary way whenever I said something that might not even have been intended to be funny. Oh well, I'm sure he won't remember. But yeah! awesome crazy monday, lots of good stories, but as I've learned, more people read this than I expected, so many anecdotes have been omitted. (haha I'm sure if I talk to you you will get your own version of these and other stories, just gotta be careful on the internet!)

That got us back to st-justin around 330am and after story sharing it was after 4 when I tried to go to bed. Unnforrrtunately all the smoke in the club got to me and I couldn't go to sleep for another hour or so cuz of a chesty coughing fit. I felt like such a smoker, gross.

Class today was rough, but I realized that since I finished my presentation and my paper will be based on my presentation's topic, I really don't have to go or pay attention anymore. I mean I feel like I should, and probably will, but I don't have to.

This afternoon I decided to get the phone numbers of two Swiss people I've been talking to a lot who live on my floor. I've decided that I am going to make Swiss friends whether they like it or not. I love my Spanish, American, and eastern European friends, but I need to at least have a couple Swiss since I'm here in their country, you know?

Isabel went out with us last night too, but she did not make it and ended up sleeping through African dance, which by the way was fun again. Weird though that I was the only person in the entire class wearing shorts! I felt like a whore, haha. Yeah.

Tonight my professor's assistant told me I can't take my economics final exam before I leave to go home. Ok. That's not good.

But, tomorrow night I'm headed to Italy which I'm super excited about! Yay! I'm gonna see a high school friend, a camp friend, and 4 college friends in two Italian cities in one weekend, not bad. Couldn't come at a better time either because I've been feeling a little homesick lately. It happens... probably cuz i've settled in and spent the weekend in Fribourg without enough to distract me.

Meine Observations (that might not be a german word):
-Tea does not come with free refills of hot water. You have to buy a whole new, overpriced tea. Everyone laughed at me when I asked the waitress the morning after new years 2008 if I could have a free water refill, but guess who's laughing now!
-Hot beverages are often served with a piece of chocolate though.
-Turns out my observation in an earlier post is wrong, there are orange m&ms in the US too. However, the colors of the m&ms here are lighter, at least that's something.
-The people in my classes seem to feel the need to write every single thing possible down.
-Making travel plans is addicting.
-There's this one popular hairstyle for guys here where the hair is greased into position. It's a combination comb over and spiky look, where the inch above the forehead and all around is a combover but behind the inch its all spiky. I need to get a picture of this to demonstrate, it's pretty terrible.
-I'm learning more Spanish then German.
-Jokes can be lost in translation.
-I know the air here is cleaner, but my lungs have definitely gotten blacker. Tobaccer.
-They have "liberté academique" here, which translates roughly to: "more time to drink."
-The traffic lights go Green, yellow, red, yellow, green!
-You don't have to order a brand of beer here, just a beer and you'll get Cardinal.
-Their president only serves a term of one year, so a lot of Swiss don't always know who it is.
-Even the Swiss banking system can't withstand this depression.
-Prices already include taxes and tip, so everything seems even more expensive... (did I already use this one?)
-I'm not sure what the word is in french for out, when a ball goes out in a game, because they all yell "out!"
-They'll farm on whatever land they got, even if it's nearly vertical.
-Nutrition facts on labels are per 100g, not by serving size. Guess I should be carrying around a pocket scale!
-I don't know my height in meters or my weight in kilograms.



Holler.

Carnaval etc

I am overwhelmed with how much has happened since I last posted, so chances are I will skip some things... especially the things I have already forgotten!

Last weekend, well last Friday through Tuesday, was Carnaval de bolzes in the basse-ville (old city) of Fribourg. It's basically a huge event where everyone dresses in ridiculous costumes and the old city comes alive with street vendors, themed restaurants and bars, disguised bands playing concerts, confetti, parades, burning Rababous, kids, and drinking.

Friday there wasn't a whole lot going on yet, so I went to a friend's party which had a million girls and no music and someone who got out of proportionally angry with me for something stupid. Then some of us went to Irish but the music was no good, so I left in less time then it took us to get our shit together and get over there. Not a great night but whatevs, I also managed to scare Lauren from ever going number 2 again. Long story...

Saturday day I got to sleep late which was wonderful and went on a run in the afternoon back to the hill/mountain where I found the most beautiful view of Fribourg with the cathedral and all of the red roofed houses and the big bridge and the mountains. Along the way I saw a bunch of concerts for carnaval that I could hear all the way from my window. My goal is to be able to run up that hill without having to stop before I go home. I feel so out of shape because it shouldn't be so hard, but I think between the slope, the length, and the high altitude, some of my shortness of breath is explained. Big bummer I don't have a picture of this but I don't run with a camera!

Saturday night was the first major night of carnaval and Rachel and friends took the free after 7 train to Fribourg to participate. All I had bought for a costume was a mini-party hat that was sparkly and blue with fringe and a strap for my neck that was a little too small. It was the cheapest hat I could find at the costume store - 1.50 CHF - so it was money well spent. As far as clothing goes, I could really only fit practical items in my luggage so I just decided to layer random clothes and wear heels I had never worn before (bad idea). We all put face paint on--I did mine myself! with party balloons, birthday cake, and stars. All night I went around saying "Je suis la fete!" which translates to "I am the party!" and I think that was a pretty sweet, makeshift idea. Around 8 I picked up Rachel and friends from the train station, and they had already been drinking on the train (yay legal drinking in public!) and we walked them back to Beauregard to get ready. I left them alone with the face paint, which was a terrible idea because they decided to be teenage mutant ninja turtles with facial hair--who knew teenagers could grow facial hair!















However Rachel felt bad for looking funny and an authentically Swiss girl fixed her face.




















Everyone had pretty sweet costumes. I headed out with the visiting Americans to the old city, and along the way we took pictures with elves, James tried to speak French with people, and my shoes gave me blisters, especially walking on cobblestones downhill.

At night everyone that lives in the old city opens up their medieval basements called caves and turns them into bars or discotechs. We had a lot of fun cave hopping and dancing to classics such as 99 Luft Balloons and some oldies I forget at the moment. We also hit some themed restaurants and bars complete with live music and full grown adults in the most impressive costumes.



















We ended up buying hot wine and dancing to the Guggenmusik band in the middle of the square. It was incredible. Then those Rachel n friends had to haul ass back to the train station to catch the last train out so their ride home would be free as well.















In the 10 minutes that followed I couldn't find anyone, but then found all the Erasmus and Americans I knew all at once. By that time the preparations were wearing off aka you know what I mean, and the blisters on my feet were killing me, along with the cold -- I was super cold because the party does not wear a jacket. So we went to a few more places, danced a bit, and I headed home. Dan carried me on his back most of the way because of my feet, which is quite a feat (no pun intended!) because the hills here are MAD steep, i will never complain about Tufts again, and obviously he had been drinking, and im not super light so all in all, very impressive. It was kind of funny as well because people along the way kept asking us if they could get a ride too.

The next day carnaval activities lasted all day. We only really went to see them burn the Rababou, because really what else matters? It was a pretty creepy ordeal. They played the story of the monstrous Rababou on loudspeakers in a very disturbing voice, pausing frequently to lead a chant in an even more disturbing voice, "OO OO RA-BA-BOU!"














Until they set the giant creature on fire and played happy music as he burned to death. There were firecrackers in his head so that was pretty cool/loud, I'm surprised they've pulled this off every year without burning down all the buildings.




















Next day was take 2 of double header economics lectures, futsal, and fussballtennis. The second econ class I hadn't had the week before, but when I went this time the teacher had a ridiculous Bernois (swiss german) accent, and for the first 15 minutes I thought he was kidding. But he wasn't. It's kind of hard to understand him, but also hilariously funny... too bad I can't do an impression via this blog. We had to get groups for presentations in this class and I only knew one person, and neither of us are native french speakers, so we are with 2 other randos and hopefully that will work out.

The next day, Tuesday, was the last day of carnaval and also Mardi Gras. So we HAD to go back to the old city that night for the best night. That morning while waiting to talk to a teacher I met a fribourgeois girl who was super friendly but made this disgusted face when I said I was from America. Then she asked how I was taking my courses in French if I am from the US, and I told her that some of us learn more than one language--she was very surprised. Then before we went out I tried to go to another session of futsal, but I was super intimidated when I arrived by big Italian looking men slamming balls against the walls and giving me the "what are you doing here?" look when I walked in. After making all the effort to get down there and never before backing down against boys when it came to soccer, I left defeated and biked into the middle of no where to get me back in a better mood for carnaval. That night, I did a make shift version of "the party" with less colorful face paint, aka Lauren's eyeliner, but after some fondue and cheap vodka we headed down (this time in more comfortable shoes).

There was the same set up in the old city, but it was way crazier and a lot of fun. I ended up staying really late and finishing my carnaval experience in the Mouton Noire (Black Sheep) which is the place to be for carnaval.



















It was like a medieval dungeon bar, and we had met up with some different spanish kids, one of which was wearing a full body unicorn suit. Very impressive.















On the way back, a taxi drove into me and Dan hit the taxi with his fist. That was a weird experience. I'm okay though.

The next day I had 3 classes in a row which was a bit of a bitch, but the 3rd one is a French lit course that may replace my English course making my weekends Thurs-Sun and all my classes in French. Keep your fingers crossed. The third class was my church class, and you'll never believe it but my professor is a monk. Frere something and he wears the monk clothes and has the monk haircut... only in Fribourg. They all freaked out too when I said I was an economics student from the US and everyone wanted to know why I was in their class. Oh and also the woman next to me was at least 75 years old.

Thursday I went to class forgetting that it was canceled. Then I spent the day buying stuff for Graham and I and also a sweet Swiss Army Knife, that I figured was a necessary purchase if I'm living here for a semester.

Graham Rogers came in for the weekend, but couldn't call me when his train arrived because of phone issues so had to find an internet cafe and IM me. Luckily, I am always online. That night I made him dinner and we talked with Isabel and then him and I went to get delicious chocolate gelato--gotta love that Italian influence--and took a night time exploration of the city. We explored for a good hour and a half, going through the old city, under a bridge, up a switch path, on a highway, over a suspension bridge, up stairs, and by the cathedral. Only sketchy part was there was a guy chilling under a bridge in the old city, so I made Graham talk loudly with a manly voice... dunno if that did anything, but it made me feel better.

Next morning we were up at 530am to get to Jungfrau to ski Grindelwald. First thing I did was unplug my ipod and got fucking electrocuted. I have these two very white and puss-filled burns from one second of contact that sent vibrations up my entire arm. Definitely woke me up though.



















Graham also left his ski boots on the train, luckily though we remembered them before it peaced out! There were lots of clouds in the morning, and the beautiful powder stashes had warmed up then cooled off making them variable and crunchy. So we stayed on piste mostly. We started exploring this bowl and to our surprise we were creating avalanches below us due to the re-warming up of the snow. We then noticed a lot of slide paths around us. Comforting, right? We got the hell out of that bowl, and I started noticing that there were avalanches all over the place, I guess that's what level 3 is.














Then the sun came out and softened the snow, and opened up the breathtaking views of Interlaken that I still can not get over. We didn't stop for lunch since we had filled our pockets, and skied all the way till 4:30. We made better decisions though about any off-piste skiing.




























That night we went to Kasia's apartment to party a bit, Graham being the only boy, and after some Swiss wine, we went to go out but Graham realized he was exhausted so we went to bed instead. He lucked out because Mary was gone and got her whole room/bed. The next day, since the avalanche danger at Verbier was high again due to more unseasonably warm temps, we decided to stay more local and ski in the pre-alps if we'd have to stay on piste anyway. We got breakfast and then missed the bus to Charmey by exactly 1 minute, so decided to ski at Schwarzsee which was a little farther. It was a warm blue bird day, and the pre-alps have a surprising amount of terrain, steeps, trees, etc but just are a little lower in altitude. We found some sick fresh tracks off a T-bar -- this mountain loved T-bars which didn't really work with our height difference.















Later we decided to follow some tracks into trees that lead us, as usual, to a cliff face. Graham scouted it out and we eventually side stepped down the cliff. I had to go second and naturally one of my legs got stuck on a mossy outcropping. It took me a good 5-10 minutes to get out of that one without tumbling all the way down into the forest below. We made it out alive and did some bowls/jumping the rest of the day. We were ready to go on the 5pm bus which didn't come, so we took one after waiting an hour--so much for Swiss efficiency!

On the bus all we wanted to do was nap, but these two obnoxious Swiss German boys were literally spitting on my face and stepping on our feet. All the father did was physically abuse the older boy instead of controlling his kids.

After we got back we dropped off our stuff, took a quick shower, and headed to Lausanne to meet Susie Petlick and Katie Houstle who were visiting there and not Fribourg for who knows what reason. Lausanne is supposedly beautiful, but was hard to see at night.




















I was the only one there who spoke any French, so that was fun and we went looking for a not-so-expensive restaurant. We ended up at an Italian one where the waiter refused to respond to me in french, douchebag. Then we explored Lausanne and asked people to take pictures of us. We ended up in Ouchy on the coast of Lake Leman, where we played on the playground, since Susie didn't feel embarrassed doing so at night. We also saw some swans that were flipping out.















Then we came back and Graham left the next morning after breakfast... sick weekend though!

Sunday I had to finish my oral presentation. That's enough about Sunday. Then yesterday, monday, I had my econ/futsal/fussballtennis and I definitely improved at fussballtennis, not great yet but way more consistent. And it doesn't hurt that the instructor is beautiful. Then I stopped by Marta and Ester's to say hi, but I did not participate in Crazy Monday festivities because of my presentation.

This morning was the presentation and I wrote an 8 page, single spaced script and made a powerpoint with bullet-points so that people could at least understand something. My partner wasn't totally prepared, and I had a lot more information, but I'm not so sure a lot of what I said was understood. Isabel, Allison, and Mary said my accent got better with time, but I think it was just the shock transition between my native french speaking partner and me that they were like wtf and then got used to it by the end. Unfortunately we didn't use any images from the Quattrocento which is bad considering our theme was the use of shadow and light in the Trecento and Quattrocento... hopefully since we were the first presentation he will go easy on us.

Whew that was a lot.

Obssss:
-I have bad luck with electricity: electrocuted myself, melted my boot driers, broke both my adapter and converter, all within 24 hours.
-Avalanches are for real.
-I still have almost no real Swiss friends.
-Swiss students go home Friday and come back Sunday since they live super close, party monday.
-University of Fribourg's reputation is a party, alcohol, and drug school--I was unaware of this.
-The Swiss aren't always as efficient as they're cracked up to be. It's a very high standard.
-Dairy and chocolate make up 95% of the diet here.
-A percentage of the funds for every major construction project must go to an artist to build an outdoor exhibit.
-They take notes on graph paper neatly and with cursive writing, and if they make a mistake they use whiteout (my notes look like chicken scratch next to them)
-Swiss Italians know Italian, French and German fluently, Swiss Germans know French and German, and Swiss Romands know French. In order of necessity.
-Professors will critique your work in front of the class.
-They open their windows in the morning no matter how cold it is to air out their room and probably also their duvet.
-There are fountains on almost every corner.
-The food here is fatty-er but the people are thinner.
-I haven't watched any tv since I got here or gone to any movies since they're so expensive.
-For people with French knowledge: when someone sneezes its "sante" not "a tes souhaits" and instead of "de rien" for thank you it's "service" and 70/80/90 are "septante, huitante, et nonante" not "soixtante-dix, quatre-vingt, ou quatre-vingt-dix" which I think is a better system (Napoleon chose that extended way of saying numbers)


Till next time! Missing everyoneeeee...