my european life.
The chronicles of my life, as I study abroad in Lugano, Switzerland for the semester and casually galavant around the globe. Enjoy!
How to fall down the Swiss Alps…..
…. Night sledding…. That’s the answer. It has to be one of the most dangerous things I have ever done in my life, and I WOULD not recommend it to anyone… The day started out so promising when all of us got on a bus after school to head to Interlaken, Switzerland for the weekend. Interlaken is up in central Switzerland in the middle of the Swiss Alps. It has beautiful views and is well known for the extreme sports (skydiving, paragliding, etc) and fabulous skiing and snowboarding. We decided last week to all sign up for a night sledding package, which included a bus ride to the mountain, gondola ride up the mountain, cheese fondue (yum!!) at the top of the mountain and night sledding! Sounds perfect right? Well it was, until we were going up on the gondola and part of our group meets a German family who is going night sledding too. They asked where our helmets and lights for our helmets are….. ughhh whatttt? When they realized that we were all completely unprepared… they started laughing -__- But after a bottle of wine (or two), we didn’t really think anything of it… it couldn’t be that dangerous, right?? Sooo after being stuffed with fondue, we grab our toboggans (which may or may not have been the same ones they have used for the past 40 years) and walked up a path to the very top of mountain we were on.
And that was the beginning of the end.
I hop on the sled and immediately I just FLY straight down a very steep hill…. I can’t see where I’m going, because there is no lights, I have no control over this sled and my Uggs have no traction so I can’t even slow myself down. Oh, and the icing on top of the cake?? It rained earlier so the track is now ice, not snow… Perfect. So, I’m going down this hill at about 30 mph (my sled may or may not have been off the ground a few times), and I am trying to dodge people every 10 feet but finally I just can’t control my sled any longer and I fly over another sled like a ramp, and I am thrown into the snow…. Cool. I get back on and keep going on this miserable course… crying a little bit every time I go down a hill, begging to be at the bottom, and hitting a few people and sleds here or there. And then when I never thought it would happen, I reach the bottom. THANK GOD. But since I flew down the mountain so fast, I end up getting there with the first group… who then decides… let’s do it again… so, I hop back on the gondola (seriously??? What was I thinking?). The second time was not better, at all. Finally we make it all the way down the mountain to the train station, and wait an hour for a bus (in the FREEEZING cold) to take us back to the hostel where we all pass out for night.
The next morning, a few cuts and bruises later, some of the girls get up and we have a very relaxing day, walking around the very, very small town of Interlaken, shopping and eating! During the night, we went to the club below our hostel (Balmer’s) and danced the night away with our whole group! And thanks to $1.95 wine and $10 vodka, I managed to not spend anything at the bar! That’s definitely the way to go! The next morning, a very tired (and some hung over) group of 45 American travelers ate breakfast and hopped back on the bus to Lugano. Even though, there wasn’t as much to do as I wanted, it was a great first weekend trip and I am super excited about Munich, Germany this weekend!
Until next time! Ciao!
Xoxo,
Katie
Sono Americana. Part IV.
These past two days (Jan 10 and 11) haven’t been anything too special. We all have to go to class (unfortunately) and usually the night time is filled with many of us hanging out in the common room trying to find a plug into the internet box so we don’t have to deal with the ever-so-annoying wifi! There is usually always mixture of planning, doing homework and just relaxing going on! On Tuesday, I was sad that I couldn’t spend some time with @Jacob Lawrence on our one year but I can’t wait for him to come visit me in March! Today (Wednesday), Kira, Lindsey and I walked around Lugano for a little trying to soak in the beautiful weather! Luckily the whole time we have been here it has been really good weather and hasn’t been too cold yet! Fingers crossed it only gets warmer from here! (I’m hoping to be poolside by early March!) We finally found a good place to get relatively inexpensive food (which is VERY hard to find here)! Even at the McDonalds (this girl was VERY excited to see the Golden Arches), a meal is between 11 and 15 Swiss Francs!! This place is insane!
I’m sorry for the small novel I have just written but I want to keep everyone updated on the beginning to my crazy adventure! I am so excited to be in this beautiful place and can’t wait to tell you what happens next!
Ciao! Xoxo!
Katie
Sono Americana. Part III.
On Sunday (Jan 8)…. Our instructor (David Brinberg) told us we would be going on a walk around Lugano and it was little bit of a hike, but it wasn’t going to be aggressive…………. He must have a different definition of aggressive than I do because it was TORTURE! We walked up Monte San Salvatore (4 miles up, 4 miles down…..) and boy was it rough… and when I thought it was over, he decided to make us walk another couple miles throughout towns and back AROUND the mountain! Granted, we did see some spectacular views and saw some beautiful landscapes, but 10+ miles of that it is a little over kill. But, luckily I made it home alive! I was very sore for the next couple of days but I have made it through! I don’t know if I will be so willing to go on another one of these casual “hikes” anytime soon! The night was filled with lots of planning and MORE pizza -___- Now you’re probably wondering, what’s wrong with a lot of pizza? And as a frequent Dominos’ customer and 555 deal advocate, I wouldn’t see the problem with it either. But after having it for 3 meals consecutively and a total of 4 times in 3 days… you may start to see my issue with this dish….
On Monday (Jan 9), we started school! For the next month or so, we are taking Consumer Right’s and Italian! Classes are 3 hours long and even though that seems like FOREVER, it really isn’t too terrible. We have only one class MWF and two classes on TR. Buttttt Brinberg did tell us we wouldn’t have Friday classes after Spring break J won’t that be nice! Since the classes are only about a month long, we have to cram a lot of information into every day! I’m pretty sure our Italian class is on chapter five already and we have only had one class! All I really know is “Lo sono Katie. Sono Americana. Sono di Clifton en Virginia”… I’ll have to work on that… The rest of Monday was just filled with planning, planning and a lot more planning! We have finished planning (for the most part) our trip to Interlaken, Switzerland this weekend, Munich, Germany on Jan 20-22 and our first 10 day break in February in which we are going to Dublin, Ireland, London, England & Amsterdam, Netherlands! All this planning is becoming sooo stressful but making me SO excited for all this traveling!!
Sono Americana. Part II.
On Saturday (Jan 7), after a restless night of sleeping and trying to force my body to get used to the time adjustment and jet lag, we woke up and spent the day walking around the beautiful town of Lugano. We got groceries (which are much more expensive here…. For example, a tube of Maybelline mascara is close to 18 Swiss francs! That is like $19-20!!) and we also ate at one of the small food shops in the middle of the plaza! Later in the day, we started planning all of our trips! One place we all decided on was Interlaken, Switzerland this upcoming week which I am very excited about! Here you can go skiing, snowboarding, skydiving, paragliding, etc! That night, most of us went to dinner together at a small restaurant/ pizzeria around the block! After the some good slices of pizza and a couple glasses of wine, we decided to get to know each other a little better and go to the bar down the street… Coyote Ugly… probably the most American bar in all of Switzerland! All of us had a blast dancing around and hanging out with everyone but we cut the night pretty short because our instructor told us to be ready for a walk around 10 AM…..
