THE super long post

Ok... so it's been WAY too long since I've written a post... and to make up for it, this is going to be the ONE and ONLY super long post ever on my blog (because everyone knows that long blog posts are super intimidating and I don't want to push any of you away). Usually I'll try to keep them at a decent length. ha.

First story. Dad was here for a day (ok actually I think I saw him for a total of six hours...) and it was GREAT. He got to meet my host mom for a little bit. She made us coffee/tea and bought us all little pastries from her favorite little patisserie. yummm. Then I took Dad for a little walk around Rolle. It was kind of a glummy day, but I think he got the picture. Rolle is a small town right on the lake with a small amount of people and vineyards everywhere. K great. Glad we're on the same page. Aaanyways, we went to dinner that night in Geneva at this really cute traditional swiss restaurant. It turned out great, and then Dad was nice enough to give me a ride back home. yay! Thanks Dad :) It was awesome that I actually got to show someone from home where I'm living and who I'm living with.

I'm not sure when this happened, but I know it was a Sunday and it was sunny out. I woke up and my host mom was like... "Let's go to Montreux". I had no idea what this place was, but I had nothing better to do. So, we gather our things and take the train about an hour to Montreux, which I found out is a city at the end of Lake Geneva. My host mom compared it to St. Tropez... hahaha I've never been there so I wouldn't know. BUT, it was so beautiful. I felt like I was in the mediterranean. There were palm trees, luxury hotels, etc... (it was still cold though and there were snowy mountains across the lake... I definitely didn't forget that I was in Switzerland). It was so prettyyyyyyy:

I also got to go into the famous Chateau de Chillon in Montreux. It's on almost every Swiss postcard... EVER (well the Matterhorn is tough competition, but more on that later). The castle was incredible. HUGE on the inside, but also freezing. I don't know how those people lived in that huge stone building in the winter. It was colder inside that it was outside. (Mom, we wouldn't have survived if we had lived back then).


My next adventure was to Lausanne. A few friends and I went last weekend to check out the official Olympic (games) Museum. It's only about a 25 minute train ride, so we we're all about going there the day after the Olympics started. Obviously, they had a bunch of things going on because it was the first day of the Olympics, definitely good timing on our part. They had every Olympic torch, every medal, and tons of apparel/shoes/things from past Olympic athletes. Basically, if you like sports... it's the place to be.

Hmm.. I think the next thing worthy enough to mention is my trip to Zermatt today with my host mom and her two friends. Zermatt is this little village that is home to chalet-looking hotels and electric taxis and horse-drawn carriages. There are no gasoline cars there.. it's against the rules. So, we had to take the train four hours from Rolle. All I can say is that the 8 hours of train was worth the 3.5 hours in Zermatt. Why, you say? Because it was a beautiful, sunny day and this village is also the home of the Matterhorn. Pictures say everything:

Attempt #1 by Renate's friend to take a picture of us with the mountain...

HUGE FAIL.

Attempt #2... Success. Also, see those skiiers? Ya, I almost stole someone's skis because I wanted to ski down so badly.

Ok, enough for now. I'm off to bed so I'll be ready for the TGV tomorrow. We're going to PARIS!!!!!!! I can't decide if I'm more excited about the super fast train, or the fact that I'm going to see the Eiffel Tower. haha. On Thursday, I'll be off to Barcelona. I'm SO EXCITED. Gaudi is calling my name.

Be back soon.