Finally, I’m writing again. I have a lot to share... There is/are really good reasons I haven’t wrote about my adventures in a while and I’m hoping you’ll figure it out as you read.
The next morning after getting home from Luzern, my program took all of the students to Lugano, Switzerland for the week. We were supposed to all take the same train, all hopping on at our respective stops around Geneva. Obviously, things did not work out exactly the way they were supposed to. The trains were late that morning, but the placards were not adjusting with the trains. This led a group of us onto a train that wasn’t ours… I had noticed that the trains had been pulling in late and had a feeling it wasn’t the right train because well… that… and Earl didn’t poke his head out of the car we were supposed to be meeting him in. I tried to convince the group, along with one other girl, that this was not our train. It was 2 vs. 8 though, so we got on with them. It was the wrong train. Fortunately, the conductor lady helped us find a way to eventually get on the right train with the rest of our program. Although there was an initial freak out amongst everyone, it all turned out great, surprising the rest of the group when we showed up out of the blue on their train. We eventually all made it to Lugano on a beautiful, sunny Monday. After checking in to our hotel/hostel, we couldn’t resist going out to the lake and taking a walk along the water. It was SO PRETTY. Honestly, Switzerland never fails to be pretty so I wasn’t surprised, but I still can’t get enough of it. A group of us found an awesome tree to climb, and hung out there for a while.
The rest of the week was full of lectures. Nothing too exciting. It decided to snow one day which we were not happy about… but what can you do? In the end, the best part of the whole week was actually being with all of the other kids at the hotel. We finally were comfortable with each other and ended up having a really great time. One night turned into a beer pong/music/pj party which was suuuper fun. How can you go wrong with PJs?!
After Lugano, Mel and I took a train to Venice. I was really excited about this trip because I had never been to Italy and hadn’t really heard anything bad about it. We booked a little B&B for relatively cheap. Finding this little B&B however, not so great. It took us about an hour walking around Venice’s tiny alleys with our HUGE/HEAVY backpacks. When we found it, we realized that it was in a great location. So, we put our stuff down, bought a map, and peaced. We were ready to explore. Venice was pretty much everything they say it is. No cars, only canals, boats and tons of people walking around. One of the most amusing things was that the gondola men were actually dressed up like they are in stories. Striped shirts, hats with red ribbon, black pants, black shoes… pretty much the stereotypical gondola man. I didn’t get to hear one sing (30 euros per person was just not on our budget), but I’m SURE that they all had wonderful voices for those romantic little boat rides. Anyways, that first afternoon was full of wandering, we saw St. Mark’s Square and the Rialto bridge, and walked along the water just observing. It was a beautiful afternoon. Dinner was a HUGE fail. We got sucked into a touristy restaurant and paid a ridiculous amount for shit food. We were pissed, but knew we weren’t going to make that mistake again.
The next day, aka Saturday, we had all day to do whatever we wanted to do. So, we bought a day pass for the water buses and took them all around Venice. We went by the gigantic cemetery (that is its own island). And, let me tell you, I’m not sure what it is, but Italians know how to do cemeteries. Ya, ya, fresh flowers are nice. BUT if you want your cemetery to always look like this…..
...use silk ones.
Oh and this is Venice...
We got off the water buses again at Murano, where they are known for their glass and basically spent the rest of the afternoon wandering through the shops looking for that perfect gift. Sorry mom, as you already know I was not successful in finding you the perfect piece (i promise there is something though, no worries), however… I did find myself a new pair of little earrings which I LOVE. They really do know how to do glass in Murano. GO THERE if you’re ever in Venice.
Oh I can’t forget, we obviously ate our fair share of gelato. How can you pass that up in Italia?!
So we got back from Venice on Sunday after a 7 hour train ride with only 2 weeks left of class. Obviously, Earl decided that everything was going to be due at the same time, and it ended up being two weeks from hell (more on that in the next post). However, I managed to take some breaks… haha. The next Saturday, two of my friends and I went up to Verbier ski resort in the Alps. IT WAS AMAZING!!!! See for yourself…
We had a blast. The weather held out for us in the morning, which was great since none of us had goggles…haha. It turned kinda ugly in the afternoon, but definitely still skiable. As you can see, at the end of the day, we still had smiles on our faces. WE GOT TO SKI IN THE ALPS. Cool? Ya, I think so.
Ok, that's it for now. I'll be updating this week again. À plus tard.
skiing in the apls...i'm kind of mad that you didn't wait and do that one with me. but sounds like a blast there!
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