February 2

Happy February! Today in Lugano, there are two feet of snow on the ground. Some may say this is exciting and fun, but all it means for me is that I have now slipped and fallen twice, it is absolutely freezing out, and I can’t work out outside. To sum it up, I am not a fan of the snow or the cold. Hurry up warm weather!

Snow on palm trees!

Today also brings one midterm (in Italian) and one final (in Consumer Behavior). Hopefully these go well and I can enjoy a nice, relaxing ten-day vacation around Europe. 

Jan. 26-29

Thursday

This weekend we got Friday classes off, so we got to leave for Tuscany (an area that Florence is in, not its own city I found out after an embarrassing status update) on Thursday afternoon. I am getting more comfortable with changing trains, missing trains, sleeping when I can on trains, etc. which is nice. Upon arrival in Florence, Italy, our group (14 of us) went to eat at a restaurant called Osteria Gatto. It was a family style dinner with more than enough food and wine for 15 euro (the first of too much money spent this weekend). After dinner, we went to a club called Astor. This was where I first learned how creepy Italian guys are. We all stuck together though, and made it through our first night clubbing in Italy.

Everyone but Marlee (Near the Ponte Vecchio)

After the club, Whitney and I were supposed to go back to Marlee’s friends apartment to sleep. After an unsuccessful attempt at finding Marlee, we ended up going back to where the rest of our group was staying (a hotel room for 14 of us that slept six). We ended up sleeping on a very uncomfortable floor, and (believe it or not) getting a pretty horrible night’s sleep.

Friday

This was our day of touring Florence. We went inside and to the top of the Duomo (engineered by Brunelleschi), saw the David (MUCH larger than I was expecting) and other artwork at the Accademia, and toured the Uffizi Gallery (thanks to my fifth grade teacher Mr. Daum, I recognized a lot of the paintings which was pretty cool!). After that we went to the famous bridge in Florence (Ponte Vecchio). Ashvin (one of the guys on our trip) fell for one of the Italian men trying to sell things, and he paid 10 Euro to get a caricature done which was pretty funny (and surprisingly good).

On top of the Duomo

Replica of the David 

(I'm the tiny person staring to give you a reference of size!)

Sitting on the Ponte Vecchio

Friday night we got pizza for dinner and just hung out in the hotel for a while. Then we went to a very American bar where literally everyone was a study abroad student, so that was fun but not a very culturally inclined decision. That night, I came home early due to exhaustion. I had the room key, but not the key to get into the building so I had to get creative with getting into the hotel. I found the restaurant connected to the hotel, and got them to get me in so I’m glad that worked out because I would have had to wait outside the hotel for everyone to get back! I got ¼ of a king size bed that night, so a huge improvement from Thursday night.

Saturday

Saturday consisted of shopping and a wine tour (two things I love, so I knew this would be a great day!). In Florence, there is a leather market and lots of street vendors, so we had a blast (even the boys found some good stuff). I got a scarf and a red satchel.

The wine tour started at two when we met outside the train station and got bussed through Tuscany with a lady giving us some tips and facts along the way. Our first stop was a small town outside Florence with amazing views. We were only here for about 15 minutes taking pictures and walking around before we were off to our second and final destination, a castle. This castle was not only in a beautiful location, but it was PRIVATELY owned and the owners lived there year round! We got a tour of the castle and the wine cellars, and ended our day with a wine tasting in a building next to the castle. The wine was called Chianti (which only comes from Florence), and it was amazing. We tried two different Chiantis, then we tried an after-dinner holy wine with biscotti to dip in it. This wine was very strong, but delicious as well.

Part of the Castle (Castello del Trebbio)

Me, Whit and Marlee at the wine tasting part of the tour

When we got back to the hotel, we all napped for a few hours before going to Gatto again for our final Florence dinner. We went to Gatto at nine, and the owner told us to come back at ten so we could all be seated together. At ten, we waited an hour before we were finally seated and got food around midnight. As you can imagine, we were all starving and grumpy but the great meal made us feel much better… so good in fact that I did not go to sleep Saturday night…

After Gatto, we went to a club called Twice. We skipped to the front of the line (I was probably mistaken for a super star). We danced for so long that by the time we went to the bar to ask for water, the bar tender told us the club was closing. Six of us decided to walk to the Piazza Michelangelo (a court yard overlooking Florence which holds a replica of the David) to watch the sun rise. We went back to the hotel to get snacks and a blanket, and off we went. Three miles later, we were standing in the freezing cold, huddled under the blanket, waiting for a sun that would never come (no sun, just light… Stupid clouds). It was a pretty spectacular view though.

Whit, Miles, Marlee, Jacob, me and Ashvin 

At the Piazza Michelangelo waiting for the sun to rise.

View while watching the "sunrise"

After arriving back at the hotel to a dumbfounded 8 people just waking up, we all showered, changed and made our way to Pisa, Italy to see the leaning tower of Pisa. We missed our first train, got one an hour later, then missed our train back. A stressful and anxious morning to say the least. The leaning tower of Pisa was exactly what I was expecting, but pretty cool to take the classic touristy pictures with it. We paid 8 Euro to reserve a different train, and we eventually made it back to Lugano where I slept for 12 hours.

On Thursday, we have our final presentation in our Consumer Behavior class, then we are done with that class- so strange how quickly these classes go. Italian we have for three more weeks, but our midterm is also on Thursday. On Saturday, we are leaving for our first ten-day. We will be going to Dublin, London and Amsterdam. I am seriously on the trip of a lifetime.

Jan. 20-22

Jan. 20

A great first weekend out of Switzerland! On Friday afternoon, we left the beautiful Lugano at 2:15 heading to Zurich, Switzerland to catch a train from there to Munich, Germany. The train ride to Zurich was pretty painless because the train was basically empty other than us so we got to spread out. The train rides after that were tighter and pretty uncomfortable. In Zurich, we had a one-hour layover so we decided to get dinner in the city. Our hunger took precedent over our cultural side and we chose a Chinese restaurant.

We arrived in Munich around 10:45pm. After checking in at Wambat hostel (MUCH nicer than Balmer’s), we decided to explore the city. Regardless of the fact that no one knew anything about Munich, everyone (about 35 of us on this trip) seemed to have a different opinion about the direction in which we should start walking. We split up into small groups, walked around for a couple hours, and ended up at the bar right next to our hostel.

Jan. 21

Saturday began with an all you can eat breakfast (and coffee!) before our walking tour around Munich. It was below freezing and snowing. But I came prepared with hand-warmers, my giant parka, underamour, hat, gloves, three pairs of wool socks…. And boots that were most assuredly NOT waterproof. So although I did learn a lot about Germany’s history and saw a lot of amazing buildings, my feet were soaking wet and well on their way to frost bite.

What I thought was going to be a warm outfit...

Two things that stood out to me during the tour were the Neues Rathaus (the new town hall) where the beautiful building had a show built right in the middle where figurines danced around twice a day, telling a few different stories to music. This was awesome to watch, and cool to see this beautiful, old building. The second stand out part of our tour was the Hofbrauhaus. This beer hall has existed since 1944, and we learned all about its history- they are famous, too, for their 1-liter beers.

The figurines in the Neues Rathaus

After the tour, four of us (Whitney, me, Kelly and Valerie) went to get a hot lunch and warm up. After lunch came some good old fashion shopping. We explored the shops for a few hours before returning to the hostel to get ready for the night activities.

The beer challenge we signed up for started at six. We went to three bars (including the Hofbrauhaus and the bar we went to Friday night). Although we were kicked out of one bar for being too loud (not sure what they were expecting with 35 college kids at one bar), we had a great night and are continuing to grow closer.

Jan. 22

Sunday started off with a giant cup of Starbuck’s coffee! A very exciting find for me since the only coffee I have found so far is tiny shots of espresso… The Europeans know nothing about sipping and enjoying coffee for an extended amount of time!

Starbucks!

On a sadder note, we visited the Dachau concentration camp on Sunday. I knew very little about this horrific time in history, so I learned a lot. Dachau was one of the first concentration camps and it was the only one to last all 12 years of Nazi rule.

The original entrance to the concentration camp: "work brings freedom"

After Dachau, we went back to Munich and explored the city for a few more hours before we had to catch our train home. We saw a very impressive band (piano, violin, flute and cello), a painter creating an amazing painting, and an all-girl group of street performers dancing for a small crowd. We ate chocolate covered fruit and enjoyed a day without snow.

A very successful, entertaining and fun weekend overall! 

Jan. 13- 15

Jan. 13

Where to begin! I suppose I will start at the beginning and work my way through this crazy day. Friday afternoon we left on the bus for Interlaken. About ten miles outside of Interlaken we got stuck in traffic for an hour because someone got in an accident on the crazy mountain roads of Switzerland. So upon arrival at the hostel (Balmer’s), we had 15 minutes to check in (44 of us), find our room, change into winter clothes, and make it to the train station where we would catch our bus to night sledding. Somehow we managed to make it, and we were on our way to a night of fun….

Our hostel.

When we were dropped off at the bottom of the mountain, a gondola took us to the top. This ride was freezing and kind of scary/cool!  We were so high up and fog was surrounding us. We had one tiny light that constantly was going out, so it was dark too.

At the top of the mountain, we were treated to a great meal of cheese fondue with bread and potatoes. 44 loud Americans in a restaurant was not exactly what the waiters wanted/liked. So after winning the waiters over with our charm and kindness (this didn’t really happen because apparently Germans don’t like Americans no matter what we do), we went to find our sleds…

A young man named Sam attempted to give us instructions, but most of us couldn’t hear him, so we just grabbed our sleds and followed the crowd. The instructions must have gone something like this: helmets and headlamps are advised, do not put more than one person on the sled unless you want to go at warp speed down the Alps, heal in on the right to turn right (because this slope is very curvy), and wear snow pants and other such warm attire.

Whitney and I (and the rest of our crew) clearly missed such instruction because we did not have helmets or headlamps, we got one sled to share, we had no idea how to steer our sled, and Whitney was wearing yoga pants and sneakers (I at least had warm clothes on). What came next was one of the most terrifying experiences of my life.

As we sat in our sled and pushed off onto what looked like a slight decline, we slowly picked up speed until we were around 40mph. We proceeded to bail off the sled because we had no idea where to go (the little lights that were supposed to “guide” you around the course were hardly visible with the intense fog) or how to stop. One wrong turn off the path and we would be sent careening down the face of the Alps, most assuredly to our death. Needless to say, we made it down to the beginning with only a few bumps and bruises. Whitney, having been brave enough to take the front seat in our sled, was one giant snow ball- from her eyelashes to her sneakers, there was not one dry spot on her. It was an experience to say the least.

Jan. 14

Saturday was a much more relaxing day. A few people chose to go paragliding, but I am very afraid of heights, so I chose to watch this adventure and not participate. When everyone was done with that, we had lunch at a little restaurant next to our hostel. I had a burger that tasted like no burger I have had before- definitely not an American burger. After exploring the town and picking up a few souvenirs, we went back to the hostel to get ready for dinner and dancing.

Where the paragliders took off (top of the mountain).

We went to a very cool Irish Pub for dinner. With good food and company, it was a great way to start the evening. After dinner, we went to a small club in our hostel and continued to bond and enjoy being in Interlaken. I actually recognized an Italian song that came on (from the Coyote Ugly bar), so that was pretty cool. Our bus driver happened to be at the bar too, so that was kind of awkward watching him drink the day before he had to drive us back down the crazy roads.

Jan. 15

The drive back took forever because apparently it is custom for bus drivers to take 10-20 minute breaks every hour. The sleep arrangement was pretty uncomfortable at the hostel, so I did not get much sleep this weekend, and I think I may be catching a cold, so I am going to bed early tonight (and no class until 1:30 tomorrow!). Next weekend we go to Munich, Germany! Should be more to do there than extreme sports.

Jan. 12

Jan. 12

Ciao! (Or as David would say, “see-ow”). Class from 9 to 4 is getting hard to handle, and I am definitely looking forward to the weekend! Today, Whitney and I presented for our group about our study design (a class assignment). We basically got torn apart by the teacher because our study was all wrong, so that was embarrassing. The class had our back though- our Lugano group is a pretty awesome collection of people.

After class, a few of us checked out a new grocery store called Manor. The grocery stores here are the closest thing they have to Walmart, Targets, etc. They are around 7 floors with everything we need! We splurged and got Swiss dark chocolate- DELICIOUS!

A group of us decided to tackle “Insanity”- a work out video that is super hard- this evening. We did this outside, on the lawn over-looking Lugano… a pretty spectacular work out!

Tomorrow, we take the bus to Interlaken for our first travel weekend! It’s a three-hour drive, and we will be eating fondue and extreme sledding tomorrow night. So far, my travel backpack is packed to the max… Don’t know what I am going to do for the 10 days. I will blog again on Sunday or Monday! 

View of Lugano from the Montarina

  

Jan. 9,10,11

Jan. 9,10,11

Classes have officially started. The room is hot and stuffy, but we are learning Italian which is very helpful. Ciao! Sono America, sono Whitney. (Hello! I am American. I am Whitney). Pretty good huh?! We are also taking consumer behavior with Bringberg. We have to read one or two chapter a night, and we have quizzes every day… Since reading is not exactly my forte, I am struggling a bit with this, but hopefully it will get better.

Something that I have noticed in Lugano is that everyone has a dog, and dogs are allowed in all the stores in restaurants! I am working on transferring this culture trend to America so stay tuned.

Today (Wednesday), we went on a beautiful run to a local town called Gandria. Our run took us winding around the lake with breathtaking views and picturesque towns. It is finally kicking in how unbelievably lucky we are to be experiencing such amazing things. Not only are we traveling abroad, we are living in one of the most beautiful areas of the WORLD.

Gandria (Jill, Kelly, Nicole, me, Marlee, and Whit)

Gandria

We are provided dinner Mondays through Thursdays, and they have been so good! For breakfast and lunch we are on our own, so we obviously take the cheap route of peanut butter and toast. So dinner allows us to experience some delicious Italian food. Today on our run, however, we splurged and had a great tortellini lunch at a small restaurant. Everything in Gandria is closed except for this one little restaurant. The lifestyle here is so much more relaxed. Many places are randomly closed, people are out enjoying the day and not at work, and meals last three to four hours (more of a social gathering than a time to eat).

The beginning of our hike on Sunday...

... It was a long hike.

Jan. 7-8

Jan. 7

Whitney and I have officially become “the Whitneys.” This has come as no surprise to us, but it is still entertaining.

On Saturday, we had a free day to get groceries, figure out the phone situation, plan some trips, explore and enjoy the night life. This posed a few problems to say the least.

First of all, we realized that the language barrier is more than a little bit difficult. Many people in Lugano do not speak English or if they do it is very broken. The only phrase many of them know is “my friend speak English be back soon.” We soon learned that this was not the case and merely an excuse to stop talking to us. Many people also made fun of our accents, mocking us in a “southern twang.”

These language barriers also lead to our second problem. What phone do I need? Eventually, I just bought a phone for 30 Francs that said “prepay” next to it. As I programmed the phone, I realized that the language throughout the phone was Italian. I still don’t know how to use the phone, so I will keep you updated on that.

We also booked our first trip to Interlaken this coming weekend! The train is pretty expensive (about $150!) because our EuroRail passes are not activated yet. But it should be a pretty amazing trip! And our hostel is pretty cheap for 26 of us (with a club in the hostel!) From sky diving to parasailing to canyon swinging, should be an awesome adventure with lots to choose from!

Saturday night we went to a pizzeria for dinner where we made friends with the owner and split really good pizza and wine between everyone. Coyote Ugly came next…

Our bartender was an attractive woman wearing a very tight cheetah print dress. She spoke great English and was so much fun! From giving us free shots to dancing on the bar, she was very entertaining. Until she told two Swiss guys to throw Whitney and I into the air repeatedly (apparently something they do for fun?). It was a frightening experience that I do not wish to repeat. The music was a mix of Italian and American and we danced the night away!

Jan. 8

On Sunday, January 8, we hiked the Swiss Alps from 10am until 4pm. It was a long and very exhausting trip that not everyone was fit enough for. It was about ten miles of pain and suffering. Three girls had to turn back. But the top of the mountain we climbed was spectacular. We could see for miles and miles (even Italy!). There is not much more to say about the hike other than I do not regret doing it, but it was very challenging (the hardest hike I’ve ever done).

Brinberg did not tell us how far and challenging the hike would be, so none of us brought enough food or water. By the time we got back to Lugano, we were all starving and dehydrated to the max. Four of us (Whitney, Marlee, Ashley and I) stopped at a little restaurant and spilt pasta. Splitting up the bill is another problem we have faced a lot. They do not split the bill here or know what we are saying when we ask, so figuring out who owes what is really hard. But we did get free water and bread- a rare find around here!