Wrap It Up

It's been a month? What? And I'm still blogging? What?! Tonight is my last night in Europe; bitter sweet moment. Everyone left today except Andy and I and it feels kind of weird being the only ones left in Locarno. One thing, it definitely doesn't feel like I've been here for 30 days, and I'm not completely ready to come home, but it'll be nice to be back in my little nook of the Rocky Mountains.
Yesterday was our last official day of class even though all I had was Italian, which I have to say I've learned a lot more than I thought I did, which is cool I suppose.
We had a little going away party at Bar City last night as well. It was a full on buffet with a punch bowl full of sangria and free Hugos! Woo! I still can't for the life of me figure out with the ladies at Bar City love us so much because we're a bunch of obnoxious American kids, but hey, I'll take it because I've had a lot of free drinks and food from there. After, I went for one last stroll along the lake side since I thought it would be my last night in Locarno (turns out I'm still here). This town is beautiful and it's going to be weird not waking up to it every morning.

Bar City! Best Cafe in Switzerland!

Plan for today was get a place to stay in Zurich and then jump on the plane to head back to the states, but everything was booked full so I'm here at the hostel another night in a tiny room with no windows painfully battling the heat and humidity. It's far too hot right now here, and since Europeans don't believe in air conditioning for whatever reason there is no escaping this torturous hell heat; except the grocery store or the lake. Since Andy is still here tonight too we went to Migros (grocery store) and got stuff for a picnic and swam in the lake to cool down. Best idea ever. Had some good Swiss made beer and chocolate and hung out with all the ducks down by the lake.

I apologize for not informing you all sooner of our little friend Donatello here in Locarno, but I always forget to share his stories with you when I get to blogging. Anyway, he's this guy, who we think lives in the piazza, who always wears orange camouflage patterned pants. Sometimes he rides a unicycle, but usually he's just kind of chilling out. I would go into more depth, but the time for the specific stories have passed and there is only really room for a mention of our Swiss friend.
Going on this trip was one of the best decisions I've made, and I've made a lot of really awesome decisions. I was able to travel to Italy, Germany, see Christina, tool around Switzerland, learn physics and Italian and met a bunch of wonderful people along the way. Switzerland is one of my favorite places after this trip; I love it almost as much as I love Canada, and for those of you that know me really well, you know that I really really love Canada. I think I've said this before, but Switzerland is much like America in the sense that it's multiple different cultures clashed together in one country; a political mutt. And as much as I'd hate to say it, the Swiss have much greater national pride than American, or any other country for that matter. There are Swiss flags every block and a Swiss signature on pretty much everything. I very much appreciate this country and its people; not to mention it's absolutely gorgeous as well. After being here only a month, I have a lot of Swiss pride myself, which is weird because I'm not Swiss I'm American. I guess because of the way this country is the culture was really distilled in me during this short time.I'm going to miss hearing the church bells every hour and I'm definitely going to miss being able to order a drink at dinner. That's really going to mess with me, but it will be nice to get free water!
I know I have plenty more stories to tell that would have been too much for this blog, but thank you for reading! I'm so proud of myself, I actually did and I will see you all when I see you I guess!
But before I leave, it is Miss Lindsey's birthday today. Tonight at the lake did a little celebrating in her memory. I love you Linds! Miss you lots and always thinking about you

Love, Kindness, Respect. Pass it On.

Ciao! :)

THTF (Too hot to function)

I don't know where this heat came from, but it is hot and humid. I feel like I jumped in a pool of sweat, it's a fabulous feeling. Thankfully this heat wave is coming at the end of the trip so we don't have to deal with it all month.
Today was the last day of physics :( We all gave our final presentations today so no class tomorrow! Bittersweet. I mean, I feel like I haven't spent much time in class anyway since I've been here, but still. It's pretty much over, which is crazy. I feel like a genius now I learned so much, not just in physics but in Italian and just in general knowledge. Cool stuff.
We had class in out Switzerland Physics Cave today because it is the only place on the planet it seems that you aren't swimming through the hot air. Yuck. The cave is pretty cool; it's like a medieval conference room, which is 2Legit2Quit. Yep.

Switzerland Physics Cave

 Then for dinner tonight we went back to Verscio to get a tradition Swiss meal, which means rabbit? There is absolutely no meat on a rabbit but oooo man the meat is nice and tender, grant it, it could have been just cooked well, but still very good. Some of the MeteoSwiss people there sang songs and played guitar and Dr. James' wife sang for us, and that woman has got some pipes. Woo! Other than that just was a relaxing day. 
Last class of Italian tomorrow, last minute chocolate shopping, and then party at Bar City!

It's a good thing I speak 0 German

I speak no German, which was really helpful when trying to get to and from Germany, so thank god Christina was there otherwise I probably would never make it back to the states and never see any of you ever again. But it's cool, I made it back to Locarno.
Munich is awesome! It kind of felt like Paris, except it was really clean...and the people were really nice. I got in to Munich at around 11pm and since I don't have a phone here I realized once I got off the train it would be near impossible to find Christina. Thankfully I found her, well rather she found me. She gave me a tour of Munich the next day, very professional I must say. We went up this one tower to get an entire view of the city. It was great! Well once you got to the top...there were a lot of stairs, a lot of stairs but hey I guess it was a good work out.

Munich

There is this HUGE garden in Munich called the English Gardens. Its like twice the size of Central Park or something. beautiful, lots of open grassy area with a river running through. The first day there were people on horseback riding around and it was quiet, not a lot of people around. The second day though, it was super hot and there were tons of people hanging out in the park.
Christina works at this Irish pub there and I had Bulmers for the first time and it was SO TASTY! While she was working Friday night I hung out with her Australian friend and his friends at a Hostel. Met a lot of new people, and they all spoke English, because they were either Australian or American. Who knew? That was one thing that made Munich seem like an American city was all the different languages that were being spoken. Cool stuff.
Saturday is was really really hot, I was dying and we went to the Olympic stadium to the Flow Mart (?) which is basically this giant flee market. I got a nice rainbow sweater for really cheap. Score. It was like Munich Day or something yesterday so all over down town all the businesses had shops set up selling things and people were walking around in Lederhosen and there was a ton of live music everywhere. It was like the Art-a-Fair back home, but on some serious steroids. Then we went out that night with some of her friends. Had some drinks went dancing and then hung out and talked till 5 at her apartment. And what really throws me off here is that the sun rises at 4:30 in the morning and doesn't set till about 10.
So I had to leave today, which was sad. I wish I could have stayed longer, but I'll just have to come back out some other time. It was really great to finally get to see her and hang out, even though it was only two days.
Not being able to speak German in Munich was fine because a) I had Christina and b) most people speak English. The second I got on the train no English was to be spoken and I speak 0 German. There was this one stop near the boarder of Germany and Switzerland that I had to get off on and conveniently the stop before it has the same name (which makes complete and logical sense to me) so I get off, realize it's not the right stop and stomp my feet like a child because I knew I wouldn't make my connecting train. There was nobody else in the entire station at this stop except this one old man. He came up to me and tried to help me, but hey guess what, I don't speak German and he didn't speak English or French! Super. But he spoke Italian and I know a little Italian so I was able to communicate my problem. He thought it was no problem and walked me to the correct station, the entire time having a conversation with me. I hardly knew what he was saying and he thought I was hysterical when I was trying to understand everything. By this point I already accepted the fact that I missed my train and was going to have to sleep in the park for the night so I just strolled leisurely along with him to the station, conversing in a broken hand motion/Italian/German/English language. He told me to get on the next train that would take me to Zurich, which didn't help much because I have no smart phone and wouldn't know if there were any trains going down to Bellinzona/Locarno area that night. But whatever. He waited at the train station with me to make sure I got on the right train before he left. Making new friends everyday.
The train to Zurich was PACKED. I gave up looking for a seat and just say in the luggage area between two cars. Another American girl who also happened to be studying abroad in Switzerland came to join my little party. Unlike me, she had a fancy phone which saved my life because we were able to look up connections to Bellinzona from Zurich which ended up matching up with times perfectly.
Ah, the people you meet in the world. Without those two people today I'd probably be sleeping under a tree on the boarder of Switzerland...well maybe not that seems a bit dramatic but you get my point.
After this I've decided to learn German. End. Of. Story.
It's really hot here in Locarno tonight, I don't think I'll be able to sleep! Arg! And it's scary to think I go home this Thursday!! Time flies!!!!!! Weeee.
To end it, Happy Father's Day to the greatest guy around :) Miss you dad!! Hope you had a great day and wish I could have been there to celebrate with you!
O! And I finally found some Milka bars which I'm super stoked about.

That's a big Town Hall

Theatinerkirche

Town Hall

We found Milka!

This is real life!

So um...CERN is a pretty cool place, it's like real life. We left yesterday morning (yesterday as I'm writing this, for reading it was Wednesday morning). That day we got to go down in the tunnel and visit one of the detectors ATLAS. ATLAS is the only detector Americans are allowed to work on because it's the only one America pitched in funding for, so if I become cool someday and get a job at CERN that's what I'll be working on! 

Due to my laziness and how awesome visiting CERN was I don't know if I can write about it and do the experience justice, but I'll try.

First off arriving in Geneva was a HUGE relief as I could understand people around me and read all the signs for the first time in a month. I felt so much less of a lost puppy being able to understand everything (well most of it at least). It was really good for my French speaking and I realized I'm a lot better than I thought. Real life.

Sorry sidetracked myself. CERN. We were only allowed 12 people in the tunnel at a time so the first group that went down were the physics students. 100. Meters underground!!! It's kind of freaky to think about when you're down there, so much Earth above your head. The detector was giant! Think of how big you think it would be then triple that size (or double at the least). I am so glad I got an introduction to particle physics before going because I got to appreciate it so much more because I knew how it worked and what it was doing. It's really cool stuff guys. There were some museums there too that we looked in while the meteorology group went down. There wasn't much there that we hadn't learned in class in the past month but it was still pretty cool. They did have the oldest cyclotron there on display. It is roughly the same diameter as a coffee cup and only cost about $25 USD to make, which I thought was neat. They also had a cosmic ray detector second l look at. 

Geneva is a beautiful city, I am definitely going back some day. That nit we went to an American restaurant with one of Zanolin's friends that works at CERN. Best burger of my life and I also had a glass of hard cider for the first time and Holy Cow! it was scrumptatious. We walked around a little bit last night and then sat on the pier where there is this giant geyser type fountain. I guess it's kind of a l and mark of Geneva since I saw it on a bunch of postcards, but gorgeous gorgeous place. 

This morning we went back to CERN to get a tour from Dr. Zanolin. Everyone went to breakfast while we were waiting for him to arrive and when he got there it was just me and one of the other guys so we got special visitor passes to go into the CERN complex with him so he could drop off some stuff in his friend's office. I felt pretty special not going to lie. The offices weren't as cool as the accelerator. It kind of looked like the halls at MIT, smelled like a meat shop and felt sciencey.....I don't know what that means but that's how it felt. Just like in AC-1 most of the office doors had comics and posters on them. After our Zanolin tour we got to roam around the grounds before we went to see the proton baby making machine. Outside of one of the conference buildings there was a statue of this God who is the creator of the cosmic universe and king of dancers from the Hindu faith. I found inquire fitting at CERN. By this point I was super crunched on time because I had to catch a train this afternoon, but there was no way I was going to miss seeing the proton baby making machine. I can't remember the actual name for it, but it makes protons. It makes protons!!!!! Like how cool is that?! And I got to see it! Which is so much cooler! Our guide for this was the coolest old man ever. He was 80 and still spry and high on physics, I want to be him when I grow up. Anyway he wouldn't let us leave for the train until we say the machine. I want to work on fun stuff like this after grad school. It was great being able to visit this lab I can't put into words how amazing it was. Also learned about Dr. Smith's old boss for when he was discovering particles and stuff. We have really cool professors I realized after learning more about Dr. Smith and spending time with Zanolin. 

My French did come I handy today at the train station. I was a little late getting to the station so I was a little flustered and the billboard for the train I was supposed to get on said so,etching else and I thought I missed the train. The guy I asked only spoke French and I figured it out and fund my train, because I'm a boss like that. So I'm on my way first to St. Gallen and then to Munich for the weekend to visit Christina!!!!!!! Beyond excited.

ATLAS

SPs Represent!

And we're going to Munich awww yeah

Will upload pictures when I get back to Locarno on Sunday.

Now that I've completely traversed Switzerland by train the last thing I want to say is Switzerland is an absolutely beautiful country.

Now that I've found my way to Munich I thought I'd add a little bit. A) Germany is beautiful. B) I don't speak any German c)met some really fun people on the train. 

High Elf?

It was Carolyn's birthday today! Yay! Happy Birthday Carolyn! And we're leaving for Geneva tomorrow!! It's like Christmas Eve! Stoked!
We celebrated Carolyn's birthday today at Bar City with a meal, drinks and a yummy cake. Other than that just worked on my project went to class and packed for the weekend. CERN tomorrow and Thursday and then I'm going to Munich to visit Christina!!!!!!!!!! I might cry...actually I will cry because I'm crying just sitting here thinking about it.
Highlight of my day here it goes:
In physics we were discussing what our different projects are about and it came to my turn, so you know I'm about to explain all my stuff. Dr. Zanolin stops me right before I speak and asks if I've seen Lord of the Rings...HA! Have I seen Lord of the Rings? I got really excited because I thought he was going to make a physics reference to Lord of the Rings, but it was even better. He said that I looked like Galadriel (minus the beautiful silvery locks). I got really flustered and happy because I was so flattered. I guess that being the highlight of my day makes today seem not very exciting if you're not a LOTR fan, but it's the greatest I promise.
I can't believe the trip is almost over, only 9 more days and I'm getting shipped back to the states. Uhg. I do miss my ukulele and my horse though, and my family. And it bugs me because I have a hard time keeping up with hockey and I just checked today for the first time in life a week and a half and I'm really upset the Pens got knocked out. :'( In that case, Go Bruins!
Still have an exciting weekend/week thing ahead and I'm so stoked on life.
Ciao!

Ya...sounds about right

'Merica!

Monday, what's up.
I felt awake and alive today which is weird since I've been running myself into the ground since before finals especially after this weekend. But hello world.
Procrastination. It's cool, so I spent the whole morning trying to bust out some physics project stuff because this evening we had a BBQ for Dr. James' birthday so I couldn't work on it later.
The BBQ was in a little town called Tegna at this secluded little beach. It was bring your own food so we got beef, peppers and a baguette to make kabobs. Felt like camping and it was great!
Since we were at a little beach a few of us jumped in the water and swam...it wasn't cold until you got to the deep end...then it was freezing....We made it out to this rock which means we had to swim back, which was difficult to get motivated to do since the sun was setting and pretty much gone behind the trees at this point. And me, being the idiot that I am left my shorts on and was soaking wet so I walked around all evening in a towel toga. Super classy.
Europeans don't do smores. That was the most shocking part of the whole night. Dr. James' friends had never roasted marshmallows or had smores! Mind. Blown. So we got to share this American wonderfulness with them and it was fabulous.
Other than that, pretty laid back day. Just another day in paradise Sally.

Living the American dream...making smores and stuff

That water was literally moving

I was so relieved when I realized that I had done a post before I left for the weekend because A LOT happened the past few days, but as I don't need to recount our adventures in Lugano this post will be easier and shorter than I thought it was going to be. 
Zurich:
For the first time I've been here I've actually felt like I am in Switzerland. It could have been due to the fact that there was a lot more touristy things around because Zurich is a big city. But still, Locarno and other places in the south feel like Italy. It's really weird being here because each of the cantons speak a different language and have a different culture so it's going from Italy to Germany...which is weird and now I'm confused on what Swiss culture actually is because it's kind of like America in that sense...but with less of an identity. Which sounds awful, but I don't mean it as a bad thing, it's just how it is.
Anyway. Zurich was really pretty. Huge Germanic influence, which makes sense because it's in the German canton, dur. After walking around though it just felt like another big European city, once again, not said negatively. Before dinner we walked along the water front which was the hot spot of the city. There were a bunch of little cafes and street performers and huge parks and lots of people. That night we went bar hoping, but drinking is expensive and we've been traveling 24/7 so every bar we went to I slept while they drank and did that all night. I'm such a killjoy.
Since I was not hungover the next day me and a few other people walked around in the morning before we got on the train to Lucerne (Luzern for the German spelling). We walked around old town Zurich and went into the Grossmünster ("great minster") church which is one of the major churches in Zurich. You can see the towers pretty much wherever you are in the city. I wish we had been there longer because there are a lot of cool things to there, just ran out of time. And then it was off to Luzern!

Zurich

Grossmünster

 O! And Melea there was this peacock dress in one shop which I feel like you would enjoy :)

Luzern:
Luzern was beautiful! Luzern definitely felt like Switzerland, the people there looked Swiss and everything felt Swiss....I can't explain these feelings of Swissness but it was legit. It was real life.
Luzern was a big city, but had class like a small town. Sooooo pretty. We walked around that evening and went to see the Lion Monument that is a sculpture built in a rock that is a commemoration of the Swiss guards that died during the French Revolution. I didn't know anything about it before we got there; figured it would just be some lion statue in a square. No. The lion was built into the side of a rock in a little secluded park. Quite moving.

Lion Monument in Luzern 

The other main attraction of the city is the Chapel Bridge (Kapellbrücke) across the water. It was built in 1333 originally, since been restored I believe and is the oldest wooden covered bridge in Europe and the world's oldest surviving truss bridge. Walking across the bridge there are paintings on the ceiling from the17th century. So I guess I feel pretty special since I've walked across that bridge. And the water under the bridge, it was literally moving, like really.

Chapel Bridge Luzern

St. Leodegar

 For dinner I had this awesome pretzel sandwich, which was really impossible to eat, but it's a really good idea and it's really good tasting. Score. Last stop in Luzern before we went back to Locarno was St. Leodegar church, which didn't look like much on the outside but way cool on the inside...lots of gold. We also made friends with a cute little fluffy Swiss kitty :)

St. Leodegar

 I'm exhausted, so getting back to Locarno and just hanging out was kind of nice. Yes, I broke down and got on facebook and posted photos so you all can look at those. O and dad, there were so many bikes in Luzern, like everywhere and it was a mess!!!! I thought of you. It was like on big bike pit hole. Fix that would ya? ;)

O and all y'all should appreciate the prices of Starbucks at home because here it's super expensive, like 7.80 francs for a ventilation drink....ya sucks.

Bikes ya?

Happy anniversary mom and dad! And happy birthday Mr. Petras :) Hope you all have fabulous days and I miss you and love you all! Peace.
And wow...that was a long post...

Party Hardy

Word of caution, its 2 in the morning here so I don't know how much of this is going to make sense, but I kind of dropped the ball on this blogging thing for the past few days and I'm leaving for the weekend so I'll sacrifice 30 minutes to recap the last few days.
And honestly I don't even remember what day I left off on, Monday I believe?
Anyway, nothing too exciting happened, just regular school days and partying all night long and getting up and doing it all over again. Livin' the dream. It's fun though. I don't know how, but some guys in the group got this local bar (Bar City) to LOVE us, and it's been pretty great because we can go in there an order drinks and get free food. Or go in and spend 8 francs for a meal (appetizers, main course, dessert and snacks) and a drink. Which is a really great deal. The owner and the waitresses that work there are adorable and hysterical. We've set up a party there for our last night here in Locarno as a "going away" type deal. It'll be great!
Yesterday we went to the Madonna del Sasso which is a church at the top of a hill in Locarno. It used to be a pilgrimage goal for some back in the day where they would pray at each step, or each station? I can't remember exactly. But it sits on this hill and the path walking up to it there are the different stations of the cross all built in different materials to more fully represent the meaning of the scene being portrayed. Then when they made their way to the top they placed jewelry on the statue of the Virgin Mary which is in the chapel. I think it was some sort of offering, but I don't quite remember. It was hot, and I was extremely tired by the time we went on this hike to the church, so I wasn't too jazzed about going up there. But it was beautiful! Wow. The view was nice for sure, but nothing I haven't seen already since I've been here, but inside was gorgeous. It wasn't like your typical Notre Dame styled church and the walls and ceiling was pretty busy and kind of overwhelming too look at, but very pretty.
And today all we had was our Italian class so we had a good majority of the day to do whatever. We went to Bar City for Mimosas and lunch and then headed to a town south of Locarno called Lugano. Lugano seems to have three things: lots of expensive shopping, really cool hiking, and the lake. Since we didn't leave early enough to do any hiking and nobody really would have wanted to anyway, the plan was to go and walk around and go to a free club later that night. A few of us rented a boat for an hour and took it out on the lake (which was much better than shopping for things that there is no way in any of my life times I could afford). Amazing. Other than the fact that the boat was so slow that it barely created a wake, definitely worth it. At one point in the lake there was the border of Italy and Switzerland (which we weren't allowed to cross). Before we went to the club we went searching for a bar with wifi (wifi is the key when searching for a bar for all those cool kids with their smart phones and what not). And we found one called Fashion Cafe  where once again the people there adored us just like at Bar City. They gave us free snacks and then made an extra vodka and red bull drink that we had to play a game in order for one of us to win it. Then they also gave us free tequila shots and took one with us. The guys also brought their own Red Bull vodka which they let us drink there. And I made a Red Bull can tower which is probably the greatest architectural feat of the entire trip so far. The club was a bust, music didn't start till midnight which was when the last train was leaving back to Locarno. So now we're here and I should really get some sleep since I'm getting up in 5 hours. Headed off to Zurich and Lucerne for the weekend!
O and I guess it was my sister's last day of school today. Congrats little Sofia :) made it through freshman year! Love you missy <3

Red Bull Magic Tower

Hello Italy

Cat in the Hat adventure time

It's Just Another Manic Monday

I like Sundays. Sundays so far have been fun days. Yesterday morning we laid in bed all morning snap chatting (which is super fun and I'm so glad the Ipad lets me have it).
We also went down to the "beach" to go swimming because it was hot so obviously it'd be a good idea to jump and swim in the lake...and that wasn't sarcasm, because it was a great idea. Not going to lie though, it was pretty chilly, but completely worth it. Ice cold Alp water swimming day? Success. Then for lunch/dinner we all got calzones, which were huge, and amazing. But ya other than that Sunday was pretty Sundayish.
I hate Mondays. Italian class is starting to not be my favorite thing to do at 8 in the morning for two hours. My attention span does not have that good of stamina and that last 30 minutes of class is just killer. Which also sucks because by the time I get to physics in the afternoon I am done. Its not that I am actually tired, my concentration is exhausted and my eyes are tired, but that's it. I guess that kind of sounds like I'm actually tired, but I'm not.
This afternoon after language lab I went and hiked the mountain to the top of town. The city/cities around the lake were awesome at night. It's not just one big string of lights from the connecting towns but little patches of towns and it's so cute! Cute and pretty. And all the buildings have different colored lights on them which just makes it that much better. But walking through the resident houses this afternoon was cool. They all have a lot of money and living here in Locarno is kind of a good deal, a little jealous of them, un poco.
I apologize that nothing super exciting happens during the week so I sound like a crazy rambling nanny, but hey I'm still blogging almost everyday! Like a champion.
K, well it's way past bedtime which is at 10 by the way so I'll stop word vomiting.
Two more things though:
Super jealous of anyone who is going to Alice Cooper and Marilyn Mansn tonight at Red Rocks, rock for me please.
And also Happy Birthday Greg! Happy 21st birthday so it's even cooler, and you're going to be at Red Rocks tonight so I would wish you to have a great day, but I know it's going to be fabulous so I don't need to be pleading to whoever to give you a good time ;) Miss you!

Night all.

Field Trip!

Killin' it. Yesterday started our planned/field trip/back to middle school weekend. Which is fine, because the places we went were pretty cool and I probably wouldn't have found them if I was just tooling around by myself.

Yesterday we went to this little town called Foroglio tucked back into the Alps. It was beautiful. This tiny (tiny as in it was the size of Safeway or smaller) little stone village sat at the base of this waterfall coming down from the Alps. There were a lot of little waterfalls just kind of seeping through the mountains. Pretty cool. From the village we hiked up to the top of the waterfall to another village that nobody really lives anymore and hiked back behind that. There were Swiss cows, they were chill. It was beautiful and looking at the snow at the top of the mountains just made me want to go skiing the whole time. And the water! The water was like super blue, like bluer than a chlorine pool. Like a mystical forest river stream thing? Ya. We were going to go swimming in it but on the way back down it got a little chilly and decided that would be a bad idea. It was amazing, I would live there forever, just out alone in the Alps with some cows for company.

 

 

 

 

 

In front of the waterfall, like a boss

Another smaller town farther back in the mountains

 

 

And today we went to the RADAR station on Mt. Lema. Which was pretty cool, I mean I'm not a weather geek like most of them so I wasn't as jazzed about it, but it was interesting. But the view from the top was AMAZING! You could see all the lakes and all the little towns scattered around this region. And the border of Italy and Switzerland was up there so we could be in two countries at once, which is legit. Two legit to quit. Yep. We almost missed our Gondola on the way down, which would have sucked because we would have just been leaving the mountain and it takes a while to get back and we would have missed the big concert party in the piazza tonight. Some famous Italian singer guy, can't remember his name. And that's that.
O! and for you people I figured out how to use my high tech ipad a little more and I can get snapchat on it! My name is koepkem if you want to snap me. That'd be cool :)

 

 

 

 

At the top of Mt. Lema

 

 

 

'Cause I'm having a good time, having a good time

Here's a picture of Dimitri for you mom :)

I feel..I feel, I don't know exactly what word I'm looking for...unappreciative? There's this castle literally like 30 seconds away from our hotel and yesterday after class we went to tour it and it was cool I guess since it's this super old castle (or what's left of it) but it was a letdown as medieval castles. Which is awful, because it's a castle they built a long time ago, and I would never be able to build something so impressive that lasts so long, but...but ya it was pathetic. That's what I did yesterday, big moment. O and I got my pants back and at the super market they had my cereal on sale! I got two boxes for really cheap! I have no idea what I'm going to do when I get back to the states and can't get it anymore.
It's been pretty rainy and not hot, which is the complete opposite of what I thought it was going to be so not having my pants was a problem, but the maids gave them back which is nice. I feel like I'm repeating myself. I don't have too much to say that y'all would be interested in. Just everyday life. Get up, free breakfast, Italian class, wonder Locarno for and hour, eat food, go to physics and then fall asleep. It's really weird all I want to do is take naps here and I'm really good at it. Given the chance I fall asleep in an instant, it's pretty great. Thankfully it's been raining for the past few days so I don't feel bad staying in and napping.
Every Thursday they have a little farmers market thing in the piazza and it has some cute stuff. But the point of me telling you this is actually specifically for one person because one of the vendors was playing Don't Stop Me Now and you probably won't read this haha but I thought of you Danny so ya. That is all.
I think I might take a nap now before dinner to recharge and party all night before we go hiking tomorrow.
O and I heard something about it snowing back home in GC? Ha! That sounds about right :)

Sssssocolate!

Guess who finally got to go to the chocolate shop today? This kid. Shocking right? It really should have been the first place I went the second I got off the train but hey whatever. Ariana, they had the giant-est Toblerone I have ever seen! But what made me sad is that they didn't have the snow capped mountain Toblerone, like who do they think they are?! Gah...Swiss...But ya, that was the highlight of the day.
After class we went to this super cute town called Verscio, this tiny little foresty town in the Alps, to see The Clown Dimitri perform. He. was. adorable. It was neat to experience that little piece of culture outside of the tourist cliches for the night. Clowns are cool; I had never been to an actual "clown performance" before and I don't understand why a clown-phobia developed in society. They are just silly little guys doing silly little things.
The maids have been keeping our laundry hostage for the past few days and supposedly they are being released tomorrow, which I'm pretty excited for because I want my pants back.
Chocolate, clowns, school...yep, that's about it. Bye.

Toblerone heaven.

Memorial Day

And I'm proud to be an American!
I don't have much to say today, sorry. Physics is pretty cool, that's all I really have to report...and it was hot.
Oh, and I looked up some cool places to go hiking near and around Locarno so I'm super stoked about some of those trails to go check out one of these weekends. 
I had some interesting gelato...actually I chose three flavors that probably shouldn't have gone together. Tiramisu, coffee, and some forest berry stuff. I can't say I pride myself in the decision of mixing those flavors, but it wasn't entirely bad I suppose.
Honestly I am only posting something tonight because it's Memorial Day and um ya, not such a big deal here in Europe. So this is me celebrating with my friends and family back home and honoring those who have fought and died for our country. Thank you!
Ciao for now.
;)

Killer Kitten Sunday

Dear Mom,
I actually slept in this morning for once in my life! Be so proud, I even took it to an extreme and didn't get our of bed till one in the afternoon! Aren't you happy?!
Ya, so last night there was this music festival in town. It was kind of like the la Fête de la musique that I went to when I was in Nîmes a few years ago where there are a bunch of stages all over town playing music. The event wasn't as big as the one in Nîmes; there were a fewer stages and more vending tables set up around town. A local Locarno T-shirt company had a table set up at one of the stages and their logo is this really awesome elephant! Taylor (also being an elephant lover) and I got matching T-shirts with these awesome elephants on them that were made here in Locarno. I guess it's kind of cool ;)
Now, as to the reason we got at of bed at 1 in the afternoon. This festival went on till like 3 in the morning so we were out walking around and listening to bands, till 3 in the morning, so after traveling back from Milan and partying all night a good sleep was in order.
I love all the live music, even if it was mainly all American music. It was funny because the performers were all saying things in Italian that we couldn't understand but the second they started singing we knew that more than half the crowd had no idea what they were saying, which made us feel a little special I suppose.
Today was nice and HOT. We went down to the lake this afternoon and hung out in the sunshine and on the grass for a bit. Nice and relaxing, and then I took another nap, not like I needed any more sleep. But I would like to share the little nightmare I had during this nap. It was like a kitten slasher movie. Anyway, Sofia (my little sister for those of you that don't know) found this tiny little white kitten outside our house and brought it inside. It was adorable, but for some reason this kitten had it out for me, and not like scratching and hissing out to get me type deal, it was like I want to rip you apart. And it tried, kind of like the killer rabbit in Monty Python and the Holy Grail. Freaky. In this dream I worked at this restaurant so I took my little group of hit men to help me come kill this kitten because it's completely logical that a tiny white kitten that wants to kill me would be waiting for me at a restaurant. I regret to inform you that I woke up before the end of the dream so I do not know if I escaped the wrath of this evil kitten. Something about my sister and crazy cats...*cough cough* Zena. I googled some dream meanings and pieced some information and there are a few possibilities of things my subconscious could be telling me:
1. I am going through drastic changes in life and ready for a new beginning and my old self is trying to get rid of the past.
2. I feel that my innocence is gone and I don't want to accept the fact that life is changing.
3. I need to be careful because in the future some tiny white kitten will try to kill me, better watch my back.
Sometimes I feel like my brain is on drugs.
While we were walking along the lake today I was missing my ukulele a lot. I really just wanted to sit and play it by the water in the sunshine for a few hours :'( going through ukulele withdraws, it's happening, but I think I'll survive so don't worry.
Well cool, now that you've read this blog hoping to read about adventures in Switzerland and instead read about the weird and twisted ways my brain attempts relaying messages to me I shall leave you and continue listening to Dave Matthews because I love him.
Goodbye beautiful people.
O and how 'bout them Bruins eh? ;)

The Boot

Hey. Just got back from Milan a little bit ago. It's kind of cool  in Europe you can just hop on a train and two hours later you are in a different country; and for pretty cheap too. So we made it to Milan yesterday (Friday morning) and I felt like I was back in Paris, save the fact that everyone was speaking Italian rather than French and Milan was much cleaner too.
Unfortunately the cheapest hotel was rather far from the center of the city and we had less than 48 hours to spend there, so there was a lot of running around...in the rain. We went and saw del Duomo di Milano which was right in the center of the Piazza del Duomo which is basically a giant shopping strip of high end fashion and brands such as Prada, Louis Vuitton and all those fancy shenanigans. And for those of you that went I went to France with you didn't have to wait in line to go into the Louis Vuitton store! I suppose the French are a little more uptight than the Italians; although the Milanians (?) and Parisians do have similar attitudes, probably a big city thing (the French are definitely a little harder to please though). 
The church was absolutely beautiful. Mom, you would have loved it, but maybe you've been there already, I don't know...in an case, it was cool and I took pictures for you. The architecture of the cities in Europe still amazes me. Like, how did they build such massive structures out of stone back then?! And everything is so perfect and precise. I mean this church was just massive, and maybe I'm not remembering St. Joseph's (Montreal), Notre Dame and Sacre Coeur as well and my comparison was distorted, but del Duomo di Milano was huge! Back then they probably had a better work ethic and more patience...and more time to put into building giant cathedrals because they didn't need to check their facebook or update their blog so they could build amazing things like that that last for centuries X) Way cool stuff people, way cool.
Another thing Mom and Dad might not want to read...not that it's bad but I'm sure you guys don't want to know that we got to enjoy Milan at 2 in the morning. I promise that I'm perfectly safe mom and you shouldn't worry because I ski raced, I kind of play hockey, and I'm not afraid to take on a 1 ton animal hurtling my way in attempts to break out into the pasture...so no worries, right mom? Anyway, since the metro closed at 1am, we pretty much walked the entire way to the square from our hotel which was quite a few miles. It was probably the best time to go out though because there weren't pigeons everywhere and we got to talk to some people and get a feel of what the night life in Milan is like. Met a nice couple and a group of ladies and the city was beautiful at night. We walked around a little bit this morning before we caught the train back to Locarno to make it to the festival that's happening tonight, which I am enjoying a bit of right now as there is live music playing in the piazza right off our balcony. Here it is sunny and not rainy. I would also like to congratulate my hair for behaving theses past to days in the humidity and the rain; it didn't get to wild ;') so proud! 
Milan was awesome, I wish we had more time to further explore, but I'll save that for a later date. Save most of Italy for a later date because I am going back, get more in touch with my people! Woooo
I think I've written enough for now, I want to get out and enjoy the music and free food that's happening. 
But before I go, my beautiful roommate is headed to Jordan today so I want to wish her safe travels and if you're interested she's also doing a blog so feel free to check it out:

 http://hellofromamman.blogspot

And also I want to congratulate the Pens!!!! Following hockey while I'm here is super hard, but ya... Yay Penguins! :) 

All of us ladies (minus one :/) in front of del Duomo di Milano

Knights of the round Table....I wish

So, this blogging thing is a lot more work than I thought, and it's really not that much work at all, I'm just that lazy. In any case I probably won't write much tonight/this morning since it is already Friday where I am.
Today we had our last day of classes for the week and then took the train to Bellinzona to tour some old medieval castles. SUPER COOL. I would have loved to be a knight during those times; and of course I say that now but we all know I would hate life if I was. Anyway, Bellinzona was such an adorable old town, the castles were legit. Why don't I live in a stone castle with a moat and drawbridge? Good question, but I guess it can always be a life goal.
I apologize if this lacks good grammar or interesting-ness because I am super tired. We ended up staying the evening in Bellinzona and had dinner there. For those of you that know Dr. Zanolin, his wife and newest baby Luca came along and have been traveling with us and Luca is ADORABLE! Definitely one of the coolest kids on the trip for sure ;)
There was also a nice little market in the piazza right outside of our hotel today. It was pretty much the same as the Art-a-fair (for you Grand County people) except there were more baked goods and fresh foods. O, and Melea there were so many beautiful sun dresses I wanted them all! I did get a 150 year old French book which is pretty cool I guess.
Tomorrow we are all headed to Milan for two days. Stoked. On. Life! And I'm probably forgetting something that happened today, but I'm loopy sleepy so I'll leave with a picture from Bellinzona.

O! I am forgetting something! Something that I forgot about yesterday! It is was my favorite guy's birthday yesterday and I miss him so much! Happy belated birthday Tigger! I miss you Mr. T!

 

O gorsh isn't he just the handsomest? ;) 

The Cat in the Hat is back

Look at me, day two and still blogging. So professional.
Today was the first day of classes; which were fabulous. For those of you that don't know I am taking an Italian course and a Special Relativity/Particle Physics course.  When we walked into the Italian course this morning our instructor just started spouting off in Italian....I mean, for us she was spilling foreign language-ness, but in reality it was just slow elementary level Italian, but I'd rather believe the first scenario. Why? Because here I am, only being around Italian growing up and never actually studying I understood most of what she was saying! Pretty cool eh?! During the class though I was speaking some sort of weird Fritalian because my brain was trying so hard to let French logic spill over all the Italian. Grant it the languages are decently similar, but different enough to where I was just sounding like some confused child with ADD. I am SO excited for the physics course. We just did an overview lecture today and IT'S GOING TO BE SO GREAT! I feel like I'm going to have some pseudo Einstein way of thinking when I get back....which really doesn't make any sense, but it's the truth.
I went for a little walk about today while everyone (save the other 4 kids taking the physics course) were in their meteorology class. Found a grocery store, cute little forested park, some sort of ancient cemetery and a lot of apartments. I ended up parking at the lake for a little bit while they finished class to take in the scenery and I must say I was very disappointed in myself. I felt like I was at home sitting on the dock in Grand Lake, not even exaggerating one bit. Growing up in Grand County I feel like my sensitivity to appreciate such serene landscapes is so calloused. I recognize the beauty of it, but eh just another mountain. And this is the moment that I slap myself in the face because I'm in Switzerland basking in the shadow of the Alps, c'mon now.  Still extremely beautiful town and unique in placement. Here's a picture.

 Since my mom got me an adorable collapsible cooler I went to the grocery store and got some goodies for lunch so I don't have to pay a bunch of money to eat out for lunch and dinner; and I found gold. Ever since I took the trip to France sophomore year I have yearned for the palatable cereal my French family gave me every morning: Tresor. Years have gone by, YEARS PEOPLE, that I have not been blessed with the fruit of this cereal box that births a babe of the happiest soul alive, and it was only 3 francs....I am in heaven.

Dear Mom and Dad: If  you are reading this, please skip this following section.
Tonight for dinner we ate at this cute little restaurant with god awful pink table cloths and napkins that match the walls of the hostel we are staying at. We ate fresh gnocchi and lasagna and all shared a bottle of wine, because we are in Switzerland and it's legal here. After dinner we went to a bar, because you know, we can because it's legal and I bought my first beer! So proud of myself :') Pipe down mom since I know you are reading this, no hard liquor, just one beer, that I bought myself, at a bar, because I could.

Successful second day I'd say, and for those of you inquiring about the title of this post, the following picture should explain. For those of you that don't know about my cat, he goes on all my adventures with me and yes, he is having a fabulous time as well.



Buonanotte from The Cat and I :)

Arrived.

Well, I've arrived and look at me being a good blogger and blogging like I said I would. I suppose how this goes is I recount my adventures that I've had thus far and toss in a few pictures here and there, so here it goes:
I left wonderful Colorado yesterday morning to new fallen snow (what a shock there). I thought I could live with that as I believed the weather in Locarno (place in Switzerland I am studying) would be warmer. Instead I was welcomed to humid air that was impossible to breath in Zurich to pouring rain here in Locarno.
Can't say that that's bad because it's absolutely beautiful here and I am so happy now that I am actually here considering my awesome luck with comfortable airplane rides, and yes that was sarcasm for those of you less quick to pick up on the cue.
Anyway, on my flight from Denver to Washington Dulles International I was so fortunate to be in the middle of a rather large red neck who slept and snored the whole way and a petite snooty rich lady who slept and snored the whole way. Time. Of. My. Life. Fortunately for the next flight I had two whole seats to myself next to the window. Sweet victory! I could sleep and spend this 8 hour flight in comfort. I guess my celebrating as we are taxiing out on the runway seconds before we speed off into flight was a bit premature of me (always jumping the gun over here) and some guy who looked like Finding Nemo with his classy orange polo plops down next to me. I guess people are still boarding the plane when you're out on the runway, who knew?
Despite the fact that my dreams of a comfortable flight were crushed dinner was absolutely fabulous (not the food, the view). I felt like I was in that first scene of the Lion King, but in reverse, and with a feminine touch. The sun was pink, a brilliant bright pink with orange rays flaking off to each side. The clouds looked like cottage cheese, a shadowy blue cottage cheese. Nice dinner, fabulous dinner.
A few of us were supposed to meet one of the professors in Washington Dulles who was going to show us to the train and get us to Locarno and what now but he missed the flight! Lucky for us, none of us know German which means it was super easy for us to figure out how to get where we needed to get. We were perfect examples of the idiot Americans today, so proud of us.
We got super lost. None of us knew where anything was. It took us a few times to figure out which train we were supposed to be on, but after getting on and off some trains we figured it out and were on our way to Locarno!
Made some friends on the train, because you know how much Europeans love crazy college American kids, pretty much their favorite people on the planet. The two and a half hour train ride was absolutely gorgeous! It is so green here! The train route went through all these quaint little mountain towns. Most of the farms were built into the hillside and made of stone with little donkey's hanging their asses out of the garage. I felt like I was in Ireland because of how green and lush it is here and I feel like stepped back in time, but I suppose you feel like that in most parts of Europe, the going back in time part.
Since we are not idiot Americans, we found our way to Locarno, but since we are crazy college kids we read the map backwards when we got to Locarno and were wandering around on the cobblestone and the streets like deer in headlights. We did find it, because we are indeed brilliant.
Tooled around town once we checked into the hotel and had lunch. Pretty nice git-up they got going over here, I'm stoked for this trip! Here is a picture from our little room off the balcony looking down on the piazza, little rainy but still awesome!