And Before I Knew It, Exchange Was Over

I landed back in Detroit last Tuesday evening, after almost 24 hours of travel. It is incredible to believe that almost a year ago, I received my letter from the International Business department saying that I would be spending my spring semester at the University of St Gallen. And now that semester is over. After all the planning, all the packing, I went to Switzerland, traveled Europe, and am now home. 

Before going to Switzerland back in February, I had never been out of the United States. Not even to Canada, which is just across the Detroit River from me. The US and American culture was all I really knew. So imagine just how bizarre it was to me when I could pick out who was American and who was European on my flight to Chicago just by how they were dressed and how they behaved. 

During my four months, I visited a total of 8 countries and 12 cities. I met people from all over the world, from my roommate from Vancouver to a guy from South Korea who was traveling by himself throughout Europe for six months. It was difficult saying good bye to all my friends, knowing that for some, I don't know when I'll see them again. Everyone who lived in my building really became a family, all of us thrown together in an unfamiliar country, and it was hard knowing that, after living together for four months, we'll probably never all be together again. 

But enough of the sappiness; I kept it together saying my goodbyes in St Gallen and I am going to keep it together now as well. So I'm going to address a few of the questions I've been getting since I got home.

What did you like most about Switzerland?

Definitely the Swiss efficiency. I could immediately tell once I landed in the Chicago airport that I certainly wasn't in Switzerland anymore just by the lack of efficiency I saw. For example, in Switzerland, it is very unusual for public transportation to be late. A lot of things are automated as well. When I flew out of Zurich last Tuesday, I checked in at the airport at a kiosk. This kiosk printed my boarding tickets as well as the tag for my checked bag. I selected my seats for all my flights here too. I then went up to the counter and just gave them my bag. This was an extremely quick process, much faster than checking in at any other airport I've been to. In Chicago, I had to wait for the train between terminals. Not only did I have to wait more than 5 minutes for it, but there also was not screen saying when the next train was coming.

What did you like least about Switzerland?

The fact that everything closed at 7pm on Mondays-Fridays. And at 5pm on Saturdays. And nothing was open on Sundays. I'm used to running errands (and by running errands, I mean going to the grocery store) on Sundays. Since most of my classes ended after the grocery store had already closed, I had to make sure I got there in the morning if I wanted food to eat the next day.

What was your favorite place you went?

This is a hard question to answer. Everywhere I traveled was cool for a different reason. Munich was unlike anything I could have imagined. London reminded me of the US. It was surreal seeing the Eiffel Tower in Paris. I could talk to everyone in Madrid because of my Spanish minor. I ate my way through Rome, and Easter at the Vatican was a once in a lifetime experience. However, I think my favorite place was Lugano, Switzerland. Lugano is a small town in Switzerland right by the Italian border. It's like being in Italy (the food was, again, delicious) while still being in Switzerland and having the Swiss efficiency. Part of the reason why it was my favorite place could have been due to the fact that it had been raining and cold in St Gallen for about ten days before we went to Lugano, and it was 72 and sunny in Lugano. 

What do you wish you had known before you went?

It seems like everywhere else in the world, other than the United States, puts chips in their credit cards. My bank (which I had issues with anyway while I was abroad) conveniently forgot to mention this fact. I was unable to use my credit/debit cards in quite a few places because I didn't have a chip in my card. I wasn't planning on using my cards a lot, since I got an international charge on every purchase, and it was more common to pay in cash there anyway, but it would have been nice to have the option to use my cards at places other than the ATM. 

I truly believe that the University of St Gallen is USC's best partner school, simply due to its rankings. Here is a link to the rankings listed on the university website: HSG Rankings. According to a study conducted by the New York Times, HSG is ranked #18 among schools in 20 countries based on the employability of graduates (New York Times Study). And if these rankings don't make you want to spend an exchange semester at HSG, maybe these pictures of Switzerland will: Switzerland Pictures. I will definitely miss seeing this view everyday from school! 

Accomplishing Big Things Over Here

Ok I'm only being kind of sarcastic. But I think my biggest accomplishment while being here is being able to convince the locals that I speak Swiss-German. And by the locals, I mean the cashiers at stores or in the school cafeteria. Fake it 'til you make it, right?

I went to Migros (the local Swiss grocery store) on Thursday to pick up a few things with Sim. The cashiers always ask the same thing, so it's gotten pretty easy to pretend to understand what they're saying. (On the other hand, I had to get garbage bags last week, which are behind the register, meaning I had to go back to English and try to get the cashier to understand me.) Here's my typical conversation with a cashier:

Cashier: Grüezi (hello)

Me: Grüezi (hello)

Cashier: (finishes scanning my items) Cumulus? (this is some sort of rewards program)

Me: Nein (no)

Cashier: (says the total in Swiss German which I totally don't understand so I just read the number off the screen next to her)

Me: (hand over the money and quickly do the math in my head while she counts out my change-again, in Swiss German) Danke!

Cashier: Tschüss! (bye)

Me: Tschüss! (bye)

Look at me go! If I'm at a store, they'll also ask me if I need a bag. Which I couldn't tell you how to say. I typically respond "nein" (no) whenever anyone asks me something. Which could be bad, but it's always worked out. 

Today, I went to City Hall to deregister as a resident of St Gallen (so sad). Typically in these sorts of instances (also when I buy train tickets at the train station), I'll say hello in Swiss-German and then automatically go to English, since they all understand it there (not so much in the grocery store or shops). So I go to City Hall, say grüezi to the woman helping me, and pass her my form to deregister, saying "I have this...?" Apparently she doesn't hear my mumbled English because she takes my form, looks up my name in the system, and says my local address to me in Swiss-German (to confirm that she found the right Kristi Sutherland in the system). Luckily I understood her saying my street name (Ruhsitzstrasse-try saying that five times fast), and have picked up enough numbers to realize she said 22 (our house number) as well. So I respond "ja," she stamps the form, and passes it back to me with a bright "alvederzein!" To which I say "alvederzein" right back and continue on my way, with her none the wiser that I understand hardly any German. 

In other adventures, Marina, Giovanna, Sim, and I have been going to Pilates classes at the school gym since they're free to students. The classes are in German though so that's fun...this is how I really started learning my numbers. As you're holding a stretch, sweating, praying it to be over quickly, you quickly learn to realize when the instructor is counting down "five...four...three...two...one..."

My friend Salim, who is from New Zealand, actually speaks Swiss-German. We joke that the only reason we're friends with him is so he can be our translator. I told him at the beginning of the semester that I tried learning a little Swiss-German before coming to St Gallen. He seems to think I understand more than I actually do (not quite sure why). A bunch of us were walking around town Wednesday when Salim made a comment about how I could speak a bit of Swiss-German. So of course I whip out one of the few phrases I know: "A bit, but I don't understand Swiss-German well." It was pretty funny to watch some of my other friends' jaws drop as they heard me easily say the phrase. 

Time to Get Down to Business

Finals are coming. Thankfully, I only have three finals, all three of which count for 100% of my grade in my classes. So lately I've been studying. A lot.

Last Saturday, after our trip to Prague didn't happen, Marina, Giovanna, Sim, and I decided to go to Lugano for the day. Lugano is a small town in the Italian part of Switzerland about fours hours away from St Gallen by train. I had actually gone through Lugano on my way to Rome a few weeks ago. 

Lugano is by far my favorite place in Switzerland. Part of that could be due to the fact that it had been raining for over a week in St Gallen, and it was 72 and sunny in Lugano. It is very obvious that Lugano is Italian-the architecture, the food, the people, all seem very Italian.  Like in Geneva, the #1 spot in Lugano on TripAdvisor is the lake. Which was gorgeous. 

You could rent out paddle boats to take out on the lake. We figured that with our luck, we'd end up in the lake, so we didn't rent any, but tons of people did. There were also a lot of people out sailing. From what I could tell, the majority of the boats were sunfish, which I can easily sail. So I was very jealous of everyone out on the water. 

We found an Italian restaurant for lunch, and walked through the park along the lake eating gelato. There was a small beach, filled with people sunbathing. We sat with our feet in the sand for almost an hour, just soaking up the sun we all had missed in St Gallen. 

Like I said, Lugano is easily my favorite place in Switzerland. It might even be my favorite place in Europe. It was just so pretty, none of us could get over the views. 

On Sunday, we went to an FC St Gallen game. FC St Gallen isn't very good. From what I've heard, none of the Swiss teams are very good. We played FC Basel, the best team in Switzerland. And lost 3-0. The game was definitely an experience. We were in the standing area, behind one of the goals, where all the really intense fans are. There were two guys leading cheers and chants for the crowd (well, our section), and I certainly learned a few new curse words in German.

At one point during the second half, about a dozen flares went off in our section. They're not allowed in the stadium, so the people with the flares all had masks on. The picture I got of the flares looks like I'm at a riot. The game was definitely crazier than any American football game I've gone to. 

I've spent the past week at the university studying. And I plan to spend this upcoming weekend studying too. It's crazy how fast this semester has flown by. I'm looking forward to being done with finals, but I'm not looking forward to leaving some great friends. 

Why Not to Book with Eurolines: A Case Study

A few weeks ago, two of my friends attempted to go to Prague. I say attempted because they never got to Prague. They booked an overnight bus from St Gallen to Prague, with a return on the overnight bus the following night through the company Eurolines. The bus is supposed to depart from St Gallen at 11pm. My friends waited until midnight before giving up on it. They emailed the company the following day saying the bus never showed up. Apparently it did show up--at 12:30am. They were able to get a refund though, and since they hadn't booked a hostel, they weren't out anything other than the experience. 

More recently, Giovanna, Sim, and I decided we wanted to go to Prague the first weekend in May. We looked into a variety of companies that have overnight buses, since that was our cheapest option. Unfortunately, the only company with available seats on their buses on dates that worked for us was Eurolines. So we booked the tickets, booked our hostel, packed, and met up at 10:45pm, ready to catch our bus to Prague.

And we waited. And waited. And waited. We knew from our friends' experience that the bus was probably late. It finally showed up at approximately 12:15am. We were so excited that, after waiting an hour and a half, the bus had finally come. The driver gets out, we pull out our tickets, and the driver gives us the bad news: there are no seats on the bus. Seriously?! We ask him how this could happen when we booked tickets for that bus. He got on the phone with his boss, said something to her, and handed the phone over to Giovanna, who quickly passed it off to me. The woman on the phone just kept repeating that she was sorry the bus was full, but if we called in the morning they could book us on another bus to Prague. I told her that was not an option for us, as we had a hostel booked for the following night. Due to the quickly approaching end of the semester, there are simply no other dates when we can go to Prague either. Unfortunately, she did not speak enough English for us to truly have a conversation, and apparently nobody else in the office spoke English (I asked). Since Eurolines screwed up our trip, I informed her that not only would they be refunding us the price of our bus tickets, but they would also be refunding us the price of the hostel in Prague. I eventually got off the phone with her, and the bus continued on without us.

That night, we emailed Eurolines to demand our refund. Fortunately, they will be refunding us everything; the bus tickets and the hostel. Apparently there were passengers on the bus who did not have a ticket. Which is what I simply do not understand. There is one door to get on and off the bus, and everyone has to go past the driver, who should be checking tickets. So there is no possible way that anyone should be on the bus if they do not have a ticket. It is a very simple concept. 

So I am writing this from St Gallen and not Prague, unfortunately. I have some additional time now to study for my upcoming finals, work on a paper, and go to the gym, but it was still extremely disappointing unpacking my backpack this morning in Switzerland and not in Prague.

Geneva

I couldn't go to Switzerland and not go to Geneva. So I convinced Kelsey to go with me for a day. It's a four hour train ride (one way), but we decided to deal with the 8 hours on the train for a wonderful 8 hours in beautiful Geneva.

Our train left at 6:45am. We picked a train that went straight there, meaning we did not have to change in Zurich, Basel, Bern, etc. The plan was to sleep on the train, but we ended up chatting the whole way there. We pulled into Geneva at about 10:45am and immediately set out to find the United Nations Palace of Nations.

We toured the UN at noon. Instead of finding a map and taking the most direct route there, we decided to stroll in the general direction of the Palace of Nations by way of the lake. Lake Geneva is the number one attraction for Geneva on TripAdvisor and I now understand and 100% agree with this ranking. Although it was cloudy when we first got to Geneva, the clouds eventually broke up, leaving us with a gorgeous, sunny day.

The UN was very cool. The tour was only about an hour, so very quick. But for this history nerd, who knew exactly when the UN was founded when asked by the tour guide (1945 in case anyone was wondering), it was amazing. We toured both the new building, built in the 1970s, and the original Palace of Nations, built in the 1930s. Both Kelsey and I were surprised at how modern and new the Palace of Nations looked. We realized that although the 1930s is relatively old from an American perspective, from a European perspective it is in fact quite new. 

The Human Rights Conference Room set up for a conference beginning Monday! We were one of the last tour groups able to see it, since it will be closed during the conference.

The League of Nations symbol is on all the doors in the Palace of Nations. Say hi to my reflection in the glass door!

After the UN, we went to an Ethiopian/Indian restaurant for lunch. I was able to have some delicious Indian food, something I've been missing from the US. 

After lunch, we just wandered throughout the city with no real plan. It was very nice, especially since the weather was so beautiful. We walked into a few churches, some stores, and sat by the lake. If I lived in Geneva, I would be at the lake all the time. It was absolutely breathtaking, especially with the Alps as a backdrop. The beauty of it won't show up in pictures, so you'll just have to trust me that it was wonderful. Apparently, on clear days, you can see Mont Blanc from Geneva. It is the tallest peak in the Alps, and technically in France. It wasn't quite clear enough to see it when we were there, but at least I was able to see it from my plane from Madrid back to Basel over Spring Break. I will never get tired of seeing the Swiss Alps, whether it's from across Lake Geneva, from a train window, or from the top of the tallest University of St Gallen building. 

There was a regatta going on when we were there. I wish that I could have hopped on a boat and joined them!

We grabbed sandwiches from Migros (a Swiss grocery store) and ate them on the train back to St Gallen. Again, we were able to find a train that went all the way to St Gallen and didn't require any connections. When we stopped in Fribourg, Switzerland, however, they made an announcement stating that we all had to get off the train. Nobody knew what was going on. Kelsey and I checked the other trains coming through Fribourg to see if we could take another one to a bigger city/train station and connect there, but it didn't look like we had many options. About five minutes after we were told to get off the train, they told us to all get back on, and we continued on with no other incidents. It was odd, but at least we made it back to St Gallen!

It's Not Always Rainbows and Butterflies

95% of the time, I absolutely love studying abroad. I love meeting new people, traveling, studying at a new university, everything. Yes, I miss my friends and family from back home, using my car instead of public transportation, and USC, but I love it here as well. The biggest obstacle I have faced in my semester here has to do with my bank.

Before leaving the US, I made sure to inform my bank and credit card that I would be spending the semester in Europe and traveling a lot so that they would not put a fraud alert on my cards and turn them off. I was told that the note on my credit card would only be good for 90 days, so I would have to call the collect number in mid-May to let them know that I was still in Europe. My debit card, however, was set for the semester. Or so I was told.

In mid-March, as I was booking flights for Spring Break and my train tickets for Rome, my credit and debit cards suddenly stopped working. My parents received a call at home that there was a fraud alert on my account due to "unusual spending on travel in Europe." It took me about two days to finally figure out how to get through to my bank. I had to first call the AT&T Switzerland operator and then have them put me through to my bank. Once I got through, it was relatively easy to take the hold off my cards. My parents can't call and speak to the bank for me since I am the only name on the account.

Friday, as I was booking my train ticket to Geneva, my debit card again did not work. I was able to book it with my credit card, but I was angry that, again, my debit card had been shut off due to fraud alert (I knew this because my parents had gotten a call from the bank again). I called through to the operator and they put me through to the bank's number (the same number I had called in March). Calling an operator is odd. I can hear the conversation between the bank employee and the operator, with the operator asking the bank if they will receive my collect call. To my shock, my bank does not accept my collect call. Except this is the exact same number I called collect back in March. I am absolutely livid. I could deal without my credit card for my final month in Europe; the only time I ever really use it is to book travel and that is already booked for the rest of the semester. My debit card is another problem, considering that's how I get money out of the ATM. So I have 200CHF left from the last time I withdrew money, my bank will not accept my call to tell them to turn my card back on, and my parents can't call because their names aren't on the account. So I then tried calling the number on the back of my credit card, even though my credit card is still working fine. This is the number that specifically says it is for collect calls from outside the US. Again, they do not accept my collect call. I cannot even to begin to describe how angry I am at this point. Both my parents are livid too. 

The only option we can see to get through to the bank is for me to turn my iPhone back on and use that (as opposed to my Swiss phone that I had been using) to call the 800 number (and spend who knows how much money making an international call). I finally got through, they verified my charges, and stated that there had never been a hold on my card since there was a note that I was traveling. To which I asked, my voice dripping with all my pent up anger, then why had my card stopped working?

I am praying that my debit card works when I try to withdraw money tomorrow. According to the woman I spoke to on the phone, it should. Regardless, I have decided to leave my bank when I get home. It's a relatively small bank, only in a few states, not including South Carolina. I don't know where I'll end up after graduation, but chances are my bank won't be there anyway. And after dealing with this mess, I don't think there is anything they could do to get me to stay.

Easter in Rome

This past weekend, I went to Rome with my friend Shannon from USC! My journey to and from Rome was an adventure in itself and could constitute its own blog post so bear with me as I take y'all with me on this journey...

Shannon is currently studying abroad in Bilbao, Spain. She is currently on her Spring Break and is touring Italy with her mom. They arrived in Rome on Wednesday; however since I had class, I didn't get to Rome until Friday afternoon. I looked into flights, but they were all expensive and at inconvenient times so, with the help of my Italian roommate, I booked trains instead.

My first train from St Gallen to Lugano left at 6:05am on Friday. I figured that my train would go directly to Lugano, but instead I ended up having to transfer twice (so three trains total). The third train I was on continued to Milan, but I had a ticket for a train that went between Lugano and Milan about an hour later, so I had to get off and transfer trains again. Once I got to Milan, I again transferred trains. Also, I really shouldn't have been surprised to see the mini mall that was the Milan train station...but I digress. The train between Milan and Rome was the coolest train I've been on. It was obvious that the train was relatively new; it was very spacious and we all had big, leather seats. It also went up to 300km/hour, so it only took 3 hours to travel between Milan and Rome. It was on this train that I decided I was going to love Italy. Unlike every other train I've been on, three men immediately reached to help me put my luggage in the overhead storage. There was also wifi on the train, a first for me.

I met Shannon and her mom at the hostel. We went out to explore some piazzas and fountains and eventually stopped to eat at this fabulous restaurant. Maybe it was because it was the first food I ate in Italy, but that was my favorite pizza of the weekend. Employees stand outside the restaurants and try to get people to come in. We had two different restaurants, right next to each other, fighting for our business. One man said that the other restaurant's pizza was frozen, which made the lady from the other restaurant angry (understandably).

After dinner, we headed to the Pantheon. It was very cool seeing it all lit up at night.

We then went to the Trevi Fountain. You can hear the fountain before you get to it. There were so many people there! I went back to the Trevi Fountain a few more times just to see it again and again. We flipped coins into the fountain, meaning I will return to Rome eventually. 

The next day, we went to the Colosseum and the Roman Forum. It rained on and off all day, but that certainly didn't stop us from exploring. Ancient Roman buildings and structures are interspersed all throughout Rome, and it's odd to see the juxtaposition of the modern buildings with structures dating back to the first century. For example, as soon as you get off the metro, you see the Colosseum. Casual.

We went to the Roman Forum next. This is Ancient Rome. The city burned a few times throughout history and was rebuilt on top of the previous structures, so you can see in the ruins the different time periods based on how the structure is built. Some of the ruins date back to B.C.

Not quite sure what exactly this says, except that it's about Caesar

After lunch, we saw the Spanish Steps and the Vatican. I wasn't able to go into St Peter's Basilica or the Sistine Chapel since they were closed on Easter and Easter Monday. Simply being in Vatican City, however, was amazing enough. 

Spanish Steps

St Peter's Basilica

Easter morning, we left the hostel at 6:50am because we went to Easter mass at the Vatican! This was quite possibly the coolest thing I have ever done in my entire life. The mass didn't officially start until 10:15, but at about 10, they began to say the rosary (in Latin). I expected the mass to be in either Italian or Latin, but they actually gave it in many different languages. The first reading, for example, was in Spanish, the second was in English, and the gospel reading was in different languages, including German, Chinese, Japanese, and many more. Pope Francis blessed the host in Latin. The songs were in Latin too. 

After the mass, Pope Francis rode through the crowd, waving to everyone, which is how I got this fantastic picture. 

He then went up into his balcony and spoke to the crowd. I couldn't tell you what he said since he read it in Italian and Latin, neither of which I understand. It was still cool though.

Shannon and her mom had to leave about halfway through the mass for their train. We had a mixup and I didn't realize that they were leaving Sunday instead of Monday like I was. However, some of Shannon's friends from Bilbao happened to be in Rome too. One of them hung out with us on Saturday, so we made plans to hang out. Although I wouldn't recommend traveling alone, in my opinion, this is the best way to randomly meet cool people from all over. We walked around Sunday night, and while at the Colosseum, we met David, a 25-year-old Korean who is traveling Europe by himself for 2 1/2 months. We talked to him for a long time about both of our trips, and I believe they planned to meet up with him again Monday night after I left. 

We hung out again Monday, just exploring the city. We stumbled upon a parade, filled with people dressed like gladiators. We're not sure what exactly it was for, but it was cool. I left them after lunch because I had to catch my train back to St Gallen.

I left Rome at 3:20pm and didn't get back to St Gallen until 1:25am. On the train from Milan to Zurich, I sat with three people about my age, two Chinese PhD candidates studying biology in Zurich and an Italian PhD candidate studying control engineering in Zurich. We chatted the entire trip about movies, school, Italy, and anything else we could think of.

I had an absolute blast in Rome. Even though I was nervous about being in the city by myself, it turned out to be a wonderful experience and I have learned so much about myself. Although I certainly prefer traveling with others, I feel like a much stronger and more confident person knowing that I can travel and survive in a foreign city, without even speaking the language, all by myself.

And finally...vamos a Madrid!

I arrived Wednesday night in Madrid and could not have been more excited to see Megan, my friend from USC who I stayed with. We headed back to her apartment to eat dinner and go out. Madrid is known for their night life, and it is definitely something I wanted to experience while I was there. Spain also seems to run on its own time schedule. Lunch is the biggest meal of the day, which is eaten around 2 or 3 in the afternoon. Most restaurants have what's called "Menu del Día." You get two courses, plus a dessert and a drink, all for one price. It is such a great idea and the US needs to get on it stat. Dinner is a lighter meal eaten around 9 or 10 in the evening. Then they go out to clubs around 2am...which is a bit late in my opinion.

On Thursday, my first full day in Madrid, I went on a class field trip. Megan's Spanish Culture class was taking a trip to the Reina Sofia museum, and her professor said I could come with them. I honestly don't think he realized I wasn't one of his students. Her professor clearly loved art; he practically skipped through the museum telling us all about the Picassos and Dalís there. The class is in Spanish, and I was excited at just how much I could understand, considering I've been away from Spanish for a few months now. It also didn't take long for me to start thinking in Spanish, something else I was excited about. After almost two hours in the museum, he let us go and I experienced my first Menu del Día at an Italian restaurant. We then walked up Paseo del Prado and Megan pointed out all the other museums on the street.

We next headed to Parque del Retiro, which is basically Madrid's version of Central Park in New York City. It was a gorgeous day, and we just strolled, people watching and seeing all the flowers beginning to bloom. 

We then headed to Sol, the shopping center of Madrid. On our way, we stumbled across a protest. We couldn't figure out exactly what it was for, but it had something to do with the high unemployment rate in Spain. Sol itself is very cool. There are street "performers" there who look like they're floating; we couldn't figure out how they do it. I didn't get a picture of one, but if you google "Madrid floating man," you'll see what I'm talking about. We also stumbled across the Madrid Premiere of Divergent in Sol. We waited around for a little while to try to see some famous people, but all we saw were Spanish celebrities who we didn't recognize (even though the crowd certainly went crazy for some of them). I'm sure the actual stars of the movie were there, we just got too hungry to wait around for them. 

On Friday, Megan took me to a restaurant by her apartment that serves some pretty amazing Spanish food (and we enjoyed Menu del Día again). We then went to el Palacio Real (the Royal Palace). It was gorgeous (like everything in Europe pretty much). We weren't allowed to take pictures inside, but it was clear that it was Spanish due to the bright colors everywhere! 

We met up with Megan's French friends later that night, but didn't go out with them because we knew we had a long day on Saturday. They insisted we all speak Spanish since we were in Spain, and I was happy to have another opportunity to practice.

On Saturday, we went to Capea. Megan's buddy from CUNEF (her school) told her about it. Basically, we paid 30 euros for the bus ride there and back, all you can eat and drink, and some great entertainment. We rode almost an hour out of the city to the middle of nowhere. They had potato salad, pasta salad, different meats (chicken, hamburgers, mini hot dogs) that you could put in the hundreds, if not thousands, of baguettes they had. Everyone who goes is also able to try their luck in the ring with a young bull, which was still pretty strong (we saw it knock some people over). They guys were definitely braver, but a few girls went in the ring as well. 

The cape is a lot heavier than it looks!

On Sunday morning, we got up and went to El Rastro, a market set up in town every Sunday morning. It had really cute stuff for pretty cheap, and I was bummed that I was only traveling with my backpack and couldn't fit much in it! I did get a cute brown leather purse though for 12 euros. Megan got a nice new leather jacket and a super cute dress. After, we went to Cien Montaditos to eat, another great part of Spain. Apparently there are chains in New York, Washington D.C., and Miami. They run a deal on Wednesdays and Sundays where everything on the menu is one euro; tapas, drinks, everything except salads. It was delicious and I want to open one in Columbia. 

After being in the very touristy cities of London and Paris, Madrid was like a breath of fresh air due to the fact that it is not a very touristy city at all. Megan described it as an international city, as opposed to a touristy city, since it is the business center of Spain (Barcelona is apparently much more touristy, mainly because it's right on the water). I could also understand almost everything everyone said to me. People in Madrid speak the purest form of Spanish, so it is easier for Spanish to understand than, for example, Latin American Spanish. Unless we were with the other USC students, we spoke Spanish to literally everyone.

On the flight from Madrid to Basel, we flew right over Geneva. The pilot announced that we could see Lake Geneva out the left side of the plane, and Mont Blanc out the right (my window!). I couldn't get a picture of Lake Geneva, but here's Mont Blanc, the highest peak in the Alps (technically it's in France but it's right on the Swiss/Italian border). 

I had one class over Spring Break, which lasted two days. The second half of the semester started today, and with it I began a new class. I only have four classes left the rest of the year out of the seven I signed up for. I leave Friday to meet up in Rome with my USC friend and sorority sister Shannon for Easter, and am so excited to see her!

So long for now!

Paris

After the weekend in London, Miller and I took the train to Paris early Monday morning. My 6:10am alarm was super fun, but I more or less slept on the train, so I was up and ready to explore Paris when we arrived. I bought metro passes, and we headed to Miller's apartment. He technically lives in a suburb of Paris, but it's about a five minute walk to the city limit. We dropped our stuff off, and headed right back into the city.

We headed to the Louvre first. Miller said you can get into most museums for free with an EU student ID...so it's just wonderful that Switzerland is not in the EU. I'm not a huge museum fan, all I really wanted to see was the Mona Lisa, so I was hoping they would conveniently forget that Switzerland is not an EU country and wouldn't make me pay to get in. Turns out, they didn't even look at my ID and we walked right in! We think they thought we were part of the class group that walked in right in front of us. The Louvre itself is absolutely gorgeous! It's an old palace that has been turned into a museum. To my surprise, I recognized some of the art there other than the Mona Lisa, like the Last Supper painting. To be honest, I was more excited to see, and impressed by, the Last Supper than the Mona Lisa. It is a huge painting, much larger than I expected. You can see just how big it is compared to me in the picture below. 

We then headed to the Love Lock Bridge, and then to Notre Dame. They would only let us climb halfway up Notre Dame because of the pollution. Paris has been having issues with pollution. About a month ago, all public transportation was free to encourage people to use that instead of their cars to help with the problem. I was bummed we couldn't go all the way up, but was immediately cheered up when I saw the beauty of the inside of the church. It was absolutely gorgeous! They have priests available too for visitors. It was very very cool. 

We then headed to the Arc du Triumph. A lot of construction was going on all over Paris, and the Arc was no exception, so my picture of it conveniently has scaffolding in it. I didn't realize that it had been built by Napoleon (or I guess Napoleon had it built for him is more accurate). Engraved in one of the sides is a picture of him being crowned Emperor of Rome. Apparently he was obsessed with Rome and wanted Paris to be the new Rome. 

We then strolled down the Champs-Élysées and I ate a crepe and felt cultured. 

Next, we headed to the Statue of Liberty. I never thought I would say that I've seen the Statue of Liberty in Paris before seeing its twin in New York! It was cool, but kind of out by itself, and not around much else (except a make shift work out area under a bridge...there were maybe six machines, it was weird). We turned around and walked back to the Eiffel Tower to climb it. It was so surreal seeing the Eiffel Tower; I never got used to just seeing it off in the distance, let alone climbing it. I would also like to take time to thank Switzerland, and in particular the 100 steps it takes to get from the bus stop to my apartment, for giving me the leg strength to climb both Notre Dame and the Eiffel Tower in the same day!

View of the Seine from the top of the Eiffel Tower

The next day, I met up with one of my sorority sisters, Emily, who's studying abroad in Paris as well. We went to Sacre Cour, a church that's at the highest point in Paris. It's in an area called Montmartre, which is the artsy area of Paris (we saw the Moulin Rouge there). It was nice to hang out and explore some of the cute boutiques, sit in the sun and get a coffee at one of the cafes, and just wander around the city with no real plans. It was much needed after my whirl wind time in London and first day in Paris. 

That night, Miller and I went to the Eiffel Tower to see it all lit up. It was even more gorgeous than I could have imagined!

Overall, I had a good, very quick, trip in Paris. And as excited I was to head to Madrid next to visit my friend Megan (and be able to practice my Spanish!), I was sad to leave all the delicious crepes behind.

Cheerio, London!

I love London. This could be due to the fact that I love the royal family, the British accent, or the fact that I could understand everyone. Whatever the reason, London may now be my new favorite city.

Our 2-week Spring Break started this week. Unfortunately, I have class Monday-Wednesday next week so I am spending the first week jet-setting all over Europe. I left Thursday afternoon for the first stop on my trip: London!

I was excited and ready to go so I hopped on an early bus to the train station. Turns out there was a train leaving to Basel (the airport I was flying out of) within 5 minutes of me purchasing my ticket so I jumped on that one as opposed to waiting 30 minutes to take the original train I had planned to take. After successfully transferring trains in Zurich and finding my bus from the Basel train station to the Basel airport, I had arrived. Security was a breeze; it surprised me how much less strict it was than in the US. The TSA guy (if that's what they're even called here) didn't even check my passport, but simply scanned my ticket to go through security. Since I had my passport out and ready to go, it got thrown into the bin along with my jacket/liquids/etc. Apparently it was pretty obvious that I was not from the area (probably since I took my shoes off to go through security) because the security guy grabbed my passport just to see where I was from before exclaiming "Ahh, an American!" The sun setting through the window, I walked through the scanner, and while waiting for my bags to come through, the other security agent told me that I had brought the sun with me. What nice guys.

Since I am my mother's daughter, I arrived at the airport two hours before boarding time. Granted that's what EasyJet (the airline) said to do for international flights. Well, since security took all of ten minutes, fifteen minutes after arriving at the airport, I was at my gate...with no wifi. First world problems. So there I sat, at my gate for two hours with only the Solitaire app on my phone to entertain me. That, and listening to the accents of the British people who decided to sit by me.

Typically in American airports, you'll hear an announcement when the gate is closing for a flight. In Basel, they not only did this, but also listed off the names of the passengers who were "about to miss their flight." Which I guess would be helpful if you were one of those people. I just found it funny. So did the British people by me.

The flight was quick and easy. Border control was kind of freaky though. The agents were very intense and asked tons of questions about why I was in the UK, where I would be staying, who I was staying with, how long I would be staying, etc. But they decided to let me in, which was good. From there, I got pounds out of an ATM and went and found a train into London. It took me directly to one of the tube stations, where I purchased a tube ticket from a nice lady behind the counter who gave me a map and highlighted exactly where I needed to go. It took me about two hours to get from the plane to the hostel; I was sure my friend Miller (who is studying abroad in Paris but traveled London with me) would be waiting for me at the hostel.

LOL nope. I checked in and then proceeded to wait over an hour for him to arrive. Our planes landed at approximately the same time, but at different airports, which is why we agreed to meet at the hostel. Apparently it took him about an hour to get through border control. We were both tired and hungry so we set out at about 12:30am to go find food. It was the most bizarre thing that everyone spoke English, and it was even stranger that I found it bizarre. I quickly realized that this was the first time since arriving in Switzerland that I had left the German speaking region. I naturally wanted to say "danke" (thank you) when we got our food. I cannot even begin to describe how odd the feeling was.

The next morning, we got up to explore. The London Eye was about a five minute walk from our hostel. From there, we crossed the Thames and saw Parliament, Big Ben, Westminster Abbey, Buckingham Palace, and Trafalgar Square. Since I am currently typing this from my friend's computer in Madrid and can't upload pictures, you'll just have to trust me when I say how gorgeous it all was. We ate lunch at Chipotle and it tasted like God's gift to the Earth, partly because I was hungry but mostly because I've missed American food.

The next day, we toured Wimbledon. It was absolutely amazing. And also weird to think that I've been to Wimbledon before I've been to the US Open. We also saw the Tower of London, Tower Bridge, London Bridge, the Globe, and St Paul's Cathedral. We literally ran all over London for two days so it was no surprise to either of us that we were exhausted on Sunday (our third and final day in London). We met up with Kate, another McNair Scholar who's studying abroad in London, and saw the Changing of the Guard at Buckingham Palace, Platform 9 3/4 at King's Cross Station, and Abbey Road. It was funny to watch others take pictures at Abbey Road. It's an actual street, with quite a few cars driving down it, and people would run out when there was a break in traffic to take a picture of them crossing it like the Beatles. There was even a city employee there telling people how to stand and when it was safe to take their pictures. Of course we took a picture as well.

Miller and I then rode the London Eye at sunset. It was absolutely gorgeous and we got to see so much of London from the top. After that, we went back to the hostel to call it an early night since our alarms were set for 6:10am to catch our train through the Chunnel (the tunnel under the English Channel) into Paris!

March Madness

One of the oddest things I've had to do while in Switzerland is explain March Madness. Not even the Canadians really understood the pain I felt for my bracket when Dayton beat Ohio State. And during my flooball tournament, I had nobody to celebrate Harvard's win with. Which leads me to my next topic of conversation...

Yes, I played in the floorball tournament. I was supposed to meet my team outside the gym at 6pm, but after a late bus, making me miss my second bus up to the university, I arrived more like 6:10ish. Which wasn't really a problem. The problem was the fact that I did not know how to play floorball. My friend David, the one who coerced me into playing in the tournament in the first place, explained the rules to me via Facebook messages about 90 minutes before our first game. At least everyone on the team knew that I did not have any experience with the game so we could all set our expectations at my abilities to about zero.

We first had to play the three other teams in our pool. I guess you could say the tournament was set up more or less like the World Cup; we had to advance out of our group first. We lost our first game and tied the other two. We tied for second place in our group with the team we had lost to, so unfortunately they entered the winner's bracket and we entered the loser's bracket. By this time, I had more or less figured out how to play. The first team we played in the loser's bracket was not good at all. So I scored a hat trick. And since girls' goals are worth two points instead of one, I score six points in that game! We proceeded to win the loser's bracket, officially placing in ninth (but I think saying we won the loser's bracket sounds better). I scored a fourth goal in another game, except this time the ball just ricocheted off my foot and into the net as opposed to me actually putting an effort into hitting the ball in the right direction. Since we kept winning games and advancing in our bracket, I was at the gym until 11pm, for a total of 5 hours of floorball competition. Which probably explains why I was still sore three days later. That, and the fact that I should probably go to the gym.

I also met a handful of new people by playing in the tournament. Two of the guys on our team are exchange students from Sweden, and one of them was actually in one of my classes. Another guy on the team is in another two of my classes.

Me and David after one of the games

The team

In other news, I've been super busy with homework lately. One of my classes only lasts half the semester, so the final essay was due yesterday and the final exam was today. My class that takes place over Spring Break as a block seminar also has memos due next week. I'm trying to finish those up before heading out of town. Thursday night I fly to London to meet up with Miller, my friend from USC! We're spending the weekend there, and then taking the Chunnel to Paris (checking that off my bucket list!). I'll spend three days there, and then fly to Madrid to visit Megan, another friend from USC, for the rest of the week. I am so incredibly excited for my trip! Until then, tschüss!