Yes, I realize that this is a little bit late. But better late than never, right? I've been super busy with school because the work load has been piled up as we finish up classes. However, Switzerland was too good not to blog about.
On Friday morning myself and two of my roommates left our apartment aroud 5:30am to catch our early flight. Besides not getting any sleep at all the night before, things went surprisingly smooth that morning. We conquered the train station and airport all on our own, which i believe is an accomplishment considering things in Italy do not always go as planned. We flew into switzerland through EasyJet. This is one of those airlines where you get an email and then are supposed to print out your boarding pass before arriving at the airport. Well, the funny thing is that my roommate Mikayla printed our passes out at the Rome Center on the Architect computers so our tickets came out on poster sized paper. Needless to say we were the joke of the airport that morning, but we didn't mind much because we were on our way to SWITZERLAND. Later that morning our plane arrived in Geneva, where we had to catch a train to Friberg. The ride was about an hour and a half, but it went by rather fast because we made friends with the goofy guy sitting across the aisle from us. He talked, and talked, and talked some more, but he gave us some good tips on doing Switzerland the right way. He made the ride a little more enjoyable. We eventually got to the Friberg Termini where Benoit picked us up. We all introduced ourselves, then we started our weekend of incredible adventures right away. After the train station we went to a local grocery store, that actually reminded me of something like walmart (on a smaller scale of course), to buy meat, cheese, chips, and wine for a picnic on the top of the tallest mountain in Friberg. At this point I remember thinking that this was too good to be true, but it wasn't. Even thought it was Friday the 13th, everything went perfectly according to plan and the day just kept getting better. We got to the mountain and awed by the beauty of it. Through every aspect; the seemingly infinite skyline, the rich colors of the Swiss landscape, the immense magnitude of the mountain- my heart was captivated. As we ascended the mountain things only went up from there, quite literally. We reached the summit, and in this moment I could not help but to feel overwhelmingly trivial. Gazing thousands of feet above sea-level into the vastness of the Swiss Alps, totally humbled, I thanked my creator. He is so big. His world. His plans. His love. Too often i detract from his sovereignty, with the things of this world. In humility, I stood at this summit of this incredible mountain in the heart of the Swiss Alps, took in the crisp air, and embraced the goodness of my God. After this spiritual moment, we made lunch, poured a cup of swiss soda and had a picnic on the top of this mountain. It was everything magical and then some. We stayed on the summit around an hour then headed back down.
Following the incredible experience on the mountain Benoit took us to the Nestle factory. It was interesting. We walked through a 30 minute demonstration on how chocolate was made, and then we got to test the chocolate. That was the best part. Obviously. If i had to guess i would say that in a span of about 5 minutes we ate 25 pieces of chocolate. Our mouths loved it, but our hips on the other hand, will be regretting that decision in about a week. Following our chocolate indulgence we went to explore a medieval fortress upon a hill in Friberg. When we were there it started to rain, so we took shelter in a bar. Little did we know that it was a bar designed by Stephen Spielberg. The decorations were whack, but it was a totally cool experience. Later we went back to the Fellay's for dinner and met his wife, Isabel, their son Yann, and their daughter Théa. The kids only spoke french so we spent most of our time communicating through Isabel and Benoit.
What happened next may be the most unusual part of the trip: we ate horse. Yep. For dinner we had actual horse meat. As ashamed as i am to say this, it was very good. It tasted like steak, but better. I still feel horrible to admitting to this, but whatever, right? Its a good experience.
Following the entrée, Mikayla, Anna, and i went exploring their neighborhood. While doing so we stumbled upon an empty field and we couldn't help but to skip through it and sing songs from The Sound of Music because it was perfect. The video is on Facebook if you're really interested.
The next day we went to a wedding. My first ever (and probably last) swiss wedding to attend. What an experience! The ceremony was very similar to something that would happen in the U.S. There was singing, praying, and kissing (well the couple kissed not the audience.) Afterwards the couple was followed by a line of cars that honked their horns all the way to the cocktail party; something different. At the cocktail party we mingled, drank wine, and ate all the snacks. It was difficult because of the language barrier, but we confided in the snack tray so it was fine. When the cocktail party was finished Benoit and his family went to the reception and we went to hang out in a lake town for a couple hours until the reception was over. While we were here we watched three world cup games and this is where i decided that I am a huge fan of soccer. It is easily my favorite sport. Benoit and his brother picked us up afterwards then we went back to the reception and showed the French some American dance moves. We played Katy Perry and danced until we got kicked out of the venue. That night we did not get home until 3am. It was a long day, but so worth it.
On the last day of our adventure, we went to Lake with the Fellays and their family. We played cards, tanned, and swam well into the afternoon. The water was colder than anything i have ever encountered, but that didn't stop me from experiencing a swiss lake.
That night I had my first fondu experience. It was nothing short of delicious.
Neither words nor pictures do that place justice. At the end of it all I would like to give an enormous THANK YOU to the Fellays for showing us the beauty of Switzerland and being the most kind hearted people i have encountered in awhile. We ended our Swiss excursion on the best note we could imagine. All of my life I've dreamt of traveling the world. I can now check Switzerland off my list.
On Friday morning myself and two of my roommates left our apartment aroud 5:30am to catch our early flight. Besides not getting any sleep at all the night before, things went surprisingly smooth that morning. We conquered the train station and airport all on our own, which i believe is an accomplishment considering things in Italy do not always go as planned. We flew into switzerland through EasyJet. This is one of those airlines where you get an email and then are supposed to print out your boarding pass before arriving at the airport. Well, the funny thing is that my roommate Mikayla printed our passes out at the Rome Center on the Architect computers so our tickets came out on poster sized paper. Needless to say we were the joke of the airport that morning, but we didn't mind much because we were on our way to SWITZERLAND. Later that morning our plane arrived in Geneva, where we had to catch a train to Friberg. The ride was about an hour and a half, but it went by rather fast because we made friends with the goofy guy sitting across the aisle from us. He talked, and talked, and talked some more, but he gave us some good tips on doing Switzerland the right way. He made the ride a little more enjoyable. We eventually got to the Friberg Termini where Benoit picked us up. We all introduced ourselves, then we started our weekend of incredible adventures right away. After the train station we went to a local grocery store, that actually reminded me of something like walmart (on a smaller scale of course), to buy meat, cheese, chips, and wine for a picnic on the top of the tallest mountain in Friberg. At this point I remember thinking that this was too good to be true, but it wasn't. Even thought it was Friday the 13th, everything went perfectly according to plan and the day just kept getting better. We got to the mountain and awed by the beauty of it. Through every aspect; the seemingly infinite skyline, the rich colors of the Swiss landscape, the immense magnitude of the mountain- my heart was captivated. As we ascended the mountain things only went up from there, quite literally. We reached the summit, and in this moment I could not help but to feel overwhelmingly trivial. Gazing thousands of feet above sea-level into the vastness of the Swiss Alps, totally humbled, I thanked my creator. He is so big. His world. His plans. His love. Too often i detract from his sovereignty, with the things of this world. In humility, I stood at this summit of this incredible mountain in the heart of the Swiss Alps, took in the crisp air, and embraced the goodness of my God. After this spiritual moment, we made lunch, poured a cup of swiss soda and had a picnic on the top of this mountain. It was everything magical and then some. We stayed on the summit around an hour then headed back down.
Following the incredible experience on the mountain Benoit took us to the Nestle factory. It was interesting. We walked through a 30 minute demonstration on how chocolate was made, and then we got to test the chocolate. That was the best part. Obviously. If i had to guess i would say that in a span of about 5 minutes we ate 25 pieces of chocolate. Our mouths loved it, but our hips on the other hand, will be regretting that decision in about a week. Following our chocolate indulgence we went to explore a medieval fortress upon a hill in Friberg. When we were there it started to rain, so we took shelter in a bar. Little did we know that it was a bar designed by Stephen Spielberg. The decorations were whack, but it was a totally cool experience. Later we went back to the Fellay's for dinner and met his wife, Isabel, their son Yann, and their daughter Théa. The kids only spoke french so we spent most of our time communicating through Isabel and Benoit.
What happened next may be the most unusual part of the trip: we ate horse. Yep. For dinner we had actual horse meat. As ashamed as i am to say this, it was very good. It tasted like steak, but better. I still feel horrible to admitting to this, but whatever, right? Its a good experience.
Following the entrée, Mikayla, Anna, and i went exploring their neighborhood. While doing so we stumbled upon an empty field and we couldn't help but to skip through it and sing songs from The Sound of Music because it was perfect. The video is on Facebook if you're really interested.
The next day we went to a wedding. My first ever (and probably last) swiss wedding to attend. What an experience! The ceremony was very similar to something that would happen in the U.S. There was singing, praying, and kissing (well the couple kissed not the audience.) Afterwards the couple was followed by a line of cars that honked their horns all the way to the cocktail party; something different. At the cocktail party we mingled, drank wine, and ate all the snacks. It was difficult because of the language barrier, but we confided in the snack tray so it was fine. When the cocktail party was finished Benoit and his family went to the reception and we went to hang out in a lake town for a couple hours until the reception was over. While we were here we watched three world cup games and this is where i decided that I am a huge fan of soccer. It is easily my favorite sport. Benoit and his brother picked us up afterwards then we went back to the reception and showed the French some American dance moves. We played Katy Perry and danced until we got kicked out of the venue. That night we did not get home until 3am. It was a long day, but so worth it.
On the last day of our adventure, we went to Lake with the Fellays and their family. We played cards, tanned, and swam well into the afternoon. The water was colder than anything i have ever encountered, but that didn't stop me from experiencing a swiss lake.
That night I had my first fondu experience. It was nothing short of delicious.
Neither words nor pictures do that place justice. At the end of it all I would like to give an enormous THANK YOU to the Fellays for showing us the beauty of Switzerland and being the most kind hearted people i have encountered in awhile. We ended our Swiss excursion on the best note we could imagine. All of my life I've dreamt of traveling the world. I can now check Switzerland off my list.