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Buon giorno Switzerland!
I made it! Leaving London after almost a 6 hour wait was a relief, and the flight to Zurich was real quick. Walking from the plane to the terminal I learned Switzerland’s motto: “Get natural”. Splayed in the corner of a picture of a mountain in the alps, the logo lets you know you’re missing out if you don’t. The Zurich airport has the same train system as Dulles, except for the part where, in transit, I was greeted by a flashing image of a yodeling female, a few loud MOO’s, and some more ambient yodeling.
I met up with my friends from school, and boarded the train to Lugano, with mad poundage on my shoulders. The train ride was scheduled to arrive at 11:46pm, Swiss time, so my friend and I watched Hurt Locker, and passed the time quite efficiently. When we arrived in Lugano, exhausted and ready for bed, we headed up a steep hill to the hostel montarina,
There, we checked in and entered a room half full of swiss-german ladies, around our age, really judging the amount of baggage we were intruding the room with. They spent about an hour whispering in German, in which half the conversation (according to our resident German speaker Kyle) surrounded our bags and how stupid we were for packing so much. After a while the whisper brigade died down, and the snoring began. The young lady next to me sounded like a hibernating bear, and within an hour of sleepless frustration there was a symphony of congested dreamers. Needless to say, it was a terrible nights sleep
7:00am rolled around and we were quickly up and out. We wanted to reserve the 5 bedroom apartment usually reserved for students at the Villa, but when we arrived we found out there was no such thing as a 5 bedroom apartment. We settled instead for two 2 bedroom apartments and the 5th roommate was on his own. All is well nonetheless, and we unpacked our ridiculous bags. Finally we made it, and had a chance to relax.
Ahead lies the promise of an unforgettable semester of travel, an experiment in linguistic practice, and a project we’re sure to love and hate. See ya soon.
P.S. Check the “Flickr” link. There are plenty of new photos.
