The Last Few Days

To send me off properly, Switzerland has decided to rain all week before I go home. I like rainy days and thunderstorms alright, but I was hoping to have at least one day of sun to take pictures of. Denied. I don't mind too terribly, though, because it does make for nice weather for tea and fondue and looking forward to California sun.

Finals are over, my papers are finished and classes aren't meeting anymore. I am on my last few days in Switzerland, and everything seems to be going a little too easily. I had no problem packing my bags and fitting everything and being under the weight limit, everything that had gone missing during the semester resurfaced, I checked out of my room (and moved in with Heidi) with no problems, and I am going to have exactly the right amount of chicken breasts to last until my last dinner. I feel like I should just be thankful and keep going, but it makes me nervous that something hasn't gone terribly wrong yet.

Last week, some of the local kids were playing baseball in the park that my window overlooks. It was amazing to see them playing something over than Europe's beloved football, and especially amazing to see baseball of all the other sports in the world. I watched them play for a good half hour and got probably a little too invested in their game, but it was brilliant. Just after a boy in a red cap hit the first home run, though, the game was called on account of rain. It continued to rain through the evening and when I walked back from my classes, I had a magnificent view of a thunder and lightning storm.

The cows have disappeared from outside my apartment building. As mysteriously as they showed up two months ago, grazing on the grass and watching the metro pass every ten minutes, they have gone. I got quite attached to them and their noisy cowbells, so I hope their are as happy as California cows wherever they are, because, as everyone knows, happy cows come from California. The Unil has moved the sheep and donkeys closer to my metro stop though, so instead of my daily "How now, brown cow?" I get to say a quick salut to the other animals.

I, however, apparently do not. In two of my classes, while discussing my plans to return home, it turns out that my classmates were very surprised to find that I am an American. They all could tell that I had an accent and spoke English, but both classes thought that I was Irish. Then me trying to explain that while my family is partly of Irish descent, I, nor my parents, ever lived in Ireland. Then to make it worse, Irish dancing (as many thought) is strictly reserved for only Irish people, so how could I possibly be of a different nationality? All those times I tried so hard to be on time and speak well and be polite to represent America just gave cool points to Ireland. Erin go bragh, I guess.



So now I would like to thank all of you dear readers for hearing about my silly little life in Switzerland. I have enjoyed this blogging thing, so I think that I shall continue for a while longer. Hopefully I will still be interesting in Long Beach! Ciaociao Lausanne!

Finals Week(s)

With two weeks to go before I come home, I am trying to take in as much as I can of my life here. As much as I would like to spend the next 14 days traveling the country (I still have not seen the Matterhorn!), that's more easily said than done in the midst of finals week. It's amazing what procrastination can accomplish, however. In avoiding my finals, I have cleaned my room, vacuumed the apartment, done two loads of dishes, and found both my missing journal and gloves all in one day! I am not looking forward to leaving my adventures here behind, but I must admit that I will be happy to go home for, if nothing else, the cereal.


This was in Utrecht, (Netherlands) where I was taunted by a heavenly box of Apple Jacks being held hostage behind those horrible bars. I almost cried when I couldn't rescue them. This store also had Betty Crocker frosting and blueberry muffin mix in the window, which inspired me to find a world market in Lausanne. So I did. It's inexplicably bizarre to go to the world market and find overpriced bottles of BBQ sauce and bags of marshmallows sitting on the shelves next to all the other "real" foreign foods. Just another reminder that here, an American s'more is just as exotic as some Anthony Bourdain-esque meal.

The Past Month

I probably should have seen it coming, but I never would have guessed he would have been so sneaky. My bird friend, who has spent so much time keeping me company, eventually flew in the the open window. But, to my surprise, he entered through the kitchen window, not my bedroom's. He claimed the kitchen table as his own new land, making just enough rustling and tip-toeing sounds to make me suspect a home intrusion. Sneaky, sneaky little oiseau. He left as quickly and quietly as I chased him (quickly, but not so quietly) back out. In California, I've notice that there are more ant attacks in the fall, before it gets colder for winter. I suppose I could decide that my feathered visitor's home invasion was meant to signify the start of a new season, too.

Spring has finally arrived, and it could not have come at a better time! The ugly knobbly trees finally have leaves, the insect population has grown both indoors and out, and, just like all those illustrated kids books always claimed, calfs and lambs have shown up next to their mama animals. I cannot stress, however, how much of an impact seeing the sun has had on me. My excitement at it not raining for a week has hindered my common sense though, and as a result of my reveling in the glorious sun, I've already had two sunburns. Although both were completely worth it.

The first I received while on what had started as a pleasant walk around Lac Léman. This walk eventually turned into an epic journey as my friend and I set the nearby city of Montreux as our goal. We reached our destination 21 lizards, 16 car honks, 7 hours, 5 speedo-or-less old men, and 20 miles later. The second was not as much of a sunburn as a light-pink tan while spending the day with my family in The Netherlands.


The Netherlands was amazing. As much as I didn't want to leave Rome when I visited Italy, I could have moved into a cardboard box just outside the residential area of Amsterdam. I keep trying to describe how beautiful the buildings were, how kind the people were, how happy I was there, but these words just aren't working the way they should. I will say that Dutch food is amazing, filled with tasty bread and chocolate and butter, Dutch people every ounce as friendly as they are tall, and cities built on top of canals is pretty much the way I would design my town if I had one of my own. (I would also have bubbles come from all public building windows, more bicycles than cars, and have a waterfall in the town center, just in case you were wondering.)