Girl Meets World: Sweet, Sweet Switzerland

Hi everyone! Sorry it’s been awhile since my last post. It’s been 2 and a half months since I moved to Paris and every week seems to be getting busier and busier! Some everyday updates: Obviously same routine with Josh and the boys, but during the week, I spend my days wandering around La Defense (the big shopping mall that connects my train from Suresnes to the Paris metro), visiting museums, getting lunch with friends, reading in parks, working out, or hanging at a cafe (more than likely- Starbucks). Yes, even though I’m in the cafe capitol of the world, a girls’ gotta budget! Even though a regular Starbucks latte still runs a ridiculous 4 euros. Rough life, I know. By night after I’m done at 8pm, most nights I go grab a coffee or drink with a friend, or if I stay in, you usually find me on Skype, facebook, or my favorite, catching up with my Real Housewives :) On Wednesdays and Thursdays I play soccer at night which I’m loving and the Eiffel Tour still sparkles just as magnificently at the top of every hour.

Once Friday hits, well, it’s a no brainer where you can find me. One of my favorite things to do lately is try new areas to go out because believe it or not, Paris is already starting to feel like a smaller city to me. Everything seems to be growing around me: my knowledge of Paris and its restaurant/bars/places of interests, my circle of friends, my schedule, my happiness here... the only thing that seems to be doing just the opposite is my bank account! But as I’ve said plenty of times, this is the time to do this! I wouldn’t trade what I’m doing right now for anything in the world... I have the rest of my life to (actually) work! Other than becoming my own adventurous bar guru, I’ve been spending my weekend time sleeping in, hanging out with friends, wandering around Paris, giving English lessons to kids in the neighborhood, and still attending church every Sunday at the American Church of Paris which I truly look forward to each week.

This past weekend, however, I could not make it to church because I was driving back from Switzerland with Thom, Sadia, and Josh. Thursday was a holiday which meant a 4 day weekend so Thursday afternoon the 4 of us loaded into the Volvo and drove a miserable 7 hour drive to Zurich. When I say miserable, I wish I was referring to the length of the drive, but as luck would have it, I got the 24 hour flu which started about an hour into the drive. Sweat dripping, bones shivering, head throbbing... I wanted to die. Thankfully it only lasted one day and one night so I didn’t miss out on anything.

Thom and Sadia have friends all over Europe they keep in touch with and/or visit and the family in Zurich was no exception. However, I don’t know if they purposefully neglected to tell me that THREE other families would be going to stay with them this weekend as well. 18 people under one roof. Yes, the house was big but I don’t think there’s any size house to keep yourself sane with that many people all eating, sleeping, and pooping in the same quarters. Still, everyone was very sweet and the weekend was definitely worth the trip. Of the 18 people, there were 4 couples (one of which didn’t have children), 9 kids ranging from the ages of 2-16, and me. As I met and got to know everyone, it was very interesting to hear about their lives because it is quite different than in the US. For starters, all the families were at least bilingual although the host family were trilingual- French, English, and German (the mother was German). Overhearing the kids playing, it’s a constant ping pong match of what language their speaking at any given time. Also, all the families had lived in at least 4 different countries. They were all so cultured, it blew my mind.

We didn’t get to the house until almost 8pm on Thursday which meant we’d have all day Friday and Saturday there before heading back early Sunday morning to beat traffic. The family lived 30 minutes outside Zurich in a beautiful country-side area with lots of land and a panoramic view of the Swiss Alps. Unfortunately, I didn’t get to see Zurich, but I’m pretty sure what I did see wasn’t too shabby.

All the families we were with are extremely outdoorsy people so we spent Friday and Saturday hiking different areas. Friday we went to a place called Elm which is apparently smack dab in the middle of the Swiss Alps. Fun fact- for those of you who know the story-tale of “Heidi, Girl of the Alps,” (I didn’t) the story takes place here. This area had so much snow fall in the winter that much of it still has not melted so a good portion of our hike we were hiking in the snow... but it was absolutely break-taking. My favorite part of Friday was our transportation back down to the base of the mountain. We took a gondola up to where we started the hike and on the way back, you had the option to take the gondola back down orrrrr take a mountain kart. I didn’t even think twice before I was plopping myself into one and strapping on the helmet. The ride took about 20 minutes to go down and we reached speeds up to 40/mph! So fun. Once back at the house, the kids were all eager to have me play soccer with them outside but after an hour, I had to tap out due to utter exhaustion from 5 hours spent hiking all afternoon.

Saturday we headed to another beautiful area called Walensee. This was my favorite of the two because we were still in the alps, but on a lake. Once we parked the cars, a ferry picked us up to take us across the lake to where we would hike. The only thing I can compare Walensee and Lake Murg to is Lake Tahoe and even that is not nearly equivalent. It’s an overwhelming feeling right now as I’m sitting hear trying to describe in words the views I saw this weekend in the Swiss Alps and the only word I keep coming back to is indescribable. Luckily, you know how these blogs go by now so you can have a look for yourself. What would we do without cameras?!

Getting back to camp Saturday night, we were all drained but that didn’t stop the family from making another mouth watering dinner. Side note- there was always a ton of Swiss chocolate around-- definitely lives up to its hype. Tonight was also noteworthy because it was the Champions League Finals (European soccer for those really not in the know) between Chelsea and FC Bayern Munich. As I previously mentioned, the host families mother is German so you can just guess how excited all the kids were. All 18 of us huddled around the living room tv, all the kids sporting FC Bayern scarfs, hats, t-shirts, even blankets. All the kids knew everything about every player on the field and their palpable passion for the sport was admirable. Even all the parents were getting into the game as it headed into overtime with each team scoring a late goal. By the time the second ot was done and was heading to penalty kicks- the kids were going bananas. If that didn’t have you on the edge of your seat, watching players score, miss, and goalkeepers save the shots, it all came down the 5th kickers. FC Bayern- hits the cross bar and misses. Chelsea- buries it left corner to win the game.That very second I wish could have happened at least a few more times that weekend- deafening silence. Of the 9 kids, 3 began to cry. As a long time fan of Fernando Torres, I was rooting for Chelsea but after witnessing the pure devastation on these kids face, I’d gladly have handed the win the Munich.

This weekend getaway was quick but absolutely great. Everyone was so warm and welcoming, the meals were delicious, the views were spectacular and another first crossed off my list: hiking in the Swiss Alps :)

Up next on my agenda: Tomorrow Leslie and I are going to check out the Tim Burton exhibit currently on display at the Cinematheque francaise, Wednesday I’m going back to Campus Langues (my French school) to register for new classes that I’ll start up again next week- for those curious, my French is still dreadful. I don’t put fourth the effort I should be probably because when I do, my accent is so bad people still don’t understand me. Foreign languages were NOT my thing. To shed some light for you, I was a straight A student in high school but with Spanish, my mom had to have several parent-teacher meetings. Even so, this time around I’m saying I’m going to give it more of a try (we’ll see...).Thursday and Friday afternoon, Thom bought tickets for us to go watch some pro tennis here in Suresnes. It’s basically a tournament for the players to get ready for the French Open which starts on Sunday! I’m on the lookout for you, Nedal! Then Friday late afternoon, Leslie and I have a flight to catch to Amsterdam! We’ll be there for 3 nights and I CAN’T WAIT!

Lots of fun and exciting things happening here... thank you all for the continued love and support! I’ll be sure to get my next blog about my Amsterdam trip up asap next week!

Bisous!

Base at Elm Sportbahnen

... Not the best hiking shoes

Moutain Kart!

Friday nigh dinner- "racler" which translated means "to scrape"
This machine melts the cheese which you scrape off and eat with meats and potatoes. Yum!