SWITZERLAND!!

I am lucky enough to have international friends. And even luckier that they are willing to offer me a place to stay in their homes. I spent the last weekend with my friend Peter in Aarau, Switzerland. Its just about a ½ hour train ride away from Zurich. I arrived Friday evening and Peter picked me up from the train station and took me to his house. I met his family (Mother, Brother, Step-dad) and, lucky for me, dinner was served right after. I’m not sure what it was exactly…something meaty (they like meet in these parts!) and Hungarian (Peter’s mom is from Hungary) and sooo good!

Saturday I slept in a bit because I was so tired from finals all nighters, but then went into Aarau with Peter. He showed me his old school (where his brother is now) and all around town. It’s such a quaint little place. And very old fashioned. Apparently, Aarau is famous for the ornate paintings they do on the inside of the building awnings. They were gorgeous!! Unfortunately the photos didn’t really come out though. We walked back to Peter’s house from Aarau along the river (about a ½ hour). At home we had cheese fondue for dinner w/ his brother Matthew. It was so good and so fun to eat! Hehe. Then we met up with Remo (another friend I know through Marcus) and the four of us went out to “The Boiler Room” – Aarau’s little club. It was a LOT of fun just to be with friends and have fun dancing. Sunday I went into Zurich and walked down Bahnofstrasse (the main street off the train station – and home to all the shopping. Sunday night we got to have traditional Swiss food: wurst of some sort w/ Rossti (hash browns of sorts w/ gravy and WAY better) with applesauce and salad. Then we just watched a movie and hung out.

Today was a long day. Peter had school all day in Zurich, so I got up with him at 6:30 and even attended his first class. He is a mechanical engineering major and his first lecture is analysis (pretty much advanced calculus). The reason behind going is because his professor is this crrrrazy American guy who can barely speak German. So whenever he wants to emphasize a point he starts yelling wildly in English. It was one of the most entertaining lectures I’ve ever been to. Oh and Peter’s college is like a palace! The Uni is on top of a hill with gorgeous views of Zurich below and inside its new and huge and awesome. I’m jealous. Balmer High sucks. ANYWAYS back to the story. After school I headed to Grossmunster (Cathedral) and the church across the river from it. Gorgeous stained glass and gorgeous organs in both of them. Also, gorgeous architecture – Baroque style. Hrm, then I went to Café Sprungli. Its famous for its chocolate. I had some minestrone and a 5 Frank cup of hot chocolate. Worth every penny!! It was soooo good! Afterwards, I did a bit more photo taking and a bit of holiday shopping then headed to Luzern.

Luzern, just about a hour from Zurich, is the epitome of Swiss towns. Tiny quaint, water, mountain views, castles in the background. OMG, it was amazing. Great to just take a bunch of pictures. I stared at the mountains forever – and really, really wished I was on my snowboard. I also walked through their advent (pre-xmas period) market which was a lot of fun because there were a lot of unique crafts.

Spent the last couple hours of the day just eating dinner and relaxing at Peter’s house before heading back to the train station to start my adventure. I am officially on my own for the next 8 days. 9 if you count the entire day of flying back – I don’t because I’ve done that part alone quite a few times. Anyways, I’m all by myself… all by myselllllllf… however that song goes. I’m really excited though! I get to do everything I want and nothing I don’t want to, I get to meet lots of cool people and see some amazing places.

AND BEFORE ANY OF YOU WORRY— I PROMISE TO BE VERY CAREFUL, NO STRANGERS HOUSES, NO WALKING ALONE AT NIGHT, ALL THAT. ☺

Anyways to end the blog marathon I’ll give you a preview of what I’ll be doing (NOTE: some are just key words/phrases I don't want to give it all away!!!)

- Vienna
- Sound of Music
- Munich
- Cinderella’s Castle
- Dachau
- Berlin

Peace to the Middle East! I love you all and miss you tremendously! See you soon!

Cheers my dears!

XX, Sara