Day 13 of Training- Last day!!!

Today was the last official day of training! It was a very fun-filling day. We first went on a hike for an hour and a half to a gorge. We went abseiling in the gorge, in order to get to the gorge we had to ‘clip-in’ with our carabiners all the way down the steep path to the platform. With the sound of dangerous rushing water below, we then abseiled down the gorge. The rocks were very slippery and full rain gear was required because inside it seemed to be ‘raining’ the entire time. Finally I made it to the platform at the base of the gorge. The gorge was absolutely breath-taking, a hidden wonder many tourists would never be able to discover. Next stop was the woodcarvers. The woodcarver’s shop is a unique spot in the town of Adelboden, and the woodcarver’s wood shop and a store was all one room. There were numerous wood carved trinkets, animals, clocks, key chains, jewelry and much more. I found it very fascinating looking at all of the different wood-work. Next door there is Kaffe Balli, an older Swiss lady sells hot and cold beverages and snacks to people who visit the woodcarver’s. The Lemon Cake that she sells is probably the best cake I have tasted, and I am not even a huge dessert person. (Thanks for the strawberry shortcake reference Momma). She even sold apple juice that was made from her very own apple tree. After our coffee and cake break, we hiked all the way back to the chalet, and it took about 2 hours. It is spring-time here and there are flowers all over the hills and mountains. My favorite flower in Switzerland is the Alpine Buttercup! After our hike we had a tea party where we became official staff when we received our red Swiss Guiding Scarfs!!! Tonight at dinner we had Thai Sweet Chili Chicken. I loved the meal because it was spicy!!! We have the day off tomorrow, which  I am quite excited to sleep in a little bit. Peace & Love.

Day 12 of Training

Today was another program training day. It was a group hike to Elsigbach. It took about 2 hours to hike the small little village. It rained the entire way to the village and little did I know the rain pants I used are not waterproof and my cotton pants were soaking wet by the time we were able to sit down. My jacket was very waterproof keeping my entire upper body dry! This is the first valley that opens during the winter season for skiers, and it has the first gondola running as well. We rode the gondola up to the top of the mountain, which is about 1,900m high. Atop the mountain it was quite windy and very cold. We stopped at the restaurant above and got some hot chocolate and coffee and we got to eat our packed lunches inside. Thank goodness. We then walked to the lake on top of the mountain, and when it is sunny and hot during the summer, guests are allowed to take a break and swim in the lake. Today it was way to cold to even attempt to swim, I left my ‘swim costume’ (swim suit) at the chalet on purpose.  We walked about 45 minutes down the mountain and luckily we had Christoph to come pick us when we got back to the village. It was quite a rainy day, and the sun never came out. But after dinner, I worked on my bio page that will hang on the volunteer board in main chalet! Ciao! 

Day 11 of Training

Today we went to the ADVENTURE PARK. We hiked for about an hour to get to the park. We harnessed and got ready for a day of fun. We had a training session for the zip lines, high ropes course, repelling and free falling (if you so choose). We did the low and high zip lines and spun around as we zipped through a beautiful gorge with a river gracing its presence below. We then sprung to the high ropes course, it involved walking on wood blocks, a tight high rope and a wooden ladder that was laid horizontal. I even walked on the wooden ladder with no hands, but only for about half of it. Don't worry folks, we were attached to the wire so in case we tripped we wouldn't go far...at all. We then did a little swing after the adventure course. It was a good time. After that we had the option do jump off a 30m bridge and free fall and swing until we were lowered onto the bank. I decided to do it, and I chose the most challenging dismount option, I dove off the bridge. The feeling was exhilarating. After lunch we hiked up to the climbing wall, not an indoor climbing wall, it was apart of the mountain, treeless of course. We got to rock climb in the outdoors up to 20 m. It was very fun and challenging since there are not man made places to put your feet and hold your hands. After we hiked back to the chalet, we ate dinner. (And here at the chalet everything revolves around food, if i haven't mentioned this already.) We had another Swiss night evening programme with games, songs, skits and a special surprise of chocolate fondue at the end. 

Day 10 of Training

Today was a colder day in the valley of Adelboden. The fog has returned to the chalet and it has been a rainy and dreary day. I slept in the eves again last evening and got a wonderful night of sleep. After morning meeting, we had to pack up all of our belongings and move to the building just across from Main Chalet. The chalet is expecting guests in the attic where all of the summer vollies were staying. I am not in the attics of Spycher, there are 7 of us sleeping there and 4 our one floor below. I received my package that my mother sent me! I am very excited for more warm clothes, some books to read, peanut butter and my favorite Tony's Creole Seasoning. I can now make my food un-bland and spice things up a bit :). I then got to help Christoph with the recycling bit and go to town to the recycling facility. It had a junk-yard feel, but none the less it was great fun (I do love recycling). We sorted PET bottles, paper and cardboard, tin, and glass. And to drop of your rubbish (trash) it cost 12 CHF. It is quite costly to dump trash in Switzerland. We ventured back to the chalet and Emma and I had assigned kitchen duties-- slicing in preparation for breakfast and packed lunches. I used the automatic slicer and sliced two lots of cheese and some salami. I am scared of knives, so that was a fun task. I did not manage to cut myself, thank goodness. Dinner was served and then breakfast and lunch were prepared :) And that concludes the evening.

Day Off!

Today was our day off. I chatted with many of my friends late into the night so I was able to sleep until noon today, and it was quite lovely. I have already started called pants 'trousers' and referring to the location of  inanimate objects as 'living' somewhere, thank you to the UK girls. Emma and I walked to the village of Adelboden, had lunch (not from the chalet) and went to the grocery store. I bought cayenne pepper, since many things at the Chalet are not spicy, at all. After returning, it was time to make dinner with 4 others. After dinner we had a lovely campfire. It was an international campfire--German, Spanish and English. And we sang songs in all languages. There is a tribe from Germany staying at the Chalet that have been working on the camp site and fixing up the camp house and baby chalet. They have done a great deal of work since they have been here. I even played a little futbol with them. After campfire, we had a summer vollie cupcake party in the dining hall, I got to eat strawberries!!! All in all it was a delightfully relaxing day, and now it is time for bed.  Gute Nacht!

Day 9 of Training

Today was another town today, although we traveled to Interlaken, a very touristy city. We arrived just behind the Casino, and yes there is a casino in Switzerland. We then went on a scavenger hunt around the town, the shopping arena and the old town area. We even found a purple teletubby in the window, and it was very unexpected. I bought a pair of indoor shoes that I can now use in the kitchen, and they are purple, ‘converse’ style!!! I even got a cup of café crème at the local coffee shop. We at lunch in the field and saw many paragliders come down from the adventure aloft, and I really want to go!! After lunch we got to check out the whitewater rafting area, and we may have the chance to go in the future with campers =). After that we went to go see the waterfalls at Trumblebach. We road the lift to the very top and still had to climb about 4 flights of stairs. There were little inlets where we were able to take photos of the rapid falls and we even got misted!! There were 10 different falles to see and all had very pretty views. We then had an afternoon picnic in the wildflowers and played some scouting games! The whole lot went back to town to go to the Schuh chocolate factory, we got to see a presentation and eat unlimited chocolate. The show was fun and there were superb chocolate sculptures displayed throughout the shop. After the chocolate shop we sang songs all the way back to the chalet. We were very late to dinner, but once it was all over the summer vollies were in charge of cleaning. After cleaning, we played futbol with the german kids that are here to work on camp house. We slid down a very steep hill many times to retrieve the ball, and we even played volleyball. My arms and legs are quite sore since it is a rare occasion that I play sports. All in all it was a very fun day. 

Day 8 of Training

Today was Town Day. We traveled in a van to Niesen, a mountain range in the Swiss Alps. We then took a mountain train 
straight up to the top of the mountain. It was a bumpy 30 minute ride, but once we got to the top the view of the Swiss Alps was absolutely unbelievable. We spent about an hour on top of the mountain and there was still snow, so it was cold! We saw a lake, many valleys, rivers and numerous mountain ranges all around. We traveled back down the train to the base of the mountain. We then were transported to a boat station! We got to travel 

on Thoune Lake (which looks the color of Caribbean Sea) to Oberhofen to visit the Rosmarie Hess Oberhofen Castle. The castle was build in the early 1200s on the lake, and it was very beautiful! The castle reminded me of being in a fairy tale, it was surreal. We had an exciting scavenger hunt throughout the castle and the outdoor gardens are quite serene. We then went to the town of Thun, which is the nearest ‘larger’ town to Adelboden, there is a mini shopping area and there is also a castle in town. From Thun to the chalet is approximately an hour drive and it made me quite sleepy. If we are working program we get to visit these sites each event session. Our next day off is Thursday, right before the summer rush begins. This weekend we are sleeping in a German tent outdoors that we will construct ourselves. 

Day 7 of Training

Today was our first day of program training. We had an orientation of the program events and we got to talk about what we would be doing each day during an 8 day long event. After lunch, we had hiking orientation and we went on a group hike with the Program coordinator to Adelboden. We went on a scavenger hunt in the village town, found the Staff Our Chalet bench, and discovered a different route back to the chalet. The walk from Adelboden to the chalet is about a 30 minute up hill walk, and it is tiring! The town adventure was fun =) We had an evening program too—WAGGGS Centenary Game! It was a game where we took pictures, drew the globe, found out facts about scouting and guiding, and talked about the WAGGGS Global Action Themes.

Day 6 of Training

Today was quite a typical day at the chalet. We cleaned the houses before lunch time. And at lunch, one of the guests left their Nutella jar!!!! And that was very exciting. After lunch we went on tour training where we were given a helpful summary paper of what to say per slide during the presentation, etc. We then had office training with Karen where we learned the location of random things, etc. After training, I did my first load of laundry…and it was bed sheets that a little girl scout had an accident on, oh joy. It was dinner, then we had health and safety training and then it was relaxation time and bed time! Pretty simple day and it was sunny!!! I am even wearing my comfy clothes I bought in Milan =)

Day 5 of Training

Back to our chalet and training again. This morning we did house/guest services and I cleaned the bathrooms to main chalet. We also learned how to use the washer and dryer, so that was helpful. We finished cleaning very early since there was so many of us and then it was lunch time. After lunch, half of the volunteers including myself were on catering so we prepared dinner. I made a chocolate chip bread and butter pudding, and although I am not a huge desert fan, it was very good! We were in charge of cleaning up after dinner too, it was nice to learn the way around the kitchen! The evening programme was Swiss Night, where we enjoyed skits, songs, fondue and a swiss trivia game. It was quite fun, and things seem to be back to normal. Ciao for now!

Milano- Day 2

The second day in Milan was quite pleasant and more relaxed. We woke up and ate breakfast at the hotel. We then traveled to Navigili to look at the 2 canals of the city, the smaller one was designed by Leonardo di Vinci; the area was very quiet and pleasant and we just strolled around and glazed at the scenery. We then traveled to what we think was an international shopping mart, but really it was a lot of construction and the fiera international did not exist. We decided to go the Public Gardens, which I was very excited about. We hung out in the gardens for about 2 hours, took photos, laid in the grass and watched the picture taking of an Italian wedding that had just ended, it was quite entertaining. After the relaxing time in the garden it was time to get ready to go back to the ‘our chalet bubble.’ We ate McDonalds fries for dinner, real healthy, and in Italy you are not allowed to take photos in McDonalds, and the security guy will personally make you delete them, it is quite odd….and you have to pay for ketchup!!!! We shopped around in the touristy shops in the train and then boarded the train to Frutigen. We had a very interesting experience aboard the first train from Milan to Brig, a man who claims he is from Venezuela, but spoke Italian very well, would not stop talking. He was entertaining, although I just wanted to listen to my music and go to sleep. Some of us think he may be apart of the Italian mafia…ha not. We arrived safely back to Our Chalet around 10pm, and then it was bed time for me.

Milan- Day1

We are traveling to Milan today! Our bus at the Adelboden Oey bus stop left at 7:54am, and the adventure to Milan began. Our first train stop was Brig, a quaint little town just 45 minutes away from Frutigen, I may go there on my ‘trip to town by myself.’ We arrived in Milan around, 11:35am and I saw very many pretty cities on the way there. I was excited to be there! We arrived to Milano Centrale station, and the outside culture is very industrial. It is the first large city I have explored since I have been in Europe. We then bought our Metro (subway) pass so we could ride all the subways, next stop was Duomo. Duomo was absolutely Beautiful, a lot prettier than the train station area, the architecture and buildings and culture was absolutely amazing, and there was lots of shops and tourists attractions. The inside of Duomo was absolutely breath-taking, it was such a pretty cathedral and I wondered how they built it without the technology and machinery of our time.We payed 5 Euros to walk to the top on Duomo roof,  and the view uptop was beautiful! I took many many pictures!! Our next venture was to find our Hotel, Hotel Sabatino Milano. We arrived at the correct station but it took us 45 minutes to find our hotel because understanding directions in Italian is quite difficult =) We finally talked to a nice lady who spoke English and she got her husband to talk to the police officer to direct us in the correct way!! YAY we have arrived and 2 of the girls took a nap while I hung out with one in the back patio. The weather was quite lovely and I really enjoyed being outdoors. I even got a cup of coffee, and it was very good, considering the coffee at the chalet tastes like water. After the girls arised, we went to go grab some great Italian food and wine! We then went back to Duomo and walked around and took many pictures, and happened to run into a bike marathon it was quite entertaining. I even got to talk to mom on the phone for the first time!! It was a long day so we scurried back to the hotel to go to sleep.

First Day Off

Our first day off, I wanted to sleep in, but with a room full of 10 people I was only able to sleep in til 10am, I did get up at 8:40am to make a lunch but went straight back to sleep. I then decided to go on a group bike ride to Frutigen, as part of a staff challenge. It seemed like a pleasant day out, but little did we know, we forgot to check the weather and there was a BLIZZARD snow, and all I was wearing was ear protectors, a scarf, under-armor longsleeve, a FLEECE, and spandex and jeans and tennis shoes, I WAS NOT dressed for the weather, and I was freezing at the end of the trip, but this is how it went. It was a 2.5 hour bike ride, and about 20 minutes into our bike adventure snow fell, very quickly and very hard, and this happened in the uphill part of our adventure, oh it wasn’t so fun, we had to push our bikes uphill in the blizzard. Then we got to a little school as the children were leaving. We were not quite sure where we were going but we seemed to finally make it to Frutigen, although toward the downhill trek of the trip I thought I was going to die because my hands were freezing and in severe pain as well as my feet, BUT we made it to Frutigen. And as soon as we got to town we went to a café to warm and get coffee, THANK GOODNESS! We then traveled to the super market to get miscellaneous things. After the market we went to the train station to purchase train tickets to MILANO ITALIA! That was a bit of an ordeal with half-fare cards, non-german speaking and the gentlemen at the desk was very patient with our requests. We then got on the bus to go back to our Chalet, time check 4.5 hours after departure, lordy. As soon as we boarded we had to pay for our bikes to be hauled back with us, and that was ANOTHER bus ticket, who know a bike ticket would be equivalent to a human ticket. We finally arrived back at our chalet, and the photo at the top of my blog was taken at the very end of our journey, right before getting to the chalet. The rest of the evening was spent relaxing and packing for Milan! Today was sure tiring.

Day 4 of Training

We had our second day of house2 training, so we swapped the buildings we were cleaning. And man my shin muscles hurt from the hike to Adelboden. Yesterday, I was in Main Chalet so we switched to Spycher and Squirrel House. We had a bit of trouble with Henry, the vacuum from squirrel house. First Megan and I trekked up the hill, and the cubbard was locked, we went back to the reception to get the key, then went back up the hill and found Henry and plugged him in, but the only plug seemed to be temporarily out, so we thought the vacuum was broken. We brought Henry all the way down the hill back to reception to find out that he did work and that the outlet was broken, so we went back up the hill and Christoph fixed the surge problem. We were then off to vacuuming squirrel house, and since I was the smallest I had to vacuum underneath all the bunk beds on the bottom floor, since squirrel house is 2 floors. It was quite weird crawling under the bunk beds and clean about 50 slots in between the wood for each bed, but they are now saw-dust free, dust free, bug free and dirty free. There are lots of regular chores to do here over the summer, so I know I will be quite busy. Currently there are no guests at our Chalet so it is quite quiet, so it has been nice. But, starting June 1, we will have over 80 guests to accommodate, so that is when the summer season will begin!! Tomorrows the day off!! Wahoo, but anyways after lunch we are getting trained in the kitchen. We were given a briefing about where things are located in the kitchen, the cubbards, drawers, downstairs in the pantry and the freezers and refrigerators too. Each event over the summer is 9 days, but on day 1 and 9 it is the same because guests leave in the morning and new guests arrive at night, so for the kitchen we have days 1-8, and each day there is a different dinner item to be cooked, so I will be eating the same types of dinner every 8 days, yippee. Breakfast is the same, yogurt, cereal, granola, bread, jam and fresh fruit. In the kitchen tour we got to learn all the names of everything, so here I begin. Windy is the dishwasher, Iggy is the oven, Veronica is the telephone, Andreas II is the slicer, Hans is the food scarp bin, the cooked food scraps (we give all of the food to a local farmer so he can feed his pigs) Connie is the compost bin where you throw out all raw food scraps that you can later take out to the real compost area, and that is all I can remember so far. All ten vollies, Jenny-the catering coordinator, and 2 spring volunteers ALL cooked dinner in the kitchen, it was quite interesting. We cooked chili, veggie chili, and prepared a salad, and cream for the peaches-n-cream desert. It was quite an adventure since there were so many people..we also cleaned up dinner, there were way too many people in the kitchen at once! Time flew by in the kitchen, then it was dinner and cleanup time, then relaxing time. A few of the summer and spring vollies went to go experience Adelboden nightlife, as apart of earning points for the staff challenge. We went to a little pub on the main street of the village town, I am not sure the name since it is in Swiss-German. I now know how to order a beer in swiss german, Klein-beer is small beer and Gross-beer is large beer. Toward the end we played a guide game that we turned into a drinking game, it is called ibbily-wibbily or however you spell it, it was quite fun. We then walked all the way back to the chalet in the dark, it was quite tiring, but walking up and down the mountain is quite refreshing. When I got back, it was time to sleep!

Day 3 of Training

Guest Services is our focus of training. House1 training, aka cleaning and learning where all the cleaning supplies are and how to clean the 2 main buildings. We are in charge of cleaning all of the main common areas and bathrooms. Vacuuming and mopping etc. Guest services also involves cooking, office stuff and giving tours to Our Chalet when guests arrive. So today, I learned how to use a very unusual mop head and change the vacuum bag, which is actually harder than many think.. Around the chalet, everything has a name, whether it is a living object or not. Hoover is the name of the vacuum…more will come when we get trained in the kitchen. We were also taught how to do rubbish and recycling, and rubbish is the term they use for trash it is quite odd. And if I ask where something belongs for example the mop, the response is “it lives over there in the cubbard” everything LIVES somewhere…interesting terminology. After lunch, we went on a grounds and maintenance tour with Christoph, one of the only German speaking employees, and his English is not exactly the greatest but we can understand him. We went on a little hike around the Chalet, I had no idea it was as big as it is, we got to see many piles of trees, logs, sticks that will be used for fire, etc. We got a tour to the silver bin, aka garbage can where the city picks it up, the various recycling bins etc. They have plastic bottles (PET) no plastic bags, metal/aluminum/tin, paper, and glass sorted into clear, brown and green. And the law in Switzerland is that it costs 26 francs to empty the silver bin, so if you recycle everything out of the rubbish the bin will not get full every week and you can save money and the environment!! I love the laws here…if only it was like that in the US…ha. And our chalet has a very environmentally friendly heating system, they use wood pellets to heat the main chalet, and it was recognized by the WWF (world wildlife fund…for those of you who don’t know)! So that is also exciting. After our tour we had a little break before dinner. Dinner time and it was Murder Mystery party (photo above). I was a tourist so I kind of dressed and did my own thing. It was quite fun we were solving a mystery of a death after an extravagant wine party. I had lots of fun, since I enjoy the CSI type thing =). Then we relaxed, hung out, etc before bed-time. And bed time here is between 10-11pm, sometimes if I cant sleep I will stay up til midnight but I will be paying for it the next day. I am all about getting my 8 hours of sleep =) 

Day 2 of Training

We had an early morning scavenger hunt….in the snow. We had to answer a series of questions and collect items around the chalet, one included a snowball, it is may, I do not like the cold. =) Then we gathered in the basement of the reception building, aka spycher. The summer vollies talked about our volunteer experience etc. We were told that we would have Wed-Friday off!!!! YAYAY, traveling. Lunch. Then we packed up all of our belongings and moved the Main Chalet attics, all 10 summer volunteers are now staying in one location, this should be interesting. Then we were given a house-tour to the various buildings by the spring volunteers. We also took individual photos for the website, with our ‘necker’ as the brits call it, or a scout scarf as the Americans call it. Sarah then gave us a health and safety training and scenario examples. After dinner all of the summer vollies went on adventure to the town of Adelboden, it took about 30 minutes to get there, down and up hill. And as part of our staff challenge we took a group picture on top of the fountain, it was quite fun, but my legs did hurt a little. Staff challenge is a compiled list of things to do and you get a certain amount of points per challenge, once you receive 18 points you get the Our Chalet Staff Challenge badge, and the summer goal is to get 80 points!! After our hike, since we are still guests we are able to hang out in the T-bar and use the internet, facebook, email and skype!

Our Chalet training - Day 1

Rise and shine at Our Chalet is a little early since breakfast begins at 8am. It is the first day of our training. We begin with an open ceremony, and boy oh boy it is quite cold and rainy. I was not expecting this cold weather at all, and I was not entirely prepared for it. We had a flag ceremony where we received Our Chalet pins, we got to know where everyone was from, names, etc. We then attended the morning meeting at promptly 9:30am, every morning we have a meeting to discuss what is happening that day, chores and responsibilities, number of guests, departures and arrivals, etc. We were then given the tour to Our Chalet, we watched a brief presentation where we learned the history of the Chalet. It was very interesting since I knew nothing about it. We played some icebreaker games to get to know the other Summer Vollies. Everyday lunch is at noon, but only for staff. If guests want a packed lunch, it costs 10 francs per person!!! And they make the packed lunch at breakfast time. After lunch we played some more icebreaker games with Sarah Rees, the deputy world centre manager. We then had a WAGGGS presentation, World Association of Girl Guides and Girl Scouts, from Sally who is head of the Centre. It was very interesting to know exactly what WAGGGS is and what it does, etc. We then worked together to write out our expectations of the program, Our Chalet, the staff, personal goals and any fears we had as volunteer staff. Next thing we knew, it was dinner. Most of our activities revolve around eating, it is quite interesting in my opinion.

Zurich, Day 3

I woke up around 10am took a shower, but since I was still very tired I went straight back to bed, and slept through my alarms to get up, etc. The hotel front lobby called the room at half past 12 and said checkout had passed. I quickly got dressed and packed, checked out and then went into town. I was staying near the hotel so I was about 2 km away from the city. I took the train to Zurich central, and honestly I do not know how I made it there, because I had no clue where I was going. I got to the train station at the very bottom level and did not have a clue where I should go. I was looking for the train station help desk, but all the signs were in German or Swiss German so I didn’t have a clue. Finally, I decided to go up 2 levels and that was where the tourist center was, the train station office, food, and the trains to other cities. The inter-city trains were all on the levels below. Anyways, I went to a restaurant on the top floor because I was starving, the menu was in German and they only sold fish. I was able to get some sort of fish sandwich and a drink. I ate my lunch and it was time to see what platform my train departed. I was quite nervous and a little stressed and tired because I had to haul around a 50 lb bag everywhere we went. I finally boarded the train and I had a few stops. It took me to Bern then I changed trains to go to Spietz, then I changed to go to Frutigen and then at Frutigen I had 2 minutes to walk over the bus to go to Adelboden. When I boarded the 30-minute bus ride, I knew Our Chalet was near. I was still quite tired and very quiet. The Adelboden Oey bus stop arrived and as soon as I got off the bus, I hear a very enthusiastic girl ask if I was working at Our Chalet, I nod and I board the van. I am a little intimidated as I board the van, the girl’s name is Lorrie, she’s from the UK, and the driver is Christoph, he is in charge of grounds and maintenance at the Chalet. I then bring my bags all the way uphill to squirrel house, and go to a place called the T-bar where the other summer volunteers are playing Junior Pictionary. Dinner was at 6pm, we ate, had an inside evening programme, since it was raining, where we sang girl scout songs from all over the world. It was quite a neat experience. After that, I was able to get online, chat with friends, email and then it was bedtime.

Day 2 of traveling

I arrived in London, went through security and then hung out in the common area of the airport. You have to hang in the common areas since you will not know which terminal to go to until an hour before your flight is ready for boarding, so I had to hang out and keep an eye on the departure boards to figure out if I needed to switch terminals. I was still very tired, since it was 4am Texas time. I had about 3 hours until my flight to Zurich so after a while I ate a salmon and crayfish salad, took a nap, went to Starbucks and got a vanilla latte and boarded the plane. The flight to Zurich was about an hour, then I read my Discover science magazine, so that was nice. I took the shuttle to the NH Hotel, where I would stay the night. I relaxed in my hotel, used the computer, and ate some chicken wings for dinner. The bartender was quite nice, probably because I was an American and made me a cocktail drink while I was waiting to use the computers. Once I ordered food, I drank some wine. He wanted to be friends, whatever that means, but when I asked for my bill, I didn’t have to pay for the drinks, so that was quite nice. I quickly went to bed before 11pm and slept until the next day.

Traveling

Departed for Switzerland. My flight left at 8:25pm for London-Heathrow Airport. I was quite lucky, there were no people in my row so I was able to lie down and sleep most of the flight. I did wake up just in time for breakfast =). And then it was the next day.