Hello again! Since I have a huge paper due tomorrow I thought this would be the best time to post about our trip to Switzerland last weekend! Here goes! Enjoy!
Thursday
So our flight out of Barcelona was at 11am and things went smoothly for the most part. We took the AeroBus from Placa Catalunya to the airport and except for a little delay at first, things went well and we landed in Geneva in just over an hour. So we converted our money into Swiss Francs and grabbed a cab for the hotel. We stayed right in the city center of Geneva in a nice little hotel right next to the trainstation and metro stop. After quick dropping our stuff off, we wandered around the city for a little and then headed to the Red Cross Museseum. Although the setup of the museum is a little confusing, it was an awesome experience to see. The museum has an extremely interactive approach to it and through videos, real-life displays and headphones, you really do get a feel for what kinds of things the Red Cross has accomplished in the past and still does today. One of my favorite parts was the makeshift bunker they had as part of the display. After you walked in the room with a squishy floor and surrounding you was all the equipment and supplies that a family needed in order to survive for one month in there. Some of the things I would have never even thought of. There was also a really neat display about the Geneva Convention and the signing of the agreement. After the museum we headed to dinner at a little pub/restaurant right by our hotel. The food in Geneva was to die for! We were exahusted from a long week and day of travel, so after dinner we headed to the hotel and took a sauna, watched some CNN (the only channel in english) and went to bed for an early day Friday.
Friday
So we had the brilliant plan of waking up early on Friday to go to the United Nations and tour it on the early side in order to catch the train into the mountains early. So we get to the UN at around 9:30am and wait around for the tour at 10am. After about 45 minutes, we finally ask a security guard why the tours hadn't started yet and we were informed that they weren't allowing tours that day because of a demonstration that was scheduled for that afternoon. HUGE BUMMER. I was really excited to visit and was really disappointed when I learned that it wasn't going to happen. Oh well, I guess I'll just have to go back to visit :) So we shopped around a little bit and then went back to the hotel in order to make our check out time. We grabbed a quick lunch by the train station and hopped on the train to Sierre-Siders to visit a friend Diego. Okay so a little backgroud on Diego before I go any further. His family is from Mexico City and moved to Hopkins when he was 7. He went to Eisenhower/North/Benilde and then his family moved back to Mexico City right before our Junior Year. So he was friends with all my friend's from Hopkins as well as a lot of the people I know from Benilde. He goes to Hotel Management school in the Alps at the #1 Hotel Management school in the world- Les Roches. When he found out about everyone studying abroad in Europe, he gave and open invitation for anyone to come visit and stay with him. Kelly was good friends with him at Hopkins so he was really excited to have us come visit. So after the 2 hour train ride up into the mountains, Diego picked us up at the train station about 20 minutes outside of the town he lives in. Driving up through the mountains was amazing, not to mention gorgeous! We drove past his school and into the ski resort town he lives in Crans-Montana. He describes is as the "Aspen of Europe". He basically lives in a ski chalet and goes to school everyday overlooking the Swiss Alps. HOW DID I NOT KNOW ABOUT THIS SCHOOL BEFORE?!?! seriously! So after hanging out for a little Friday afternoon, Diego made us dinner (quesadillas) and took us out to a pub and club that everyone from his school goes to. It wasn't too late of a night (a night change from the nightlife here in Barcelona) and we went to bed with big plans on Saturday.
Saturday
So Tess really wanted to go skiing on Saturday so she woke up at the crack of dawn and busied herself until the rest of us woke up finally around 10:30am. After realizing that we had absolutely no ski clothes or equipment, her dream of skiing in the Alps slowly started to fade. We grabbed a delicious lunch at one of Diego's favorite restaurants and walked to the base of the mountain and bought gondola tickets up onto the mountain. There were so many people skiing and boarding but the four of us climbed into the gondola and oogled at the AMAZING sites. I seriously cannot get over the fact that thats where Diego goes to school. Like his "Oxford, OH" is a ski town in the Alps- how unfair! We spent a good half hour just sitting in silence at the mountain-top restaurant drinking hot cocoa and taking in the breathtaking views. We sat around for an hour or two and took SO MANY pictures. After we rode the gondola back down, Diego took us down to this school and showed us around and everything. The way his school works is really cool. Its run like a restaurant/hotel. So the first-years are the wait staff and "go to school" setting up the dining room and waiting on the other students. The second-years are the kitchen staff and work to prep the food and organize the kitchen. Lastly, the third-year (Diego's year) take management classes and act as the restaurant patrons. After we hung out at his school for a little bit, we went over to one of his friend's house and watched a movie (The Last King of Scotland) and made dinner (spaghetti). We went out to the bars again but had another pretty early night in order to wake up and catch the train back into Geneva the next morning.
Sunday
Our flight back to Barcelona wasn't until 4pm so we had time to kinda wander the airport (good thing because our gate was sooooo far away from anything). And we had an easy flight back and got back around 6pm- completely exhausted. Oh! Something I forgot to mention earlier about Switzerland is the AMAZING water. Its easily the best tap water I have ever experienced in my entire life. We would take turns standing at the sink and chugging glasses of the freezing cold, crisp water. So good! I'm getting thirsty just thinking about it. Anyways, Switzerland was absolutely amazing and I definitely could go back and spend some serious time there.
Stay tuned for a post about Carnival!!!
xoxo Molly
Thursday
So our flight out of Barcelona was at 11am and things went smoothly for the most part. We took the AeroBus from Placa Catalunya to the airport and except for a little delay at first, things went well and we landed in Geneva in just over an hour. So we converted our money into Swiss Francs and grabbed a cab for the hotel. We stayed right in the city center of Geneva in a nice little hotel right next to the trainstation and metro stop. After quick dropping our stuff off, we wandered around the city for a little and then headed to the Red Cross Museseum. Although the setup of the museum is a little confusing, it was an awesome experience to see. The museum has an extremely interactive approach to it and through videos, real-life displays and headphones, you really do get a feel for what kinds of things the Red Cross has accomplished in the past and still does today. One of my favorite parts was the makeshift bunker they had as part of the display. After you walked in the room with a squishy floor and surrounding you was all the equipment and supplies that a family needed in order to survive for one month in there. Some of the things I would have never even thought of. There was also a really neat display about the Geneva Convention and the signing of the agreement. After the museum we headed to dinner at a little pub/restaurant right by our hotel. The food in Geneva was to die for! We were exahusted from a long week and day of travel, so after dinner we headed to the hotel and took a sauna, watched some CNN (the only channel in english) and went to bed for an early day Friday.
Friday
So we had the brilliant plan of waking up early on Friday to go to the United Nations and tour it on the early side in order to catch the train into the mountains early. So we get to the UN at around 9:30am and wait around for the tour at 10am. After about 45 minutes, we finally ask a security guard why the tours hadn't started yet and we were informed that they weren't allowing tours that day because of a demonstration that was scheduled for that afternoon. HUGE BUMMER. I was really excited to visit and was really disappointed when I learned that it wasn't going to happen. Oh well, I guess I'll just have to go back to visit :) So we shopped around a little bit and then went back to the hotel in order to make our check out time. We grabbed a quick lunch by the train station and hopped on the train to Sierre-Siders to visit a friend Diego. Okay so a little backgroud on Diego before I go any further. His family is from Mexico City and moved to Hopkins when he was 7. He went to Eisenhower/North/Benilde and then his family moved back to Mexico City right before our Junior Year. So he was friends with all my friend's from Hopkins as well as a lot of the people I know from Benilde. He goes to Hotel Management school in the Alps at the #1 Hotel Management school in the world- Les Roches. When he found out about everyone studying abroad in Europe, he gave and open invitation for anyone to come visit and stay with him. Kelly was good friends with him at Hopkins so he was really excited to have us come visit. So after the 2 hour train ride up into the mountains, Diego picked us up at the train station about 20 minutes outside of the town he lives in. Driving up through the mountains was amazing, not to mention gorgeous! We drove past his school and into the ski resort town he lives in Crans-Montana. He describes is as the "Aspen of Europe". He basically lives in a ski chalet and goes to school everyday overlooking the Swiss Alps. HOW DID I NOT KNOW ABOUT THIS SCHOOL BEFORE?!?! seriously! So after hanging out for a little Friday afternoon, Diego made us dinner (quesadillas) and took us out to a pub and club that everyone from his school goes to. It wasn't too late of a night (a night change from the nightlife here in Barcelona) and we went to bed with big plans on Saturday.
Saturday
So Tess really wanted to go skiing on Saturday so she woke up at the crack of dawn and busied herself until the rest of us woke up finally around 10:30am. After realizing that we had absolutely no ski clothes or equipment, her dream of skiing in the Alps slowly started to fade. We grabbed a delicious lunch at one of Diego's favorite restaurants and walked to the base of the mountain and bought gondola tickets up onto the mountain. There were so many people skiing and boarding but the four of us climbed into the gondola and oogled at the AMAZING sites. I seriously cannot get over the fact that thats where Diego goes to school. Like his "Oxford, OH" is a ski town in the Alps- how unfair! We spent a good half hour just sitting in silence at the mountain-top restaurant drinking hot cocoa and taking in the breathtaking views. We sat around for an hour or two and took SO MANY pictures. After we rode the gondola back down, Diego took us down to this school and showed us around and everything. The way his school works is really cool. Its run like a restaurant/hotel. So the first-years are the wait staff and "go to school" setting up the dining room and waiting on the other students. The second-years are the kitchen staff and work to prep the food and organize the kitchen. Lastly, the third-year (Diego's year) take management classes and act as the restaurant patrons. After we hung out at his school for a little bit, we went over to one of his friend's house and watched a movie (The Last King of Scotland) and made dinner (spaghetti). We went out to the bars again but had another pretty early night in order to wake up and catch the train back into Geneva the next morning.
Sunday
Our flight back to Barcelona wasn't until 4pm so we had time to kinda wander the airport (good thing because our gate was sooooo far away from anything). And we had an easy flight back and got back around 6pm- completely exhausted. Oh! Something I forgot to mention earlier about Switzerland is the AMAZING water. Its easily the best tap water I have ever experienced in my entire life. We would take turns standing at the sink and chugging glasses of the freezing cold, crisp water. So good! I'm getting thirsty just thinking about it. Anyways, Switzerland was absolutely amazing and I definitely could go back and spend some serious time there.
Stay tuned for a post about Carnival!!!
xoxo Molly
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