September 19, 2012: Crazy Little Thing Called Love

Swiss Cheese! Swiss Knives! Swiss Chocolate! Swiss Everything!

I am excited. I love this country. And just a few days ago, I only loved Lausanne. So let’s rewind a little bit here and answer some questions. Interview time!

Q: What caused such a jump from loving just the city to the whole country?

A: You see, dear readers, I traveled to Interlaken this weekend. It was a total spur-of-the-moment voyage. On Friday night, my friend, Madison, asked me what I was doing this weekend. I was planning on going to Lugano with some other students, but ticket prices were more than we expected. So, we were out of plans. Madison kindly asked Kyle and me to join her and two other girls in Interlaken. Almost everyone else was traveling there for the weekend; I figured, what the heck? It’s better than not seeing the country! and accepted her invitation. We left the house at 9:20 on Saturday to catch a 9:45 train to Bern (we literally bought our tickets and boarded the train just before it took off!), switched trains, and stopped at Interlaken Ost. Once there, we got off the train; walked around a bit; got lunch and ate it in a field of lush, green grass; and walked the main street, looking in the tourist-y shops and taking pictures with the plastic cow sculptures. We then ran into two other Pepp Lausanne students and walked around with them for a while before we decided to take a tram to the top of Harder Klum, where we could see the two lakes on either side of Interlaken and the city itself. 

(The view of one of the lakes surrounding Interlaken. The picture doesn't even do it justice - the water was so gorgeous and bright!)

After taking pictures and sitting at the restaurant for a good while, we headed back down to get dinner and leave for home. Even though we hadn’t done too much, we were still wiped when we got back to the house.

Sunday morning, we woke up to go to Geneva. Brady Smith picked seven of us (Dr. Iga, Andrew, Kyle, Kristin, Jordan, Alexa, and me) up from the house and we drove an hour to the Church of Christ in Geneva. After the service, which a member of the church kindly translated for us), we headed over to the de Plantas’ house, which had a killer view of the lake. There, we got into their patio pool and then ate a nice lunch on their patio while conversing about different places in Europe, where we should visit while abroad, and the history of the de Planta house.

(Alexa and I being awkward together post-swimming)

Then, we visited the Martin Bodmer Library and Museum, which houses documents of literature, such as the first known copy of the book of John, the Gutenberg Bible, Homer’s Iliad, Vergil’s Aeneid, Frederick Nietzsche’s Zarathustra, among countless others. It was amazing. When I saw the Iliad, I knew my sister would be extremely jealous when I told her about it. She was. Mission accomplished. (Maybe we’ll visit it when my family comes out for Christmas! They just booked their flights!) After spending some quality time admiring the texts, we went back to the da Planta house to eat a delicious dessert, then down to the lake to take a ride on their boat to the Jet D'eau and over to the other shore of Lake Geneva.

(Jet D'eau in the Geneva Lake - isn't it gorgeous? It sprays 130 meters into the air!)

(Our group - minus Dr. Iga, who went back to the house early. From left: Jordan, Kyle, Andrew, Alexa, me, Kristin with the Jet D'eau behind us.)

From there, we left with Mrs. Smith to return to the Pepperdine house. The rest of the day was uneventful: went to the park to get a little reading done, then returned home to make some delicious rice for dinner (when I say delicious, I really mean bland, since I didn’t feel like going out to the store for more appetizing food…what can I say? I’m a poor college student!) before going upstairs to work on my blog and post pictures from my weekend travels on Facebook.

Q: So…what makes you love the country of Switzerland?

A: Traveling across Switzerland and seeing all of the gorgeous, green rolling hills; moo cows; gorgeous mountains; and clear lakes was indescribable. I love nature, and the combination of all the scenery definitely played a huge factor in making my love grow. Plus, all of the traffic signs are just so darn adorable!!!!! Really. I’m starting a photograph series of traffic signs I find throughout Switzerland and the rest of Europe.

After spending this weekend in different parts of the country, I am so excited to embark on journeys to faraway lands and observe the different traditions and sceneries there!

Your Friend,

Leigh

P.S. Sorry this is a few days late - piles and piles of reading homework and sickness has been killing me this week :( But here's a happy picture of me pre-sickness to show just how happy I am! J'aime la Suisse!