Top of the world in Suisse & Liechtenstein

We had two days left in Switzerland and we certainly made our last days there worth while. Although I was kind of disappointed with how little I got to see of Zurich, since out hotel was a bit outside of the center city and every single day we our up and out driving by 9am and then don’t get home until 9pm.

That Saturday we were up and out after another breakfast which we have been getting at the hotel lounge or downstairs depending on the day. The food selection is really good, but they put out some things we would view as lunch foods for breakfast like lunch meats, cheese and fish. I have been sticking to the same breakfast lately, I get a croissant roll which I cut open and then I shove eggs and bacon inside of it and make a nice sandwich, sooo good. Then I get a hot Belgium waffle with their syrup here which is always hot and doesn’t have a thick consistency like at home, then just fruit.  We have learned quickly and started stealing a lot of things from breakfast to take with on these day trips. It’s not like home where there’s a gas station or something every five miles to get food or drinks because they like their meals more instead of snacking all day as I like to do. So we always take some fruit, muffins and lots of water. All of that aside of the fact that Switzerland is veeeeery expensive, which you will hear about in a bit

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So yes, Saturday, we are out heading east from Zurich in our large ford transit van or nicknamed the UAV (urban assault vehicle) by Christian. Our first stop of the day was an old medieval town on a lake called Rapperswil. We get parked, which is always a treat in our car, the parking is always underground and you have to take a spiraling tunnel which our antenna is just dragging on the ceiling. We all get out and start heading up to the castle there which was the focal point of the old part of town (Altstadt), The streets we’re all very beautiful and narrow as the twisted up the hill. Got to go inside the castle a little, it was converted into a nice restaurant and the main square inside the castle was being set up for a wedding, talk about a good location. From there we walked down through all these all buildings which churches and vineyards growing up the side of the hill. It’s crazy being over here and seeing buildings that have the year built as like 917 on the side. Just nothing like home where late 1700’s would be the oldest buildings we see.  We were only there for an hour and headed out to our next stop of Appenzell. The roads on the way to the town were like nothing you could ever imagine. Twisting S-turns a thousand feet up a mountain and then the same a thousand feet down on the otherside. We get to Appenzell, which is famous for it’s cheese, but we actually stop before in a much smaller town. This was the first time we we’re out where there we not any tourists. We had lunch at the little restaurant ran just by a husband and wife, and they spoke Zero words of English, which was cool actually. The place was a stereotypical Swiss house with the flower boxes lining the windows outside and everything is the whole place made from wood. The food though was excellent, just this one guy cooking it all and then had they hand churned ice cream which was probably made with milk of a cow they went out and milked that morning, I was living. Ha.

Then again on from there, after a little debate whether we wanted to or not, we drove into Liechtenstein. The mountains got real high and steep as we got into their capital city of Vaduz, which was extremely small, I guess fitting to match the size of the country. We had nothing planned to do there but as we were driving in we saw a little tram ride thing. So we investigated it and found the one we saw was the last one of the day, but it was going up to this one castle overlooking the city. We decided to just head on up there ourselves, as we get up there start to walk around the castle but find everything is private and you can’t get in anywhere. Then we find out by a girl walking by that it is where the Prince of Liechtenstein lives! Quite a bachelor pad let me tell you. Then we just kinda strolled around Vaduz, I went off by myself cause we split up a bit. Very beautiful place, seemed extremely high class though. I figure that I fit in and have the European look because there and other places too, I have been asked in German where things are by other people so I guess they think I’m a local! Hah Anyway, nothing really to do in Liechtenstein, was there for about an hour and a half and left, but hey I can say I was there. That was the end of that day, just headed home which I have been getting into the habit of just passing out at about the same time every night on the ride home and then not being able to fall asleep at night. Oh and we we’re starved and stopped to get some pizza’s and beer to take back to the hotel. We got 4 pizzas and 6 pounder cans of beer.. $98 francs!! Which is basically 94 usdollars, Zurich is nuts.

Sunday, this was my favorite day by far, don’t know how I’m ever going to beat it for the rest of the trip. We were juggling whether to go on this boat tour thing or back up a cog railway to an even bigger mountain. We decided on the mountain which was above the town on Interlaken. It was a pretty far drive out there, but everything is so much closer then driving anywhere in America, this trip was long at 2hours. So after some more unbelievable roads twisting through the alps we stop for some diesel for the hog. And by the way my new dream in life is to buy a Ducati motorcyle over here and just rip through the Swiss alps. There are hundreds of motorcycles over here, and seem to basically have no laws, they pass you on the sketchiest roads and in the city they just weave on both sides and through the middle of traffic, you never at to stop on a motorcycle here. Anyway..we hit this gas station quick stop thing and finally see some reasonable prices, so I got some snacks and a 2liter icetea for like 5 francs. Then arrive in Interlaken, we wanted to take the train up to this mountain we could see coming in, which was entirely snow capped, the first one I saw called Jungfrau I think. 82 degrees in August and theres fresh powder up there.

So the train to that mountain took hours and was so expensive, and we ended up taking one we was next to that mountain which turned out even better. (As we were waiting down in that town like a Porsche gumball race went by with like 40 of the most insane porsches you’d ever see, and then pass and I turn to Christian and was like, dude 20million dollars just drove by you. The cars are just insane here, Mercedes are the crappiest car in Switzerland). Anyway!  If you remember the mountain I talked about going up that entry, that was an ant hill compared to this mountain. I could have never imagined anything like it in my life. This trip up you on the train if you wanted to stand you had to stand on a 45 degree angle to match the incline we were going up. All these crazy dudes were hang gliding off the mountains too, looked awesome. And I still can’t believe there are farms on top of these mountains!  I know they have been doing it for thousands of years but its crazy! After an hour of puttin’ up this mountain we reach the top to a little hotel. But then you had to keep hiking up these goat paths to go higher. So I’m like 10,000feet up on the mountain, basically no people at all and I see this kid with a Villanova shirt on. I was like Do you live anywhere near Villanova, he’s like yeah BrynMawr. I was like holy shit man, I travel 4000 miles across the world, go  10,000 feet into the swiss alps and meet someone from 20minutes away from where I live at home. Anyway It was insane up there just miles of snow covered mountains all around you. We reached a point where we going to go back down to the hotel for a drink and to leave. But we were still like 300 feet from the tip of the mountain. I was like I didn’t come this far to not go to the top. So my and my brother start running to the top. Worst decision ever, 2 minutes later we are both bent over gasping for oxygen. You could never catch your breath, I truly thought this was it I was going to pass out, somehow I didn’t but I must have been close. However I conquered the mountain and made it to the top! What a sight, I will never forgot it.

Today, is Monday and was our last day in Switzerland, we returned our rental and hopped on a train from Zurich to Munich. I passed out, but there was much to look at. We checked into our new hotel in Munich got an nice dinner outdoor, which a tall glass or beer. Tis the life, can’t wait to see what this area has got in store for me. Lots on the plans this week!

I have some unbelievable pictures and will put them up soon however I have no Internet on my computer. Wireless in not free in Europe anywhere! Its insane like 5 Euros to use the internet for 30mins. Its like a precious commodity. In our hotels if you type it in it gets charged to your room. So I have been using the hotels business computer. I may have to wait til I get o my apartment in Freiburg on Monday to upload pics or skype with anyone.

Hope all is well,

Goodnight from Munich,

Josh

Suisse/Switzerland

It certainly feels like I have been here for a week already, I lost all track of time during the travel six hours into the future. Jet lag got the best of me for a while, and I hope to catch up on a lot of missed sleep tonight however I thought that last night as well to no avail. So  anyway we left on Wednesday(18^th) at about 11am and a large van picked us up to take us to Philadelphia airport. We got down there with plenty of time to spare and the airport was entirely empty. Checked my bags with no problems, had to pay for the second stow away but whatever. Then up to security…and of course I get singled out of the group for the full frisking. The whole individual metal detecting, pat down, and then to guards went through my backpack with my and asked me questions. I mean I hadn’t shaved in a while but I didn’t think I looked that sketchy. Thing is though even with all that I still could have smuggled anything I wanted onto that plane. I was telling the guard of all these extra secret compartments in my bag that he was missing, he seemed to appreciated me helping out. haha

 Anyway, so we get up to the board finally and I was supposed to be seated with all my family like we booked it. But, somehow we were all scattered throughout the plane. We we’re actually able to figure that out and got a row in the center of the plane. It was good and bad at the same time, for one we didn’t have another row of seats infront of us so the leg room was great to be able to stretch out, especially my brother with his 7ft legs. The bad thing though, no window in sight! So the flight went really fast apparently at just about 7 hours, but it was horrible. But the dinner served was surprisingly delicious. I slept for a whole of 45mins probably, the sun went down and then back up again by the time we landed at about 12:30am EST (6am)  in Frankfurt, Germany. The airport was Massive there! Like 100 planes running and boarding as we got off the runway. It was only a layover there, until we had to catch the next flight to Zurich, Switzerland.

 I apparently have terrible luck with airports, because we go to get our boarding passes for the next flight and they girl was like “we only have three Bitlers on this flight”…and I bet you can all guess which Bitler wasn’t on there..yours truly. The girl finally figures it out and I have 2 seats booked for myself? Whatever…next flight was a little late and we board. I got a super nice seat on the window right behind the wing. It was so incredible flying south over the German countryside, winding rivers endless farm fields and then it started to get very mountainous as we neared Switzerland. We were flying pretty low just right above the clouds, and I saw this castle ruins on a mountain which was sweet. So we get to Zurich airport, I was just so syked all my luggage made it.. otherwise uneventful for awhile got to the hotel and got checked in right away. Was up for about two days at this point and we decided to nap for about 4 hours.

That night we got some dinner in the hotel, which is beautiful by the way, and then my and Christian went for a walk out on the town near us. It’s more of a residential area so it was cool just walking around peoples homes and the narrow Swiss back streets. There was a real cool part of town where people must like rent or be given a plot to garden and have a little shed. It was blocks long right in the city and some locals where in there plot grilling, looked like a good time. We get back to the hotel and I crash at about 10pm…but then I wake up, wide awake at 2am because the time change was messin with me so bad. I was up all night until about 5:30am which then we just got up at 8am anyway.  But I got up and felt fine, just getting sleep at odd times of the day. Its 11:30pm now and Ive basically been up since 2am last night..and im not really tired so im praying I fall asleep.

So after some breakfast, croissants and stereotypical things you’d imagine at a Euro breakfast. My dad and Andy went out to get our rental car, Andy is the driver and my dad gets back and is like “you speak german, get down there read andy the user manual that’s in German” because they couldn’t figure out how to put it in reverse and my dad was pushing it down in the parking garage…(wish I could have been there to have a healthy laugh at that) but typical of sending those two out on a task. Anyway we load up our Ford Transit 8seater van thing. It is pretty sweet and driving is awesome over here, glad we got a car instead of taking trains everywhere. Although we defiantly had some sketchy moments driving in cities where a larger vehicle has no room. So we head south today, about an hour or so through long tunnels under mountains and the Swiss countryside. We get to our first stop which was Luzern, Switzerland. I know I haven’t seen much yet..but it was hands down the most beautiful city I have ever seen anyway. Everything over here makes America look like a joke. The city of Luzern had massive alp mountains all the way around it, with a huge lake twisting through the mountains and center city.

We didn’t stay too long there before we headed out of the city, and followed the edge of the lake around back out into smaller towns and villages. The mountains here don’t gently roll like at home, they are huge and so steep. So after passing through this last village where the homes were set right on the mountain hanging right over this lake, I believe the area was called Weggis. Then we got to the steepest cog railroad up the Mount Rigi. It was like 7000m tall. We get on this train thing and start going up…im talking we are on like a 45 degree angle crawling up the mountain, 1000ft drops two feet next to the rail road. But it was another world up there! I could never explain it to do it justice, but there were little houses up in the clouds thousand feet up on this mountain which is so steep you could barely walk out there. It looked like such a peaceful way of life, being a true mountain man. They had the cocco brown Swiss cows with the big bells wandering around these thing dirt paths they have made. I figured out why they wear bells quickly, because clouds just roll in up that high and you literally can see anything, they would lose their cows without the jingle of the bell! We reach the top and get out and there was no oxygen at all, I hit a flight of stairs and thought I was going to pass out. Then we got dinner on the summit..I had my first true brot wurst up there and we headed back home.

Overall the Swiss people are super nice, their country is beautiful and we got helped out a lot by them, and most everyone does indeed speak English. However even being here just the 2 days I can tell my german is going to get incredible. I have already order some things and got some things in stores only using my german, even some of my thoughts are in german..so that’s a good sign. I still can’t believe ill be hear until Christmas!

I just hit the gym, took a shower and will hopefully fall asleep now.

Sorry about the length on this entry, had a lot to catch up on. Tomorrow we headed back out, I heard word of possibly going into Lichtenstein, I have no idea what’s there, but hey how many people can say they’ve been there. Ha

Hope all is well in America!

Goodnight from Zurich,

Josh

PreDeparture

Just about 15 hours left until I leave and I still haven't done anything related to packing except for laying a few articles of clothing out on my bed. Perhaps to hide the fact of it being real, because it hasn't hit me at all yet.  Hopefully it will just be an easy transition and excitement will outweigh anything else. I am certainly as ready as I will ever be, especially after about four months of preparation. This last semester felt like I had an extra class with everything that went into setting this up. Endless forms, deadlines, and readings between PennState and IES, which is the organization that is running my program.  I guess now would be a good time to bring anyone who doesn't know up to speed with what i'll be doing.  

I will be living and studying in Freiburg im Breisgau, which is down in southwest tip of Germany. It is settled in the Black Forest and just about an hour from Switzerland and France. I am in a European Union program, so all my classes and travels will relate to the EU. The program is made up of only 50 students, who are mostly from U.S universities. The program is affiliated with Freiburg University, I will live in an university apartment which will be, Myself with my own room and I will share a floor with 7 other German students and we will all be sharing a kitchen. I don't know any of my flat-mates, nor really any of the 50 kids in my program either. I have only talked with two so far, Lindsey from Hawaii, and Viktor who is from Hungry. They both seem cool and it seems like we should get along well. 

Anyway my classes will be separate from the Germans and I will only be taking classes with the 50 students from my program. I don't finalize my classes till I get there..But so far I have, a German Language class, EU-US relations, EU Foreign Policy Analysis, an EU environmental one and then the EU integrative studies which everyone must take and it gears us to all our travels. It is different then any normal program because we will be traveling for 30+ days around Europe. Its about each month that we have a big trip, usually around 8days total. During these travels we will be visiting different European Union institutions, like EU parliment, world bank, the UN etc. Will be meeting with delegates and have to wear a suit and the whole nine yards on those trips. Plus a whole bunch of day trips. All together I should end up being in about 15 countries. 

I don't check into my apartment until the 30th of August, So I am leaving tomorrow with my family and we are going to travel around Europe before I start. We leave tomorrow at about 11am to take a limo down to the philly airport and our flight is at around 4pm. I really hope I can sleep on the plane because we are going to get to our layover spot in Frankfurt, Germany at about 12:30am est but it will be 6:30am over there because they are 6 hours ahead over there. Then we have two hours wait in frankfurt and then fly out to Zurich, Switzerland so I should finally arrive there at 4am est or 10am their time. Will we be doing days trips from Zurich until monday then will go to Munich, Germany where we will do more day trips and into Austria and will stay in munich until the next saturday the 27th when we will head to my city, Freiburg, hangout a bit there, then my family will go home and I will start! But I will get into more of these travels when I get there.

So for now I am getting back to packing..aka going to the bars to meet up with friends for a last yeungling! haha. I only have my carryon backpack to still pack with my personals and electronics, so i'm all good. My posts to come so be more lively and with pictures, this one was just to get everyone up to speed'  

I hope you'll follow me on my travels! and please comment

Stay classy America. Next time you hear from me i'll be on the other side of the pond.

Josh'