The beginning of a decade. . .

Bonjour! First, I am writing this on a French keyboard, so the letters may be a little jumbled, but I will do my best. Anyway. I have 1 hour, and decided to update this as I have time before the big New Year's party I am going to with my mom and brother, Ilan. We are even getting all dressed up! Well, my day's have been busy here lately! My new family is so sweet and great, and I have been on the go with them, living up the vacation while it lasts! Here is a run down of the past few days. . . .

On Monday, Ilan, Nora, and I made Bricelets, a traditional Swiss recipe. Here are the directions, si tu veux (if you want:) ) In French and German, your choice :)

It was actually pretty intense. There are 3 steps.

1. Put the batter in the iron (kinda like a waffle iron)

2. Let it bake, and continue to watch it, and when it is browned, quickly remove from the iron, trying to not burn your fingers and place on a board.

3. QUICKLY lay out the bricelet and then roll it onto the little roller thingy.

Now the problem is, you have like 30 seconds to get it wrapped up before it hardens, but in that 30 seconds, it is SUPER DUPER hot. Resulting in burnt fingers. Ilan was originally doing the rolling, until we changed and I failed and needed help. Lol.

Nora and Ilan, eating a failed one. . Poor little guy. Never had a chance to be a real bricelet.

After we became pro's, we made ice cream cones and bowls too. I know. We rock. Haha. THE FINISHED PRODUCT!!!

Monday night, we went bowling! Unfortunetly, I scored a whopping 12! But I still had fun! Here is Nora, my little sis of 12 years, and moi!

Tuesday, we headed to AQUAPARC! It is this giant indoor water park on the other side of Lake Genevé. This is when we were waiting for our tickets. We had lots of fun, and Ilan and I can now say we conquered the Booster Loop. What is this you ask? This would be the only like its kind in the world. It is a body slide that reaches speeds of 80 km, with 3G acceleration. This includes a trap, which is how the ride starts, and after the trap door opens and you go flying straight down, you go through a loop then down to the bottom. Let's remember that this is a BODY SLIDE. It was pretty intense. Ilan and I chicked out the first time we went up, but then went up again and SURVIVED! Then we did it a 2nd time. It was intense. Google it. I am such a campion. Haha.

After the water park, we went back home and I immediatly went with my conselor to meet my 3rd host family! They live RIGHT on the lake, closer than I am now, and own a vineyard. I will have a 19 year old brother, a 17 year old sister, and a 15 year old brother, and of course, a mom and dad. They were sooooo sweet too! When Jean-Francois (next host dad) offered me some of his wine, I thought it was a trick since my conselor was there (ah! I see through this test!) , but they said I could have some, and it was SO GOOD!

After, we headed with my conselor's son and my 3 next host siblings to McDonald's (of course because it is where the cool kids here eat, for real) in Lausanne and then went to see the movie The Tourist, in French of course. And I actually understood everything up until the end, when it got crazy in the last 2 minutes, but a good movie. Go see it. After you finish reading this great post of course.

Wednesday found me getting up early and heading to St. Moritz, which is competly on the other side of Switzerland in the mountains. Becky, Zion and I had planned to take the Glacier Express there, which began in Brig and then headed to St. Moritz. Unfortunetly, Zion and I missed a train in Vevey, which resulted in us missing the Glacier Express by 10 minutes, and Becky spending the whole day alone on the Glacier Express. Zion and I tried to figure out how to catch up with her, but we never did. But we did take the exact same route! So we got to see all the same scenery!

But when we got to Brig, we had some time to wait for our connection and we found him. . . . .

We had lots of fun with him. But when we tried to invite him along with us, he wouldn't budge. :(

Zion and I had SOOO much stuff and had to take quite a few trains to get to St. Moritz, so here is a picture of us after getting on train #3, 4, 5, 6, can't remember. They are all blurring together.
Waiting for the train in Brig. Couldn't resist a picture. . :)

On the final train, I ran into VERA! It was so crazy! I was getting on, and her friend, (who I had met when I was in Weinfelden) spotted me and when I got on the train, there was Vera! Crazy. We weren't going to the same place, but we were together for about an hour! Small world.
Zion and I thought we would be cool and take pictures of us out the window. She has the picture of me though. . . So here is Zion!

This is a picture of me somewhere in Switzerland, on some train, somewhere in the mountains, enjoying the ride.

On the same train we ran into Vera on, we met him. This is Andres. He is our new friend from the Italian part of Switzerland. I think he thinks Zion and I are 2 crazy people, but we totally kept him entertained on this 2 hour train. He taught us some Italian, some German, some Polish, and uhh, I can't remember what else. I decided then to be cool and go incognito while Zion filmed me speaking German. She has the video though, but I will post it once I copy it to my computer. :) Pretty much I can speak 5 languages now. :) Oh, and I love his face in this picture. What is she doing???

Once we got to St. Moritz, we headed to the hostel we were going to stay at, dropped our stuff off, got dressed, asked some 12 year olds to take a picture of us, and then hit the town!

We took a bus into the town, had dinner, went to a club to go dancing, but there was NO ONE there. We were the only 3 dancing, and there was like 5 other people there. Including the owner. But what I think is so funny is this. So we ate at this pub. And while there, we asked the waiter where is a good club for dancing. This is how the conversation goes. . .

Zion- ''Where is a good place to go dancing here?''

Guy- ''Well, there is this really good one, but it is a little expensive''

(Normally they are 10 to 20 francs to get into, so we were thinking expensive is 40 to 50 francs)

Zion- ''What is expensive?''

Guy- ''Oh, about 500 to 600 francs, but it is really good!'' (leaves)

All of us- ''(laughing) WHAT?! We would never pay that. Okay. We will find a club on our own. Haha''.

Ridiculous. WHO PAYS THAT?! Apparently, people who have lots of money and live in St. Moritz. Crazy.

After our ''dancing'' experience, if you could call it that, we headed back to the hostel, but since it was after 10 and there were no more buses, we walked. We were in such deep conversation, I'm not sure exactly how long it took us, but I think it was about an hour walk. Then we headed to bed!

The next day, we got up bright and early, after getting to bed at 2am, got ready, and headed out to go sledding. We took a 30 minute train ride down the mountains to a town called Preda, where we rented 2 sleds and then procedded to sled down this giant hill to the next town. It was about a 15 minute sled ride, but it ended up taking us an hour, because the first stretch of road, which is flat, turns out, is not part of the course. But we thought it was. So we tried sledding down. Which didn't work because it was flat.

Before heading down. A.K.A. Before battle.

The 3 musketeers!

Getting ready!!!
Walking, after giving up on sledding down what I thought was the hill which was flat. I was annoyed.

After finding that that wasn't the hill, and discovering the actual hill, Becky and I sled down together, behind Zion. We wiped out 2 times, one of which left a plesent LARGE bruise on my leg, which looks great with this dress I am currently wearing for New Years. Battle wounds people. Battle wounds. It was fun, but really scary. The first half I was screaming bloody murder I believe. And they have a speed thing halfway down, and it was saying 40 km, which is FAST for a sled. Basically, only campions survive. :)
CAMPIONS!

We like to consider this picture Miss Posh and Blair. Long story. Just pretend it is so funny and admire how great I look in those pants from this angle. :)

The train heading back down the mountains. Headed home.
Thumbs up for good vacation :)

Well everyone. It is now 2011 here in la Suisse. I didn't publish this before I left at 9l and it is now 6:17am and we got home at 6am.

I wish you all a great and happy New Year! Bonne Année!

Joyeux Noel!

Hi everyone! I hope you all had a wonderful Christmas!!!!

Right now, I am sitting in my new dad's house, with my new sisters, chilling out and waiting to head to the indoor water park in a bit. :)

I changed families on Christmas morning. But first, let me explain my new family dynamic. My new parents are divorced. So every other weekend, I will go to my dad's house in Vevey, and the rest of the time, will be in my mom's house in Chexbres, the same village I lived in before. I have 3 sibilings! A sister my age, Alix, a sister who is 14, Nora (this gets confuding because our names sound the exact same in French!) and a brother, almost 13, Ilan! They are all sooooo sweet and so cute! We had Christmas lunch, and then opened presents, and there were even presents for me! Which I wasn't expecting since it was my first day there! Then Nora, Alix, and I made 2 videos with clay people! Then we hung out, I skyped home and my new family talked with my parents too! Then yesterday, my mom came over and picked me and Alix up and we went back to my new house, which is completly different than my old one. This one is a lot older, with chatacter, and is just all in all a lot different! I unpacked my stuff ( I will post pics of my new room and all in the next post, since I dont have my camera cord with me) and then we went snow shoeing (I believe that is how you say it in English, but not for sure, this is worrisome. . . . ) It was actually really amusing. It was Alix and my first time, and they were so strange, but it was still fun! Then I went, or attempted to. go to church with Zion, but we couldn't find it, and we eventually gave up. Then I headed back and met Alix and she took me to meet her friends and then sleptover with a bunch of her friends! It was so nice of her! Awwww. They are so great! Okay. I will continue to brag in a bit, when I post my pics and all, but for now, enjoy the following films! I am not sure the order of them, but 2 are the videos I made with my sisters, and the other is my Christmas movie! I will keep you all posted, and in the mean time (wait, is that how you write it, mean time, maybe meane, no, mene, so, for some reason mean time looks weird, but I think it is right, moving on) have a HAPPY NEW YEAR!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

You know you're an exchange student if.....

1. Before waiting to see if anyone understood what you meant, you start acting it out.
2. You think 100 pounds to pack up your whole life is plenty of space.
3. You don't have preferances anymore. Especially when it comes to food. Nothing tastes familiar, that's for sure.
4. You spend a lot of time smiling, nodding, and prentending you know what's going on.
5. You clasify "doing your homework" as translating half of it. And that alone took 3 hours.
6. When your grandma asks you what you've been learning, you tell her something general instead of "how to open beer cans with a 50 cent coin"
7. You sometimes use the excuse "sorry, I don't understand" to avoid answering a question. . . . even if you do.
8. They offer cocktails at the back to school party.
9. You want to hug people who attempt to speak your native language to you.
10. You've called every person who has said "hi" to you your friend, because you really don't have any yet.
11. You'll read anything in your native language just to have something to read.....even packaging labels.
12. You've got on the bus and the driver said "you don't want to be on this bus" because you got on the same bus the night before and it was wrong then, too.
13. You sometimes walk around the school during breaks to act like you are doing something, because you don't see anyone you recognize and you don't want to stand there akwardly.
14. You know the answer to a question in class but you don't want to raise your hand because you don't want people to expect too much from you.
15. You are better than your teacher in your foreign language class.
16. You are a master of pantomime and circumlocation and you still can't have a conversation.
17. You actually think the language barrier is a good thing when it comes to things like lying to your host parents.
18. You've ever mispronounced something in your native language (for example, names of products, tv shows, companies) because you know the others will understand it better if you say it with an accent.
19. You have tried so many different foods due entirely to the fact that you cannot understand the person asking you what you want, so you just nod your head and say "yes" and hope it tastes half-decent.
20. You have tried to order something in your host country's language only to be answered in English because you did it so badly.
21. You've gotten annoyed with said people that automatically answer you in English when you try to speak to them in their language.
22. After you come back, everybody tells you that you have a weird accent.
23. Your dreams are bilingual.
24. Sometimes it takes you 5 minutes to remember a word in your native language that you were going to use.
25. You automatically use words in your foreign language that you can't even translate just because they seem to fit the context.
26. You watch tv shows and movies in your native language just to understand for once.
27. You begin to enjoy foods that you had previously despised at home.
28. You've gotten out of a punishment or being yelled at because you didn't understand the language, or at least acted like you didn't. . . . .
29. It becomes a habit to introduce yourself by saying "I am from (country) and my name is (name)"
30. You've gotten upset because someone assumed you wanted to do something, and then you were told that you were asked if you wanted to, and your answer was "yes!"
31. You've said something like "oh yes!" or "no thanks" just to be laughed at because your answer made no sense compared to the question.
32. You actually got a high five when you understood what someone said to you.
33. You are never sure if someone is being your friend, flirting, seducing you, or sexually harassing you.
34. While you are having a nice conversation with your Gastopa and Oma, your host sister is making out on the same couch. Then her and her boyfriend are always sure to announce that they are going to take a bath together.
35. You are not sure if it is really a children's book. . . .
36. You get a little scared before starting a sentance with big words in it in another language.
37. You have been put in one or more classes with the 5th graders, because you are suppossed to understand more there.
38. You are always counting the difference between where you are and home.
39. You always forget the time difference when you call a family member or a friend back home.....sorry for waking you up at 4am mom.
40. You do something wrong and people look at you weird and your excuse is "that's how we do it in my country", even if it isn't.
41. You have gone in to greet someone with a shake of hands and find yourself being pulled into an akward hug/triple kiss on the cheek or the other way around.
42. You carry a dictonary and a camera in your bag.
43. You get so used to broken English you finish people's sentences even though no one else can understand them.
44. You get into arguements with the foreign language teacher (English) over how to prononce something.
45. You try to speak in the native language and everyone immediatly and automatically goes "You're not from around here."
46. You can get into the strictest club with your ID from your host country because most people get confused and jsut let you in.
47. You know every cuss word in your host language, but still can't congugate into the future or past tense.
48. You are ready to drink any time of the day.
49. You have spent more than one night getting drunk with your host parents (or with Rotarians)
50. Everyone thinks you are playing the tough guy when you say you haven't called your mom yet and you don't miss her. . . . too much.
51. A conversation is going fine, until suddenly you get stuck on some word or phrase which makes you competly forget what you were talking about.
52. You buy clothes in your host country so you don't look so much like a foreigner.
    

Where did this come from, you ask? I was invited to this group on Facebook, that said all of this, and as I was reading it, I was DYING of laughter, because I can pretty much relate to every one of these. Thought you all might enjoy some insight:)

So what have I been up to? Well. Let's see. I had school. BUT!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Last week I had a Chemistry test, 2 days, 2 parts. On the first part, I got a 4, and on the second, a 4.5!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Which just so happened to be the class average!!! Yeah! I was rejoicing when I saw it. The girls I sit by were like "Yay Laura!, wait, why are you crying and singing?" Me:"they are tears of JOY!" Haha. This is a big deal, if you can't tell. Here, tests are on a scale of 1 to 6, or 1 to 7, depending on the teacher. So a 4.5, is like a B. Yeah baby!!!!!! Ah. The sweet smell of victory.

I didn't have school Thursday or Friday because it was TM's for the 3rd years, (where they do these HUGE presentations) and the 2nd years had to watch. Advantage to being a 1st year, I didn't have to go! So, Thursday I ventured to Bulle, which is where 4 of the 11 exchangies are in the French part. I went to their school to check it out, had lunch with Becky, and suprised (I think) Megan, Gina, and Bjorn. Then Becky and I went to jumbo, basically, the Swiss Big Lots. I have not seen a store like this since arriving, so it was really excitng. Haha.

Friday evening, my host mom and sister made star decorations for Christmas (the ONLY decorations that indicate any type of holiday) and then went to Vevey for dinner.

Saturday, we went to Les Peilades, where there is a hill, used normally for beginner skiiers, but instead, we went sledding, which was pretty fun:) Then we went to the movie theatre (which is super expensive here!) and after, returned back home. Today, I have homework to do. (Or at least translate, right?) And then 4 more days of school until Christmas break! YAY!

Can you believe that a week from today is Christmas?! And that this is my last Sunday in this house? Because next week at this time, I will be with my new family:) Crazy how fast time flies.

Those are the Jura mountains. This is only the 2nd time we have been able to see them, so its kinda a big deal. :)

The lake, the mountains, snow, which all equals beautiful.

Trees covered in snow. I love it.

Well. That is all. I hope you all have a wonderful Christmas, close to the ones you love. And let's not forget the real reason for the season!

Happy Holidays!

Love Always, Laura

Mushrooms and letter boxes. Possibly sleeping

Title: Long story. It all has to do with sleep deprivation though. You know how that is. Haha. I went to school, yay, had lots of tests, yay. BUT! St. Nikolas came on Monday! So.... You know what that means! Basically, you put out a shoe and in it, you put a note saying what you are thankful for. Then, St. Nikolas comes and takes the note, decides if you've been good or not, and if you've been good, he leaves a present.............

Look! St. Nikolas came! And he left presents!!!!

My cookie, chocolate cookbook, and chocolate molds from St. Nikolas.

This past weekend, I headed to Weinfelden, where Vera, my host sister who lived with us when I was in 8th grade, lives. It was SO MUCH FUN! I was afraid it would be a little weird, since it had been 2 1/2 years, but it was just like old times! I didn't really take that many pictures, since we were too busy sitting around eating and talking, (haha) but here are the ones I did take:)

I left right after school Friday, and got there at 4:30. We went back to her house, chilled, and talked super fast. It's really funny because in the States, everyone always tells me I talk fast. And when I was talking in their kitchen, with Vera and Gabriela (her mom), Gabriela had to ask for clarification on what I was saying, and she was like "I really have to concentrate when you talk, because it's so fast!" Then when Martin, her dad, got home from work, he said the same thing! Then later that night, we went to a birthday party for one of Vera's friends, and one of them said the same thing. It's great to know that I can still speak English. I think the reason I was talking a million miles a minute though, was because it was English. Only the greatest languge ever. (Probably because its soooooo easy to speak. Haha)

We got home super late, and hit the hay after staying up talking and reminicing!

Random: New best thing ever. Chocolate covered almonds. AH! I love Switerland and it's chocolatey things!

Saturday, we got up after sleeping in, chilled for a bit, then got ready and walked through the Christmas market that was going on in Weinfelden. We got some Swiss hot dogs:) and then went swimming with scouts. Vera's now a scout leader, so we took the munkins out. I think they thought it was a little strange that I couldn't speak Germanm but since they start English in the 3rd grade now, some of them knew how to say somethings, and it was so cute!

After swimming, we went to mass at the church that Vera was baptized in, had her first communion, etc. It was such a BEAUTIFUL church, aw, didn't exactly remind me of KoK. Lol. But it was neat though because some of the songs, I recognized the tunes to, so I was able to sing along in English, since I obviously don't spreckinze die deutsch? Is that right? Haha. I know thats how you say it, just not sure about spelling. Oh well. I guess I can say a few things. Like verboten. And danke. And kuchen. Okay. Moving on.

Weinfelden at night. My camera didn't handle the light well, but it was really pretty in person!
We made some delicious cookies!

It was a little messy, since we used our hands to scoop up the cookies. But Vera went to town, licking Every. Last. Drop.

After cookies, (we finished at midnight) we had planned on watching a movie, The Proposal to be exact, and for those of you who haven't seen it, you must! It is such a great and funny movie! I have only seen it a few short of a thousand times. So we go up to her room, and watch it on her computer while laying in bed. We were both really tired, and I kept dosing in and out of sleep. When the movie was over, (I was asleep) Vera wakes me up, since I had to change positions in the bed, and (according to her) I opened my eyes, pulled the covers back up (since she had pulled then down because I had them all wrapped up around me) and then went back to sleep. I have no recolition of this. Then, she poked me again and it went like this:

Vera: Laura, you fell asleep. You just have to move over a little, then you can go back to sleep.

Me: No I didn't.

Vera: Yeah, you were asleep.

Me: No I wasn't. (change positions)

Vera: (moves the computer and gets into bed)

Me: Did we watch the whole movie?

Vera: Yeah! (laughing) you fell asleep though, remember?

Me: No. I don't.

Haha. Cracks me up. Sounds like I was on something, but promise, I wasn't. Anyway. I just found that amusing.

The next day, we made some (this may be spelled wrong) manderlie? cookies, which are Swiss. I had a little fun with the blender thingys.

This is a really attractive picture, but I felt it necessary to post, since it describes us. Eating. Every last bit.

We had some dough left over, so I decided to create something, and came up with the idea of making a Swiss train. Creative eh? Look! That's me waving "Hi!" to everyone back home! Before baking. ....

The masterpiece, finished. Great right? I know. I think I may return to the ole' US of A and open up a little cookies shop, specializing in train cookies. :)

Yay! The finished product! One word. YUM.

Me. Caught in the act of creeping. From these great little tiny and cute windows under the stairs.

After, we went up to a hill/mountain, where Gabriela and Martin then walked down, but Vera and I were too lazy. We drove. More correctly, she drove. I made sure to buckle up:)

1 degrees.

Don't worry. I lied. Well not really, because it was 1 degrees. But celsius. I didn't freeze too bad.

Of course, we had to take a silly picture.

Sisters forever.

"More than Santa Claus, your sister knows when you've been bad and good."

"Sisters annoy, interfere, criticize. Indulge in monumental sulks, huffs, in snide remarks. Borrow. Break. Monopolize the bathroom. Are always underfoot. But if catastrophe should strike, sisters are there, defending you against all comers."

It just keeps gettin better.

Bonjour!

Hello!

How are you?! I'm good! It's been kind of a laid back week here in la suisse. I stayed home 2 days last week (first time I missed school! Gasp!) because my throat hurt, my nose was running like a crimal, and my stomach was churning like butter. Haha. )I have no idea where those metaphors came from, but that was rather creative if I do say so myself). This past weekend started out with a walk through the vineyards......

SNOW! NEIGE! Whatever you want to call it, it's so beautiful!
It's so bright, I have to wear sunglasses. Yet, it is still so cold.
My house.

The vineyards with the snow!

Does it get any better? I don't think so. I think I may create a calendar (calender? I really need to stop trying to stop speaking in English too, because I have noticed some of my sentences are getting a little screwy and I am forgetting how to spell somethings. Geez.)

Saturday, after my walk through the snowy vineyards, my family and I went to Fribourg because there was a "Fete pour St. Nicholas" or a party for St. Nicholas, because here, in Switzerland (and some other European countries) December 6th is the day when you thank St. Nicholas and celebrate, kind of like an early Christmas. The kids (and me) set out shoes the night before with a litte note for St. Nicholas saying what we are thankful for, and when we wake up, and if we've been good, there are little presents!

So, after walking around for a bit, St. Nicholas comes marching down the street, sitting in a chair being carried by these men, and men following him carrying candles and singing. It was quite odd and strange, yet funny and cool.

For those of you that want to know my secret to ALWAYS being on the good list....

"I saw Laura kissing Santa Claus, underneath the mistletoe last night...."

My sister Magali and I in the old part of Fribourg.

Becky and I right before heading home :)

Once we got home, we had hot chocolate and popcorn, courtesy of my mother and the postal service:)

It was weird going back to Fribourg, since I had only been back to the train station since the good ole' days of language camp. It was like a walk down memory lane. Becky and I were walking down the street and were like "Hey! That's the falafel place we ate at once that took FOREVER which made Zion and I miss the train and screwed up the whole day!"

While we were there, we ran into some other exchangies, and it's strange, but we really are one big, dysfunctional, loving family. We have our ups and downs with each other, get annoyed and mad, but at the end of the day, we all love each other and can sympathize with each other since we are all going through the same things. Last week, a Rotex (former Rotary exchange sutdent) told me that he traveled around the world for 11 months, and stayed in a hotel for a total of a week and a half, because he just emailed exchange students and since we all love each other, of course you can stay with us and eat our food!

Sunday, I was going to go skiing with my family, but we ended up not going, so I went to church in Bern with Zion! This was my 2nd time to church since being here and I realize now how much I love church, that sense of belonging and how everyone loves you and is so welcoming! Never will I complain when the alarm goes off on Sunday mornings again.

I am including some links here to pictures that one of the Rotex took. He goes to all the events and is the unofficial Rotaty exchangie photogragher! So, if you have time to burn and feel like creeping, here you are!

http://picasaweb.google.com/rotexchange/InboundMeeting?authkey=Gv1sRgCPGt6fXV9LKAVQ# - This is from when we all first got here and we all scared and akward at the orientation/welcome meeting

http://picasaweb.google.com/rotexchange/ZermattWeekend10?authkey=Gv1sRgCP-F8ejTscna-gE# - pictures from Narnia! Or the best weekend ever! Or the Matterhorn!

http://picasaweb.google.com/rotexchange/FallWEWest2010?authkey=Gv1sRgCLD6vsXfvbiPqgE# - Swiss exchangies are broken up into east and west. Some events, like the Matterhorn weekend, are all toghether, but in the fall and winter, we have 2 weekends where we are divided up. I am in the west, and these are the pictures from the west's fall weekend, even though I wasn't there, but you will see the kids that are in my pictures before, and how cool we are!

The other day, I was talking with some exchange students, and we were saying how we all are realizing that a year from now, we're gonna miss this. I'll be telling Toto I'm not in Switzerland anymore. At first, I couldn't wait to get home and back to Kansas, but now, I feel like it's going by way to fast and I don't want to leave. I've had so many new experiences, met so many new people, and have so many great memories, and can only imagine how many more I'll make before my time here is done. I love this little, expensive, beautiful, chocolate-filled, adventure of a life, freezing, mountaneous, amazing country called Switzerland.