hey hey

Hey!

So my time these past two weeks has been a complete whirlwind of activity! Basically, I’ve been traveling to a different country Thurs- Sun every week and only spend Mon-Weds in Geneva. It’s so weird because even though I’m actually doing the study abroad program here, I feel like I’ve seen the least of this city out of all the places I’ve visited!

Anyway, here’s a little bit about what I’ve been up to:

July 18th-20th: I went to a town in France called Chamonix near Mont Blanc. The town is situated in a valley between the Alps. So, my professors took 14 of us to this place where many people go in the winter to ski. The first day we were there we went on a 6 ½ hike up the mountain. Between having to hang on to ropes and balance on metal ladders to scale the sides of the cliff, it definitely took a lot out of us. However, it was absolutely gorgeous! Honestly the view was one of the most incredible sights I’ve seen in my life, and I felt like I was photo-shopped into scenes from the Sound of Music. We were also able to climb up to see where a glacier is melting and encountered Chamonix (goat-like animals) along our way. It looked like a scene on the packaging for Swiss cheese. The second day we took another hike up to Lac Blanc and the water was so pristine and clear up at that altitude.

When I got back from Chamonix, we had midterms for my business class and then left on Weds to go to Berlin.

July 23rd- 28th: The whole group of students on study abroad took a couchette (overnight train with sleeper cars) from Geneva to Berlin. Each little room had 6 bunks so we were literally sleeping right on top of each other. It was definitely quite an experience but people’s tempers started flaring up after being in such close quarters with lack of sleep. So, I was definitely glad when we were able to get off the train. Our trip to Berlin was a combined class “field trip”/ weekend getaway so we spent Thursday and Friday visiting various historical and business related sites in Berlin. We went to Checkpoint Charlie, the Jewish Memorial, the Reichstag building, and saw the Berlin Wall. Ironically, Obama was speaking in Berlin while we were there so we tried to go see him speak. The problem was that there were tons of people there and the police (and their German shepherds) ended up closing off the section where he was speaking because there was no one everyone could fit. However, the sound system was set up really well so we were able to hear the majority of the speech. Berlin is a really interesting place to visit just because of the dichotomy between the modernized sections of the city and those which are still more traditional. We went to a club one night and a DJ from Florida happened to be visiting so we had a good time dancing to sounds we actually recognized rather than the techno music that is more common in Europe. And of course we tried all the German specialties- bratwurst, schnitzel, and strudel! : )

We took the train back from Berlin on Sunday night and arrived in Geneva early Monday afternoon. At this point we were all exhausted but our philosophy teacher handed out the prompt for his midterm. So, we spent the next 48 hours trying to actually catch up on all our readings and write three essays…not so fun.

July 31st- August 3rd: This past weekend I traveled to Prague. The city is absolutely gorgeous! If you ever have a chance to travel and want to see some amazing architecture I would definitely recommend this city. Between amazing castles, a bridge adorned which old statues, and cobblestones streets, I honestly felt like I was on the set for a movie. Supposedly, a lot of scenes have been filmed there including Harry Potter, James Bond, and Wanted. We spent a lot of time walking around and going out to until 5am because everything is open much, much later. However, I was really disappointed because I was supposed to spend Saturday visiting a concentration camp called Terezin. Even though we had our confirmation numbers because we weren’t able to print out our vouchers (we didn’t have a printer), we weren’t allowed to go on the tour. So, I ended up getting charged a non-refundable, ridiculous amount of money and wasn’t able to see it at all. : ( Also, people in the group I was traveling with had too much drama… So needless to say, I was very glad to return to Geneva last night.

Anyway, I’d love to hear all about what you have been up to! Hope that things are going well!

Amy