SUISA

I'm sorry, I have been the worst blogger ever. This has been a busy few weeks. But I am here to update, don't worry. So this past weekend I was in Switzerland (or Suisa for those of you who speak Spanish). This was supposed to be an easy, no-nonsese trip but it turned out to be anything but that. We waited to buy our bus tickets to Madrid because we had heard it 's very easy to do, but we waited and found out all the buses back on Sunday were booked (our flight to Geneva was out of Madrid) because it was a holiday in Spain. We, somewhat un-unanimously decided to switch our plane tickets so we would return on Saturday instead of spending 20 hours bumming around Madrid waiting for the bus early Monday morning. It was quite the ordeal but once we were seated on the overnight bus to Madrid, I knew, mostly, it would all work out. After the short flight to Geneva, we took a train to Interlaken. It was a beautiful train ride despite the rain. Here's a picture: We stayed at the cutest hostel I've ever seen- it was like a little ski lodge and it felt like camp because everyone there was our age and American and from Univ. of Wisconsin. haha
On our first day there we explored Interlaken and loved it so much we decided to extend our stay in Interlaken and not go to Geneva (perhaps it was the anti-French sentiment of the German side of Switzerland?) We went for cheese fondue and it was delicious but SO expensive. The whole town was pretty pricey but because the Swiss Franc is weaker than the dollar it wasn't very of a difference from the Euro.
The second day some of the girls I was with went paragliding- which is kind of like skydiving but you just jump off fa mountain and you don't get any free-fall at all because you're attached to a parachute. It looked cool but I don't really regret not doing it- it was pretty expensive. After that we grabbed some sandwiches and hiked a bit. and by hiking I mean we spent 2 hours trying to find the hike. By the time we found it, we were really close to our hostel so we decided to go home and watch a movie. We watched "Chocolat" in the hostel tv room, which was very approrpiate considering we had been eating lots of Swiss chocolate. We went for a cheap dinner at a local pub where we could get more American type food. It seems that recently, a lot of my friends, including myself have been really missing and craving American food! It's not that the food in Spain isn't good, it's just that after 2 months (almost) of eating the same tapas and meals it gets a little repetitve. Spanish food does not have a large selection of meals. Anyways, we came back from dinner in time for happy hour. The hostel had it's own bar and club- it was very cool.
The next day we woke up early to go to the mountain. To get there we had to take a train, then a gondola, and then another train! But it was worth it because the journey was just as spectacular as the view from the Murren.After lunch on the top of the mountain we made our decent. And did some gift-shopping, and chocolate shopping for the remained of the afternoon. For dinner we went for Italian- it was really ,REALLY good!! Our last night in Interlaken was fun- I actually ran into an old friend from elementary school- Syd. It was so funny and really nice to see a familiar face! We had a successful trip home. We had planned to stop in Bern for a few hours before Geneva because we had heard it was the city to see in Switzerland but it was raining and everyone was tired so we didn't get off. But the trip was great, it was relaxing and really nice to be in the "country." THey had fantastic tasting water in Interlaken! The best tap water I've had! I'm sorry this entry is slacking- I have to pack for PRAGUE! I am really so excited about Prague- probably the most excited I've been about a trip thus far- probably because I'm see my old campfriend Marissa PLUS I hear the city is awesome. AHHHH i can hardly wait- don't worry, expect a long and VERY emotional blog after this one. Here is one last picture for the road: