Milan, Italy

It goes on like this for 40km!! So Beautiful!

We found a small pathway and thought we would see where it took us. It ended up on a little dock on the lake. 

This is how all the shops are in Bellagio. In between stair walkways and such. Really old and cute.

The White House in the Center is George Clooney's on Lake Como

The Beginning of Lake Como

A Really Old Amphitheater that had Chairs Embedded in the Cement.

The Courtyard of the Castle 

One of the Decorated Coke Bottles. I thought this picture was funny :)

Covered Mall with Prada and Louis Vuitton

Other Friends From the Group

Quite the Picture. It actually stayed on me for a long time. It let me walk with it. I probably have Bird Flu now, but whatever!

Birds Everywhere!!

In Front of the Duomo

So for our 2^nd traveling weekend we decided to go to Milan, Italy. It was basically the same group of people except for 2 people switched out for 2 different ones. 8 of us caught the 7:20am train out of Lausanne and headed straight for Milan. It was nice not having to make any train changes on the way. It was only about a 3.5 hour train ride to Milan from Lausanne, much nicer than the 7.5 hour train ride to Nice the previous weekend. I was not in charge of booking the hostel for this trip, and now I know that I should probably always handle the hostel bookings. We showed up to a hostel that was not near the center of town so it was a pretty far walk from everything we wanted to do, it smelled of bad Asian food, and was really janky. One of our rooms had only a bidet in the room, and it was literally IN the room. The toilet was in the same area as the beds with no door, very awkward. Needless to say, the people in that room used our bathroom.

It was fashion week in Milan the weekend before we went, so the city was still decorated a little bit from fashion week. There were large coke bottles everywhere that were decorated differently as an ode to fashion. We spent Friday at the Duomo (the cathedral) and walking around the shops and trying to find our way around downtown. Milan is known for its designer labels and name brand stores. Needless say, we didn’t do much buying, just window-shopping. The Prada store is based in Milan so we got to visit that which was pretty cool but intimidating. We visited a castle the same day and walked through a really cute park in the middle of town. At the end of the day we found a pizzeria that was really cheap but had the best thin crust pizza ever! We super excited to find it.

On Saturday, Alex and I decided to break off from the group and take our own day trip to Lake Como. We found our way to the train station and bought a ticket on our own (I was very proud of us, this is quite a daunting task when everything is in another language). It was about a 40 minute ride from Milan to Lake Como and well worth it. It was one the prettiest lakes I’ve ever seen. When we got off at the train station we met these 3 older couples traveling together who were form Austrailia. They all had been away from home for close to a month and were starting to miss their kids and grandbabies so they insisted that we tag along with them. They got us on a ferry boat and we rode for two hours around the lake and ended up at a small town called Bellagio. It was absolutely adorable and beautiful at the same time. Bellagio is known for their silk and cashmere so there was plenty of shopping to be done there. Lake Como ended up taking up our whole day and we got back at around 9pm (after ending up at the wrong train station and having to find our way back on the metro).

Sunday morning was basically the same as Friday. We ate breakfast and sipped cappuccino’s on the steps of the Duomo. Quite an experience on a Sunday morning. Not much more form Milan, a weekend was enough time for me, any longer would have been too long. 

Fondue Dinner @ Mary's

As part of schooling I am enrolled in a class called Enriching the International Experience. It is taught by the Director of the House (Mary Mayenfisch) and my Humanities professor (Anthony Gorton). Yesterday was our first class meeting and instead of having class we met at Mary’s house for a class dinner. About 15 of us caught the bus to her house which was about 20 minutes away and had a nice dinner with her and her family. They taught us how to make fondue, which is a traditional Swiss dish, and for appetizers we had dried meats from all different parts of Switzerland. I can’t say I was a huge fan of the dried meats but a lot of people seemed to like them. It was a different food experience but I don’t think I would willingly choose the meets again, but the fondue was great J

Nice, France!!

Amazing Nutella and Banana Crepes :)

So I Fell Asleep on the Way Back and They Took The Picture Perfect Photo-Opp. Thanks Guys!

Downtown at Night

This Crazy Old Man Was Speaking to Me in French. (I'm pretty sure he was wondering if I was going to take off my top like every other French woman on the beach. Excusez-moi!!)

Cappucino's Every Morning :)

Downtown

On Our Way!!

We Got Gelato and They Put It In The Shape of a Rose. I Thought It Was Cute :)

Famous Flower Market That Takes Place Every Morning

Beach, Beach, Beach!

Beautiful Water Fountains Everywhere

Downtown Square

Wow! I don't even know where to begin. This weekend I went to Nice, France with 7 other friends and had an absolute blast!! We left on a morning train at 7am out of Lausanne and arrived in Nice around 2pm. Our hotel was walking distance from the train station and for the price we paid for it I wasn't complaining. Definitely not a 5 star but good enough for two nights. The first thing we saw when arriving in Nice was the amazing beaches. Nice is in the South of France and is a little beach town on the Mediterranean. If I had to compare it to another place I would say it is like the Hawaii of Europe. The water was so blue and clear and filled with speed boats and yachts. I took many pictures but they don't do it any justice. The whole time we were there all we ate were paninis, crepes and gelato! The food was so expensive but well worth it. We went out to a nice dinner and club one of the night and we met some really nice guys from Holland, Italy and England. We were only there for 2 full days and left Sunday morning. I definitely wish we could have spent more time there, it was so beautiful. This upcoming weekend are taking a trip to Milan, Italy (hopefully) so I'm looking to top the last weekend but I'm not sure that will be very easy. 

So I just thought I would post this video because I thought it was really cool. In our house we have a music room downstairs that is in the student lounge. It has a few guitars, piano's, a harp and some other random instruments for all of us to use. The other night a few of us were hanging out in the music room and a couple people picked up guitars and a box for a drum and started messing around. This was how it turned out and I thought it was really cool :)

 

Last Day Before Classes Start

On our last day before classes started we went for yet another walking tour of the city and walked to the top of the tower of one of the bigger cathedrals in Lausanne. The entire thing was a winding staircase that seemed to go on forever (I stopped counting steps after 200!). It was tiring but the view from the top was well worth the wait. This is overlooking all of Lausanne.

First Weekend in Switzerland

Our first weekend in Lausanne was amazing. We took a walking tour of the city and saw some cool cathedrals in the city and on Sunday took the train to a city about 20 minutes down the lake called Lavaux. In Lavaux there are the World Heritage Vineyards which we walked through. This had to be one of the most beautiful things I've ever seen in my life. There were little villages incorporated into the miles of vineyards on the hillside that overlooks Lake Geneva. I don't know how to explain in words how beautiful it was so I'll just post pictures :) 

My Roommate Alex and I on a set of steps in one of the little villages in the vineyards.

A cool setting on my camera that I am obsessed with :)

The Beginning of the Vineyards

The Miles and Miles of Vineyard!

Another small village within them.

Later that day we rode the bus to a town called Lutry where we walked around the lake, saw the beaches (which are totally different than beaches in San Diego or Malibu) and had time to walk around the town on our own. We met an older woman named Finola who showed us around the town and treated us to cappucino's at a cute little tea room in Lutry. We fell in love with her, she was so cute! She took down our names and told us that she would love to take us out to dinner one night so we are trying to find a day that would work best for all of us. These are pictures from Lutry and the boat ride we took around the lake from Lutry back to Lausanne.

The Beach in Lutry.

The docks of Lutry.

The Town. 

More Town...

Waiting for the boat to pick us up :)

I Have Finally Arrived in Switzerland!

I know its a little late but the internet hasn't been working where I am staying so this is the first time I've gotten a chance to work on the blog....Anyways, we got here on the 11th and we have been busy ever since. Up until today we have been in orientation where they took us on walking tours of the city and show us how to use the metro, trains and busses around the town. The city is absolutely amazing! It is so clean and crisp. It is already chilly here (jacket and jeans weather) and so I am just waiting for it to get snowy! Our room overlooks lake Geneva with a view of the Alps behind the lake. It has been overcast since we've been here so we haven't gotten a clear view of the Alps but we can tell that it's going to be gorgeous when it clears up, especially when there's snow on top of them! The place that we live in is called Hotel La Croisee and is right in the center of town. We are no more than a 30 minute walk to anything that we would ever need. And for bigger trips we can easily ride the busses or metro which are only about a 5 minute walk away from the house. The house is so amazing. Its huge! It has 5 floors (my room is on the 3rd floor) of rooms and 2 floors of classrooms/kitchens and the bottom floor is a hangout with ping pong and pool tables and a TV and music room. In the house we get breakfast and lunch everyday but dinner's are at a different restaurant every night which we walk to. The food here is just OK. But the chocolate and desserts make up for the dinners, they are so amazing!!! I will have to send some chocolate to everyone back home so they can experience the amazing-ness!

The Main Intersection by the House.

The Front of the House

The Classrooms Connected to the House

The Front of the Hotel/House

This is our room :)

Every room is decorated and arranged differently. Ours has baby blue walls with coordinating comforters and wooden armoire closets.

View from our balcony

Another balcony view

Straight view off our balcony.