Halloween - Zurich Style

Not everyone in Switzerland celebrates Halloween. It seems like families and neighborhoods pick and choose whether it is a holiday they wish to participate in. However, my friends and I thought it was still necessary to celebrate the wonderful holiday.

My Halloweens usually start off with high hopes for a creative and awesome costume, ultimately resulting in a las minute attempt to pull anything together. This year was no different. After several brainstorming sessions with friends, attempting to steal previous friends' costumes, and then a few shopping trips, it was Saturday afternoon and we still had nothing.  Tired and ready to commit to anything Whitney, Rachel, and I spot some bright pink antennae in Claire's combined with matching bright pink leg warmers.  The costume suggestion was Love bugs and we were sold (since we were going out in less than 5 hours.

We bought some construction paper and heart shaped post-in notes and were set with the best costume ever! Or at least one we could laugh about all night. As it turns out, tape doesn't hold poster board to your clothes so our hearts fell off continuously all night! Whitney and I were able to spot our trail from Rachel's apartment to the train station this morning.

Our other friends chose to be the 4 members of Kiss. I must say they looked pretty amazing. Unfortunately, the (kind of lame) party we ended up at did not recognize them for their amazing effort and accuracy during the costume contest. While we walked the streets in costume, we stood out as Swiss people do not celebrate the great holiday.

It was another Halloween filled with a mediocre costume but tons of laughs! I spend today (actual Halloween) watching the The Rally to Restore Sanity and/or Fear that took place in Washington DC on Saturday. I am extremely sad I couldn't be there as Jon Stewart is one my favorite people. As a result of being a little sad I was watching the rally after the fact online AND it was Halloween, I ate a bit too much chocolate and feel like a five year old who couldn't control my desire for immense amounts of candy! =)

HAPPY HALLOWEEN!!!!

Winter, is that you?

I decided I don't like winter. I don't like being cold. I like sitting outside and wearing dresses and sandals. Unfortunately, my San Diego upbringing did not teach me the ins and outs of layering, winter clothes, nor skiing.  Winter has seemingly arrived in Zurich. It is snowing in the mountains and highs are in the 30s, possibly the 40s if we are lucky.  I see the sun less each week. The scary part is it is only October.  That means it is actually still Fall and it is going to get worse from here. I found that there is an average of about 30-33 hours of sunlight in December and January... ekkk! That is an hour a day if we are lucky!

I have joked with my friends that when the snow comes I will be going into hibernation mode and I will see them in the Spring. While this is a joke to some extent (I will go crazy in my dungeon!), it is also the truth. When I get up at 7:15 in the morning, it looks like it is 4am. The sun is not out and lights are necessary so that I don't trip walking up the stairs.

I need to motivate myself to get out bed, get dressed, and leave the house. Each of those is an accomplishment already and it is still October! So if you figure out a way to harness the sun and send it to Switzerland I will be eternally grateful.

So I continue to admire the Alps and try to appreciate that in order to see those I must suffer through the cold a bit because when the sun is out it is breathtakingly beautiful!

Baby in the House!

Baby Gaga in the house seems to have changed everything and nothing at all. The other kids love to hang out with her but also want attention for themselves as well. They have homework and activities to do! There have been sleepless nights for Mama C and Papa B.  My dungeon is lovely because I don't hear her a bit when I go to bed!

It took about a week and half before I held Baby Gaga.  I expected that I would fall in love with this little tiny thing the second I held her.  This, however, was not the case.  As you can see she is one of the cute infants which is lovely, but I didn't have that feeling of "I want one!"  that I semi-expected.

Instead, I kept with that terrified feeling that I was going to break the baby as I had joked about since I knew that I would be taking care of an infant. The first section of the Hyperbole and a Half blog said it all for me! Holding a baby

While Baby Gaga is pretty calm and doesn't cry too much, there is this fear that she is going to somehow break or that I am holding her wrong.  Is she drinking the bottle right? Is she getting too much air in her stomach? Is that her dirty diaper cry, nookie cry, or food cry? Is that bottle too hot? Is this the right water? Did I clean it right?  Too many mistakes can be made and my wonderful friend Nicole told me the other day "That is scary, those things will die in their sleep!"  (We all are great with kids!)  So while I have no actual fear that I am going to kill her (really good right?) it has been quite some time since I have been in the presence of a baby wearing diapers, nonetheless an infant.

While there is a large learning curve for me and I am slowly learning the ropes, there is still a fear that somehow I will mess this up. Mama C or Papa B are going to come home to see me and Baby Gaga freaking out because we don't know what to do with each other.

It is funny because as they both have told me Baby Gaga comes first, they have said it in different ways. Mama C says just don't worry about the other two as long as they aren't killing each other (at least I assume that last part is part of what she meant to say). Papa C says, they are old enough to start taking more responsibility if you need help with something. I.e. Set the table, put their own PJs under their pillows, etc. I will be invoking Papa C's strategy much more often!

Me and Lady Gaga hanging out! =) She's pretty cute but there is no way I will be popping one out for a VERY long time.

Cinque Terre

I loved Cinque Terre! I had a rough start with my journey there. I had an unreserved seat on the train which apparently meant you need to get your ticket validated before you get on the train. I didn't know this and ended up paying an extra 5 Euro for my ticket =(

I was also exhausted from traveling already. While my hostel was very nice, clean, and safe, the halls echoed a lot and I spent the night before listening to someone throw up in the bathroom down the hall. So I was a little behind on sleep!

I got to Cinque Terre and arrived at my hostel in Corniglia without problems. They were cleaning so I was only able to lock up my bag and begin my day of hiking! Then I started to hike to the next town and the trail was closed so I had to buy a train ticket to even get there. I was very annoyed since I had already paid for a ticket to be able to hike all the trails.  So far the trip was not going well...

I wandered around the next two towns and began to take pictures. At this point on the trip, I had a million pictures of pretty things, statues, buildings etc. Traveling alone means few silly/fun pictures of you and your family or friends.  I decided that this was going to change! This meant that I was became extremely good friends with the self-timer on my camera! All I can say is that I believe I was very entertaining to all my fellow tourists as they hiked.

I can't put into words how beautiful Cinque Terre is. There is a beautiful smell that engulfs all of the trails. The cliffs, vineyards, villages, and ocean leave nothing left to desire.  It is truly and amazing place. I would completely go back to swim and hike more! There are trails throughout the hills and along the ocean. I did the ones along the ocean but I am sure that the views and hikes from other places are amazing as well!

I played a game with friends once where the photographer would say something and then we would react to the phrase (example: A monkey is chasing you up a banana tree) as they took the picture. It is actually quite entertaining! I high recommend playing the game. Anyway, I had this game in my head as I began my 5th day travels alone. It entertained me immensely!

What most of the villages looked like. Colorful houses with lots of personality!

It looked like the sun was setting all day

And then there is my photo shoot! When I reached Montorosso my entire day turned around. I was standing in the ocean and everything was perfect! Then my beach photo shoot began! 

Didn't get far enough from the camera in this shot!

My first attempt at a jumping picture! I was pretty impressed with myself. 

Fortunately for everyone walking by I didn't stop trying!

I am literally running back and forth from my camera every 10 seconds. 

Perfection!

We ended with another great one!

It was then time to conquer the rock!

View from the top

 The color all ocean water should be! So pretty!!

Then I started to hike again. 

See the beach in the distance? That is where I was! Sooo many stairs were climbed!

Getting a bit hot!

Then it started to rain. And I mean pour. I slowly put my layers back on..Finally reaching the next town. 

If you look at these pictures closely you can see that I am, in fact, drenched. My sweatshirt weighed a ton! 

Rain!

Got back to my hostel and took a warm shower. I met another girl from Australia in my Hostel. We ate dinner together and shared some great conversation. We met a Corniglia (the village I was staying in) native and talked to him for the rest of the night. It seemed that most people in the area made their own wine and had a love/hate relationship with the tourist season.  It was the perfect ending to my solo Italy trip! 

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