One Last Weekend..Sort of

Note: There were people dearly missed this weekend. 

After a week of 7am-9pm, 5 day work week, filled with a few play dates including bowling and glass blowing, the time had come to have our “Final Week” as the fierce and ridiculous wolf pack was spreading out around the world. While some of the wolves had left, it was the end of the road for the people who have been here since last August. Our year was up. And it has been one for the record books.  So we started off on Friday night at good ol’ Twists. As many (one could say too many) of our Friday and Saturday nights were spent over the last year. After saying hello to a few of our favorite bartenders, we headed off to a few places we have liked.  Then Nicole and I finished the night with some dancing and a sleep over at Rachel’s.

The rain washed away the idea for a hike and a few of us wondered the city and did some shopping. All along reminiscing about our favorite trips, weekends, moments. It is a bitter sweet ending. Being the “help” is coming to an end to some of us but it means that gallivanting around Europe is also coming to an end.

Saturday night was the big night out! We started with a few hours of getting ready and making a delicious dinner (which I might mention had to be gluten free, lactose free, and meat-free).  After some pictures and laughs we headed into Zurich. One last time as a wolf pack. Even though our goal was to branch out, we followed a very similar path of the night before, which is not surprising at all!

Another late night of dancing led to a slow morning and then a final day at the spa. A lovely Irish-Roman spa of cleansing and being oh so very Sex in the City, gossiping from room to room and being told to “shhhhh” each time!  I was also finally able to see the Google Building where we took pictures! Next time, the goal will be to get inside the building!

Now to get a little sentimental.  It was just one weekend; there have been dozens. There have been new girls and friends who have come and gone throughout the year. But this weekend, was the fearsome 6 that started and ended the year together. It was the last time we as a group would take on Zurich as a gang of aupairs.  I have always had a lot of girlfriends in my life and I cherish each one of the past just as I do the ones in the present. Each of these ladies are special. I was able to spend a year gallivanting around Europe, with few worries, and insignificant complaints (our first-world problems..where should we travel this week? etc).

This year is special. I look forward to thinking back on my year living in Switzerland! I look forward to thinking about our group running the streets of Europe, meeting new people, and discussing the countless cultural similarities and differences.  You ladies are absolutely amazing.  We were so lucky to have been able to have each other this year. We all brought something different to a group.  There is a closeness between us, a bond, that will never break. We will be able to call each other when we are thinking about  Not many can fall in love with their children and put up with the endless piles of laundry, tears, and lies.  We complained a bit, but our friendship blossomed and it is about so much more than that. I love each one of you so much and will never forget anyone of you. I hope to keep in touch and that just maybe, one of those reunions we have talked about will happen. And when we forget how much work children are, and how many times we contemplating not having them, I hope we can call each other when we end up with one of our own. We can laugh about the times that we had taking care of other peoples’ and then really plan that spa getaway!

I love you ladies. I am so lucky to have met you! Xoxo Sincerely yours, Wolf pack member for life.  

A Surprise Birthday!

Ok so it has been over a month since I have posted. I officially reached my year point but let me update you on what has happened since I reached week FIFTY-TWO!

I had been anticipating my European Birthday since I decided to make the move. Where could I go? Who will I go with? Venice? Paris? Barcelona? Greece? The options seemed endless! Since it is summer, my working hours have, for the first time, outnumbered my playtime hours. So a long weekend getaway was not an option. Plus, I have made amazing friends who I wanted to spend it with. So it was around the corner and since people’s work schedules were all over the place, we decided Switzerland was the place to be. We would have a night out on the town for the first night followed by the Montreux Jazz Festival in the French region of Switzerland. I was excited for the weekend as planned.

So my birthday celebrations started on Thursday night. My Papa B’s Dad was in town for the week and we all went out for a very nice dinner. It was a beautiful restaurant with a vista view of the lake and Zurich, surrounded by the mountains and cows of course.  We toasted champagne and they handed me a few gifts.  One of which is the Swissessity: the Longchamp. The week before I bought myself a lovely little Swatch and now only need a fondue/raclette set to complete my Swissessities! After dinner, the restaurant turned off their lights, turned on a disco ball, and started a recording of something no one could understand other than it said “Happy Birthday” somewhere in there. Then “Happy Birthday” was played and I blew out sparklers on a chocolate delight.

It was a really a great birthday dinner and what has seemed like the real mark of the beginning of the end.

Friday, my actual birthday, I woke up to work a bit and then got off around 1pm.  I met my friends in the city to begin a day by the lake with lunch and wine. However, as we were having lunch, my schedule changed. As it turns out my friends have surprised me with a ticket to the “History of Hip Hop” concert at the Jazz Festival. Nicole and I are leaving after lunch! It was quite the surprise! I was super excited!  After missing a few trains, we were on our way!

The concert was absolutely amazing! Coolio and House of Pain among other performed. Nicole and I were on stage for a bit (video below) dancing away. We were screaming and dancing. As it turns out, that is now how the Swiss enjoy concerts. Nicole and I were each given dirty looks on separate occasions for yelling at “inappropriate times” and the security guards hated us even more. We laughed it off and continued to enjoy our time standing feet from some of the amazing hip hop artists of the past! 

After the concert, we met our Couch Surfer, who took us out for a night out at the Jazz Festival. There are great clubs, free dance and music concerts, and people everywhere. It was a night to remember!

Saturday we enjoyed the city and were joined by another one of our friends. It was, dare I say it, the prettiest lake view of the year.  I can only say thank you to the amazing group I have here for ensuring that I had a wonderful European birthday! xoxo

Birthday Lunch with the Ladies

Not the actual concert but the only picture of the night

See why it is my favorite?

Baptized - Barcelona Style

Last weekend, eight women ventured to spend a three/four day weekend in Barcelona! That should be enough said about our trip but I will explain a little more! We skipped the Picasso and much of the Gaudi and instead focused on the nightlife, beach, and food! 

After a short flight, we landed and met up with Shelly at the Market.  It was a wonderful place that we visited the following day. Tapas, fresh fruit, and smoothie! So much meat and seafood (much of which was still moving). 

As you will notice, there is a large gap in my pictures! I didn't carry my camera with me most of the time so I have pictures when we first arrived and then sitting on the beach on Sunday! It was raining when we got to Barcelona so we spent some time in our apartment drinking some wine and getting ready to go out. 

We wandered the city and came across some great Tapas, Sangria, and weird old men.  Then met up with a friend of a friend and all of his friends for a drink and then finally grabbed dinner. We ended up at a club called CatWalk.  The music was awesome and we danced the night away! 

After a late night we slept in and made some eggs and bacon for breakfast while we waited for Nicole to arrive. Once she got there we wandered the city a bit more, returned the the market, and enjoyed the sunshine. Anna and I headed to the police station, as we were baptized in Barcelona by being robbed.  And once we arrived at the police station we discovered that it is a great place to meet other tourists! 

After getting ready, having a fabulous birthday dinner for Anna's BIG 2-0! We surprised her with a cake and some Cava! Then we were ready for our second night out.  This time we were going to see a DJ of some sort with that friend of a friend. Instead of the DJ, we ended up seeing an AWESOME Ramones coverband. As it turned out the original drummer from the Ramones was playing and the lead singer was from the Misfits. It was another amazing night of dancing!

Sunday we headed to the beach. There was napping, some Swedish cider (absolutely delicious!), and some time in the sea. It was wonderful to be on a beach. There were people constantly wondering around selling everything from body shawls (which sounded like body shots) and my favorite man who was saying co-co-co--coa-nut. In a way that you couldn't figure it out until you saw what he was actually selling. We also decided to get some matching henna tattoos so we could remember our wonderful weekend until it is washed away!

The Birthday Girl!

We ended the weekend with a delicious meal and some more sangria.  We walked back and chatted in the apartment for the rest of the night. It was really a great weekend with some great girls! I am so glad we got to get in a big trip together before we all start to head off in different directions! 

EXTREME Weekend

This weekend will go down as one of my favorite of the year. My friend Maggie from university (I am soo European now) came down from Germany to explore Zurich a bit and most importantly head up to Interlaken for the weekend. After a wonderful Canadian dinner, filled with too much sugar and a game of charades about Canada, Maggie (friend from university..again sooo European), Kathryn, Anna, and I took a train to Interlaken, a popular destination for outdoor adventures in Switzerland.

Shortly after arriving and getting to our hostel, we were on our way to go paragliding! A little terrified and really excited we were giggling our way up the mountain in a car full of people. We pick our guides and headed to our take off spot, seen above. 

After finding a few ways to release our nervous feelings, we were strapped in. My guide asked me if I can run and I said yes, but I usually don't start flying after running for a little while so I am not sure how this will go. He laughed and we started running. And by running a mean we jogged a few steps and then couldn't touch the ground any more. It was simple and absolutely amazing!

View from the sky

The entire experience was absolutely amazing! I am so glad we did it! I really want to do it again all over the world! We were proud of ourselves and headed off to have a delicious wrap and a beer in celebration! 

After we finished the first attempt of being outdoorsy of the day, we headed off to some waterfalls. Along the hike we saw a few here and there.  It was another gorgeous view in the utopia which is known as Switzerland. 

Now, we arrived at the waterfalls and were a little annoyed we had to pay to get in. However, after go up the caves that have been cut next to these waterfalls. It was unbelievable. There was talk of negative ions creating positive vibes. It is totally true. The feel in the caves was amazing and beautiful.  I also felt like it was the environment that Disneyland tries to recreate, and let me say, their effort is appreciated but it just can't compete with the real thing. 

Maggie hanging out in the "weeds"

Kathryn wanted to befriend a cow on our hike.

In the caves!

Double Rainbow

Despite the positive energy we were all experiencing, Kathryn took a little fall. There was blood but she is slowly recovering. Luckily, that was the only real injury for the weekend!

After our big day, we headed back to our tent hostel and ran into some people from Zurich (really small world). We headed out to dinner with them for some delicious Mexican food! Soooo good! I wouldn't have guessed it! Margaritas and a burrito so it was the perfect meal to end the day. We headed to the hostel's party afterwards! 

After a late night, we got up for our last sport of the weekend.  Whitewater rafting. I was more nervous about this than I was for paragliding. This time, we were a key part of the process of surviving. They kept talking about people falling off and what to do and not to panic and watch out for rocks because they can really hurt you. All the things you know but still scary to hear about. 

As it turns out, this is also not as scary as you think it is going to be.  We swam in the 5 degree water and ended in a gorgeous lake.  I am so lucky to have such amazing friends and absolutely loved this weekend...

But wait, it isn't over! After getting back into Zurich, we met up with some of the other girls (and one guy) to experience blind dining. There are a few restaurants around the world, the first one was in Zurich. It is an experience worth having if you have one by you.  You lock up your belongings when you get to the restaurant, look at the menu, and then are guided into the restaurant by your waiter.  Our waitress, Rita, was blind and they employ a mostly blind wait staff.  

After being directed to your seat, you order your drinks and food.  There were 8 of us there so we established where everyone was sitting and how far away from one another you are.  Usually your eyes will find something to focus on, but there was no way to see anything at all. You have to feel for your cup, plate, knife, and fork.  We found ourselves continuing to talk with our hands. I started to close my eyes at times just because it was easier than trying to focus. The food was okay, but it is the experience that made the dinner! 

We ended the weekend at our favorite bar, Oliver Twists with some darts and a few games of giant Jenga. It was hands down one of my favorite weekends full of overcoming fears, too many laughs, and some of the most amazing people I know!

EuroVision 2011

As I continue my year in Europe, I went to Dusseldorf, Germany this weekend to watch EuroVision Song Contest. Since I didn't know this contest existed a week ago let me explain. European countries (including Azerbaijan and Israel of course) send their best talent to the contest each year with an original song to preform.  They slowly get eliminated and then about 30 countries get to the finals.  Then each country gives 1-12 points to their top 12 countries.  It is based on text message votes from inside each country. ABBA, Celiene Dion, and Julio Iglesia have all performed at the event over the years.

Dusseldorf is a great city and was filled with people from all over Europe! There were thousands of people dancing and cheering for their countries in the arena as well as in the viewing areas outside.  We were staying with a Couch Surfer who was great at showing us around and while we were gracious guests our late arrival and sense of directions led to a few moments of confusion yet we made it through the weekend making new friends and enjoying a new city!

The winner was Azerbaijan, which means next year the competition will be held there.  Enjoy the song their song followed by Italy (2nd) and Sweden (3rd and also one of my favorites).

Getting a PhD in Awesome!

To be honest I have been trying to draft an email that will capture the countless hilarious stories and just amazing-ness of the weekend but I have been failing all week. So instead I will share some stories and you too can earn your PhD in awesome!

It was a weekend filled with laughs, drinks, fondue, and soooo many fails and bails!  Now, I have really never skied before. I am not even sure that I have been in a reasonable proximity to skiing since I tried snowboarding when I was 14.  My friend Rachel's brother, who also resides in Switzerland, rented a hut in the mountains so we could all go skiing and just enjoy a lovely weekend away! There were about 35 of us at the height of the weekend, four aupairs and 30 people with PhDs or in the process of getting one! Rachel, Nicole, Anna, and I headed off for a weekend of adult conversations, beautiful views, and skiing. 

1. Rachel is (not) an excellent teacher. (To be completely fair I may have been a difficult student.)   I have NEVER touched skis in my life and in order to get up to hut we had to take a t-bar up the mountain and then ski down a bit to get to where we needed to be. I was terrified.  I asked Rachel for more specific instructions on how to put skis on than "Ok put your skis on."  I proceeded to the t-bar where a mean Swiss man yelled at me in German.  I assume he was telling me to move faster and after missing t-bar chance, he grabbed me and a bar and put me on it and up the mountain I went.  Without any knowledge of what I was doing, I successfully made it up the t-bar on my first try on skis.  Little did I know, getting back down the mountain would be much scarier! 

2.  Don't try to catch the last t-bar up and do not try to hold on with your hands.   Fortunately, I made it up because I was scared and refused to move any part of my body until my truly graceful dismount at the top.  However, my dear friend Nicole did not.  She had to catch a snow-plow like ride a couple hours later. We greeted her at the door with a much needed glass of wine. 

3. The mountains are gorgeous. I know this in theory but the views that surrounded us were just unbelievable. So learning to appreciate the cold and snow, just another step towards your PhD.

4. This is a short video of my second attempt. I am the small black blog that falls at the end.  The fall was much more graceful and I didn't scream the whole time, so it was definitely an improvement! My lack of ability to turn, brings me back to Rachel's teaching abilities.  My instructions were, "turn." And when I continues to not turn, my instructions were "TURN, Why aren't you turning???" In the end, I could turn one direction but never switch directions, which is how you can slow yourself down. 

5. Rachel does have what we can call "motivating skills."  I was not so much enjoying the walk up the hill to ski down for 10 seconds and fall so I lent my poles to someone so that they could ski and I had an excuse not to ski. As it it turns out, this was not a good enough excuse as apparently, like a child, I need to earn my poles as the children do.  So up the hill I went without my safety net of poles.  However, the result was the same, I started going to fast and bailed yet again!

I am the person in black that falls at the end!

6. Having adult conversations with people other than aupairs.  So my social circle is pretty small and while we try to avoid the topic of children and housework, we often times do find ourselves talking about.  This weekend was a reminder than we are all capable of having real adult conversations! 

7.  Apparently, skiing is like riding a bike...but when you haven't learned to ride, it is a difficult to begin.  

Photo courtesy of Olin and Nikki

8. Going up the mountain is easier than going down.  Now I can't say I am any better a skier than I was a week ago. I thought my motivation for learning to ski was that I would have to ski down the mountain so I put a lot into it on Saturday and was out there more than I wasn't However, Sunday I felt a bit defeated watching the three olds ski by me and decided the hut in the mountains was very pleasant place to hang out. I had also decided I would be walking down the mountain instead of skiing so the need to perfect my skill was lost.  

After several hours of trying to use all

the letters in bananagrams! 

Anna skied down with my skis so 

I could walk down! My hero!

Leaving on Sunday night

Making it down the mountain (walking) after a weekend of skiing without a bruise (at least a visible one) or a broken bone makes one memorable weekend in the Alps and each of us non-PhDs receiving a PhD in awesome for just being awesome!

*Title of blog is courtesy of Rachel's (on the left) mind after a few glasses of wine. 

Five Months - Putting in Perspective

After being back in Zurich for a couple of days after my epic 3 week holiday, I figured it was time to put it all in perspective. I have seen the family again but haven't quite started up the routine. Monday is just a day away though.  Sometimes I ask myself whether I can take on this job again? When the family and parted ways for three weeks, I was in need of a break.

It just get a little difficult when you often have the feeling of being walked all over and then the next second life in the house and with the family is great again. Then you wake up one morning to serve the children their breakfast and are asked in an demeaning way by a nine-year-old boy if you could boil the water for his oatmeal instead of microwave it next time. (I just about lost it..)

Then I think about how amazing my last 3 weeks were and how this job is a means to an end.  I am constantly learning so much about creating a family from an outsider's perspective.  More importantly, I spent the last 3 weeks getting paid to travel.  Again, the theme of my year "My life is not that difficult."

I am going to take these kids by storm and we are going to have so many more laughs, which will (hopefully) outweigh the frustration.  We had a great day on Friday and I think that we can keep it up! It does make it easier when Mama and Papa aren't around.  They are good kids and entertain me. Baby Gaga grew so much while she was away and is giggling up a storm now! Oh! How they grow up so fast! 

So it is time to start anew. I have 7 more months living and working in this environment.  I am going to start off the new year (not with resolutions I will forget in 10 days) with a new spirit and enthusiasm with the kids.  I have 7 more months of adding new cities to my list (and maybe revisiting some from the past).  I also really want to explore Zurich more.  I have gotten stuck going to the same places over and over again.  I am also going to start taking French seriously again.  It is going to become a bigger priority in my life.

So these aren't resolutions but I am ready to take on this new year with full force! 2011 will be conquered!

Weekend Adventures

I had an absolutely fabulous weekend! The weather was as perfect as it could be for a mid-November weekend and there was plenty to do!

After a relaxing Friday night out with some friends, I worked for a couple hours on Saturday morning, went swimming myself, and then heading into Zurich to relax by the lake.  Some of my friends wanted to paint/draw as we sat there. Let's just say some people had some talent, others were just enjoying themselves!

Then we were off to the Wine Expo.  It was 4,000 wines from all over the world on yachts right on the lake! It was a really fun night. We got a bit dressed up, hoping people serving wine would take us more seriously, which was only semi-successful.

Rachel, me, Whitney, Shelly

Me, Shelly, Rachel, Kristina, Whitney, and Karah

I have really enjoyed trying wines since I have gotten here. While I still can't pick out the different flavors within a wine, I can tell you a little about different regions and what I like. I think my favorite wines of the night were from Portugal and from outside of Geneva.  I usually don't like white wine because they are very sweet but the winery outside of Geneva had some dry whites which were delicious!  It is a slow process but my knowledge of wine has increased 10 fold since I moved to Europe! 

Sunday, we headed off to Liechtenstein for the day! That's right the sixth smallest country in the world is just a mere hour and half train ride away.  The train ride was gorgeous. The lake we were on was a stunning blue with the mountains surrounding it.  There were wind surfers everywhere because it was nearly 16 degrees out! It is a very small country with not much going on. They are known for their stamps and are the world's largest dencher producer.  They do not have a king, but a prince and princess.  That is just as high as their leadership goes! 

After hitting up the Post Museum, we took a lovely stroll up the mountain to the castle.  It was really quite pretty. On the walk up the path led you through the history of the country. While I don't remember most of the little facts, I do know that they abolished their army in 1906 and have treaties with Austria and Switzerland (the countries it shares borders with).  

It was a near perfect weekend! 

Unfortunately, my camera wasn't charged so I don't have pictures from Liechtenstein but will add them when I get them from friends!

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! 

I