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?

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!

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! 

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