mas fotos de suiza

Train up to the slopes


My Switzerland girls!


View from our hostel window

SUIZA! SWITZERLAND!

Switzerland...one of the best weekends of my life!

I traveled with three of my girlfriends from my program here..Ali, Katie, and Lawren. After a pretty unpleasant journey there, (flight getting delayed multiple times, a "night" slept in the tiny Geneva Airport, and two trains into Interlaken), we were so so excited to arrive at our hostel, Balmers Herberge, and to see how awesome of a set up we were about to have! The hostel was picturesque..dark wooden shingled with red shutters and red and white paint trim..right in the middle of a 360 degree view of the SWISS ALPS. Once inside and sitting by the fireplace after checking in, we were looking at brochures and discussing what activities we were going to sign up for, when...8 cute guys bust into the reception area and immediately theres introductions, shouting, claims of parties in their room...just an absolutely hilarious half hour. Turns out they are all army officers..all went to West Point together..and are staying in our hostel for the weekend as well. Uh-Oh. Needless to say, we hung out with them the entire weekend..went to the singular club in Interlaken with them both nights, and spent a whole day snowboarding with them. We've since kept in contact with all of them..and plan to visit with them once we're back in the states, (they are on Christmas break/leave for the next couple of weeks before all getting deployed to Iraq and Afghanistan.. :[ ). This weekend was full of awesome life to-do list things, per usual for my recent trips! The hostel served us a wonderful Thanksgiving dinner, pretty genuine, and we enjoyed it with a table full of Swiss people..such an interesting cultural experience. The Swiss are awesome! The four of us went to an authentic fondue restaurant as well, which was yummy, although not quite as good as The Melting Pot! Of course we sampled some swiss chocolate while we were there, and purchased some really awesome really warm knit Switzerland hats!


We decided to rent gear and clothing and hit the slopes for some snowboarding. I had never done any sort of winter sport up until this point...so this was QUITE the experience. I fell no less than 100 times..and when I say fall, I mean I really fell. Crashed may be the better word. Thankfully the army guys were up there, and one just happened to be a children's snowboard instructor..he was nice enough to take over an hour to just help me along and teach me everything..so that after that little session I was able to keep up with my friends! So awesome! This learning process may have been easier in a location equipped with bunny slopes..these were the Swiss Alps, aka no beginners area at all. All in all, amazing time.


The last half day we spent just hanging out in the hostel by the fireplace, just talking and having a great time with our new favorite group of guys ever. Actually pretty sad saying bye to them, we'd become pretty attached ;)

One of the guys, Mike, (there are actually 3 mikes haha), and I have kept in contact daily..you can read between the lines on that one. So as part of my long winter break I went to visit him, and got to see the rest of the guys there as well. So fun..to be continued...

more amsterdam!

the houses all look like doll houses!

Checking us in at our hostel, Flying Pig Downtown!

I AMSTERDAM...Museumplein park!


in the Heinken Factory!!