As of a couple days from now my withdrawal will be complete. I turned in my form today, filled out a transcript request, and turned in my meal token. Tahnee just finished moving her things into my room. I felt a bit bad because I haven't cleared everything away just yet; I'm working on it slowly but surely. I have one suitcase entirely packed, and the other is half-packed. I'm planning on finishing it this afternoon after I go into downtown with Katie and Deniz. Moving from one continent to another is exhausting business. I'm so ready to be done with it!
Just thought I'd update you on my packing position. I heard Washington is suffering some mega-wind and power outages. Hope this doesn't affect my flight too much. More soon, perhaps. :-) Ari
Friday, December 15, 2006
Thursday, December 14, 2006
Ari is Stumped
As how to how she could possibly fit all this stuff lying around her room into two suitcases. It's true. I've spent more than an hour now taking things out, making a mess, staring at my suitcases, expecting them to magically fill themselves up. I have no idea how I'm going to squeeze all this in; and I have no way to weigh them, so that sort of makes me nervous too. I've decided to pack the most important clothing first (sweaters to t-shirts, let's say), then all the gifts and souvenirs. I am going to compress and package up my down comforter tomorrow morning; once I figure out how much room that is going to take up, I think I'll feel a lot better. But I'm still thinking there are going to be some clothes I have to leave behind--now it's the tough decision of what and which. I'm thinking my t-shirts are probably going to have to be the one to go, even though I LOVE them. :-( But sacrifices must be made if I ever expect to get home. Home > T-Shirts.
And, so you see, I was planning on buying more chocolate tomorrow, but I think that plan has been revised. No more chocolate. I bought 25 bars at the factory, then I've got another four or five Kinder Riegel boxes (thin ones, about the same size as normal chocolate bars). And about four Milka bars from Germany. I think that's plenty of chocolate right there. I've been working on taking the tags off of things, in order to go through customs without having to pay anything. I think I could use some Oma-packing-advice right about now. I don't know how I'm going to get the rainboots home that Angi sent me. Fitting them in my suitcase seems to be a physical impossibility right now. Baah. And Tahnee's moving her stuff in at one tomorrow afternoon, so I sort of need to have things pretty well sorted-out by then. Her parents are helping her drive everything down here. And I still have plenty of cleaning to do. I have been tracking the vacuum for two days now without success. I'm still not stressed, at least not outwardly, but there's a feeling of impending stress rising in me as I look around at my little stacks of things to pack... atop my down comforter. And mailing things isn't so much of an option any more.
I went to FoxTown with Deniz today, on perhaps my last Swiss Travel Adventure. We took the train to Mendrisio, got considerably lost for a bit, eventually found the place. FoxTown is pretty much a designer outlet mall; it wasn't very impressive... and it was still really expensive. So we poked around a bit, but I know I was feeling rather drained, so we came back and I made dinner around 6:30pm, and Katie came over, too. I had my Math and English finals this morning. I still need two more signatures on my withdrawal form; I couldn't find the Deans anywhere today. Grr, frustrating. In any case, it's 8:30pm, and I'm more than ready to go to bed. I wonder if I should do just that, then get up early as usual and get all my business done tomorrow. We'll see. Hope all is well on your side of the Atlantic, and I might be seeing you soon! :-) Ari
And, so you see, I was planning on buying more chocolate tomorrow, but I think that plan has been revised. No more chocolate. I bought 25 bars at the factory, then I've got another four or five Kinder Riegel boxes (thin ones, about the same size as normal chocolate bars). And about four Milka bars from Germany. I think that's plenty of chocolate right there. I've been working on taking the tags off of things, in order to go through customs without having to pay anything. I think I could use some Oma-packing-advice right about now. I don't know how I'm going to get the rainboots home that Angi sent me. Fitting them in my suitcase seems to be a physical impossibility right now. Baah. And Tahnee's moving her stuff in at one tomorrow afternoon, so I sort of need to have things pretty well sorted-out by then. Her parents are helping her drive everything down here. And I still have plenty of cleaning to do. I have been tracking the vacuum for two days now without success. I'm still not stressed, at least not outwardly, but there's a feeling of impending stress rising in me as I look around at my little stacks of things to pack... atop my down comforter. And mailing things isn't so much of an option any more.
I went to FoxTown with Deniz today, on perhaps my last Swiss Travel Adventure. We took the train to Mendrisio, got considerably lost for a bit, eventually found the place. FoxTown is pretty much a designer outlet mall; it wasn't very impressive... and it was still really expensive. So we poked around a bit, but I know I was feeling rather drained, so we came back and I made dinner around 6:30pm, and Katie came over, too. I had my Math and English finals this morning. I still need two more signatures on my withdrawal form; I couldn't find the Deans anywhere today. Grr, frustrating. In any case, it's 8:30pm, and I'm more than ready to go to bed. I wonder if I should do just that, then get up early as usual and get all my business done tomorrow. We'll see. Hope all is well on your side of the Atlantic, and I might be seeing you soon! :-) Ari
Tuesday, December 12, 2006
Escapar
I've been busy since I last wrote... and I can't believe it's coming down to my last three or four days in Lugano. Crazy. I really am going to miss Switzerland, but before I get too nostalgic I had better update you on my goings:
(O, but first do check out my photos from Neuchatel)
So on Friday I took my first real Swiss train ride (not on the Cisalpino, in other words, which travels between Switzerland and Italy). I was planning on studying for finals during those cumulative nine hours (4.5 hours each way), but of course there was no way that I was going to stare at some math problems or historical dates instead of the spectacular scenery!! Oh my goodness, it was magnificent. The best part was from Bellinzona to Arth-Goldau. In any case, after I switched trains in Arth-Goldau, a man and woman who work at a travel agency ended up sitting next to me. They both were speaking in English for some reason (not sure why, since her first language was German and his was French, but he spoke German and Italian as well). In any case, they were trying to pronounce "awkward," so I helped them out. The woman got off in Lucerne, but the man ended up being on all my subsequent trains (he lives across the lake from Neuchatel), so I talked to him for a good part of the train ride and he helped make sure I got on at the right place. He was really interesting to talk to; especially since he knew so much about traveling.
I got off the train in Neuchatel, of course, where Bardia met me. I had forgotten how tall he was, and he was shocked at our short I am. :-) The look of surprise I received was quite entertaining, I believe his words were: "You're so small! I expected you to be much taller from the pictures." I'm not sure how that happened to be honest. So he spent the rest of the trip referring to me as his little niece, in a very nice way of course. Teehee. We ended up getting fondue on top of a mountain, and it started snowing! It was perfect. Exactly how I had imagined Switzerland to be from the beginning--something like the Land of Christmas, you know? And the Christmas lights!! Oh my. In any case, after fondue, we tried to make it up the mountain but the car we were in didn't have snow tires, so it didn't quite work... we ended up spending about fifteen minutes backing down the mountain and then going the other way where there wasn't nearly as much snow.
Saturday morning we went for a hike and searched for animals. I think I'm going to have to tell you more about this adventure in person, since I don't have time to type it all right now, sadly! To summarize: we hunted down some wild animals that looked like little antelopes, but are related to cows, and then our Swiss-hunter-man-guide gave me a sausage made out of one Saturday night (I'm going to try and bring it home as a souvenir). But do look at the photos. We had lunch, then went to Bardia's best friend's house for coffee and hazelnut torte. Then we went to the archaeological museum, which was very well done and really interesting. I was impressed, especially since it's such a small town. Then we went back to the house to nap for a bit, and then it was off to a football-fundraising dinner for Bardia's Swiss sister's daughter. It was pretty small, but it was fun. I ended up befriending the youngest daughter, who was nine or ten. She was quite cute and had a good time styling my hair. There are some strange pictures floating around out there somewhere of me with lopsided pigtails. We traded hairbands as parting gifts.
Sunday morning we had breakfast then went for a walk on the roads behind the house (it's a pretty out-there area; cows, farm roads, forests) and through the SNOW! It was wonderful. I caught the 12:27pm train from Neuchatel to Olten to Lugano, about 4.5 hours again. And there was so much snow. I quite enjoyed it.
And since then, well I've had three finals (German, Marketing, Western Civ--by far the most difficult ones), I've taken out a tremendous amount of recycling and garbage, and I've been working on packing and moving out (passing things on to friends, etc.). And I made chocolate chip cookie dough yesterday, that I baked today, to go with the Sloppy Joe's I'm making for dinner. Keely's leaving for Zurich tonight to fly home tomorrow morning, so I thought we'd do an end of the semester dinner. Then tomorrow I don't have any finals, so Deniz and I are going to go shopping downtown and then there's going to be some sugar-cookie baking downstairs. I already made the dough for those too, it's sitting in my fridge, waiting to be baked. How lovely it all is. So I think things are under control. And I also mailed a box today, come to think of it. I did a trial-run for packing today, and I was able to get about 60% of my clothes and all my souvenirs into the bigger compartment of my suitcase, so things are looking good in terms of packing. Anything that won't fit at this point will not be coming home. I can't stand the idea of paying another 70CHF to mail a box home.
Hope all is well and see you soon! And make sure to check out those photos! :-) Ari
(O, but first do check out my photos from Neuchatel)
So on Friday I took my first real Swiss train ride (not on the Cisalpino, in other words, which travels between Switzerland and Italy). I was planning on studying for finals during those cumulative nine hours (4.5 hours each way), but of course there was no way that I was going to stare at some math problems or historical dates instead of the spectacular scenery!! Oh my goodness, it was magnificent. The best part was from Bellinzona to Arth-Goldau. In any case, after I switched trains in Arth-Goldau, a man and woman who work at a travel agency ended up sitting next to me. They both were speaking in English for some reason (not sure why, since her first language was German and his was French, but he spoke German and Italian as well). In any case, they were trying to pronounce "awkward," so I helped them out. The woman got off in Lucerne, but the man ended up being on all my subsequent trains (he lives across the lake from Neuchatel), so I talked to him for a good part of the train ride and he helped make sure I got on at the right place. He was really interesting to talk to; especially since he knew so much about traveling.
I got off the train in Neuchatel, of course, where Bardia met me. I had forgotten how tall he was, and he was shocked at our short I am. :-) The look of surprise I received was quite entertaining, I believe his words were: "You're so small! I expected you to be much taller from the pictures." I'm not sure how that happened to be honest. So he spent the rest of the trip referring to me as his little niece, in a very nice way of course. Teehee. We ended up getting fondue on top of a mountain, and it started snowing! It was perfect. Exactly how I had imagined Switzerland to be from the beginning--something like the Land of Christmas, you know? And the Christmas lights!! Oh my. In any case, after fondue, we tried to make it up the mountain but the car we were in didn't have snow tires, so it didn't quite work... we ended up spending about fifteen minutes backing down the mountain and then going the other way where there wasn't nearly as much snow.
Saturday morning we went for a hike and searched for animals. I think I'm going to have to tell you more about this adventure in person, since I don't have time to type it all right now, sadly! To summarize: we hunted down some wild animals that looked like little antelopes, but are related to cows, and then our Swiss-hunter-man-guide gave me a sausage made out of one Saturday night (I'm going to try and bring it home as a souvenir). But do look at the photos. We had lunch, then went to Bardia's best friend's house for coffee and hazelnut torte. Then we went to the archaeological museum, which was very well done and really interesting. I was impressed, especially since it's such a small town. Then we went back to the house to nap for a bit, and then it was off to a football-fundraising dinner for Bardia's Swiss sister's daughter. It was pretty small, but it was fun. I ended up befriending the youngest daughter, who was nine or ten. She was quite cute and had a good time styling my hair. There are some strange pictures floating around out there somewhere of me with lopsided pigtails. We traded hairbands as parting gifts.
Sunday morning we had breakfast then went for a walk on the roads behind the house (it's a pretty out-there area; cows, farm roads, forests) and through the SNOW! It was wonderful. I caught the 12:27pm train from Neuchatel to Olten to Lugano, about 4.5 hours again. And there was so much snow. I quite enjoyed it.
And since then, well I've had three finals (German, Marketing, Western Civ--by far the most difficult ones), I've taken out a tremendous amount of recycling and garbage, and I've been working on packing and moving out (passing things on to friends, etc.). And I made chocolate chip cookie dough yesterday, that I baked today, to go with the Sloppy Joe's I'm making for dinner. Keely's leaving for Zurich tonight to fly home tomorrow morning, so I thought we'd do an end of the semester dinner. Then tomorrow I don't have any finals, so Deniz and I are going to go shopping downtown and then there's going to be some sugar-cookie baking downstairs. I already made the dough for those too, it's sitting in my fridge, waiting to be baked. How lovely it all is. So I think things are under control. And I also mailed a box today, come to think of it. I did a trial-run for packing today, and I was able to get about 60% of my clothes and all my souvenirs into the bigger compartment of my suitcase, so things are looking good in terms of packing. Anything that won't fit at this point will not be coming home. I can't stand the idea of paying another 70CHF to mail a box home.
Hope all is well and see you soon! And make sure to check out those photos! :-) Ari
Sunday, December 03, 2006
ShokoLand
Yesterday was a lovely time. I was up by seven, and Alauna and I were heading to the FLP train station by nine. We rode the FLP train to Ponte Tresa (where there's a little market). And then as we stepped off the train, we realized that Alauna had forgotten her passport. Since you're technically stepping into another country, you're supposed to bring your passport with you in case they check. We decided to go over the border anyway, not really sure of our plans if we were indeed stopped. Alauna did get a little nervous while walking through town though, when we saw an official checking a man's papers randomly... We just kept on walking.
Ponte Tresa is really nothing overly spectacular, although you can, indeed, find a number of cheap goods. Alauna ended up buying her parents Christmas gifts, and we walked around and looked at all the market had to offer. Mostly, a whole lot of clothes and shoes. There were some fruit and meat stands, too, but I didn't really need to buy anything--so I didn't. Then we had to make it back over the border (we came up with all sorts of crazy plans). We ended up walking back the way we came through the Italian border patrol, where there weren't any officials positioned. The Italians just generally don't care so much as the Swiss about who comes and goes. So we walked against traffic (we walked out the "in" way, so to speak). We must have been rather obvious. But we didn't get pulled over; just kept on walking. Had no problems. I was not about to be stranded in yet another country.
Then we waited for the next FLP train to arrive, and took it down one-stop to Caslano, where the chocolate factory is! It was spectacular. They had balloon arches flying high over the buildings, and lots of small children on carnival rides and eating hot dogs... We went in and checked out the chocolate museum and free samples, watched a video in Italian about how they make their chocolate, then went and bought some chocolate to bring back as Christmas gifts. Looks like my Christmas shopping is officially done. :-)
We then took the FLP train back to Lugano, and I made lunch and cleaned my room before going downtown with Keely and Deniz, who needed to do some Christmas shopping, etc. I stopped in at the grocery store and bought some milk and cereal, as well as some popcorn (the kernels that you make on the stove). We got back to Girasole around 4:30/5, I want to say. I made a Christmas wishlist on Anthropologie.com, while watching The Life Aquatic, and talking to Soraya online. Soraya, do let me know how Christmas Dinner went.
Sometime around eight, I walked up to Giardino (another residence, up the hill) with Keely, Deniz, and Katie and went to a Christmas party put on by Tahnee. We ate some cookies, and she made some crepes and hot cocoa. Honestly, I think there was a little too much chocolate involved in yesterday. Deniz and I got back down here around here to Girasole around 11:30/midnight or so. It was a nice night.
Then I've been up for a couple hours now but have only accomplished eating breakfast and making a list of the things that I need to do. Hmm, better work on that.
Ponte Tresa is really nothing overly spectacular, although you can, indeed, find a number of cheap goods. Alauna ended up buying her parents Christmas gifts, and we walked around and looked at all the market had to offer. Mostly, a whole lot of clothes and shoes. There were some fruit and meat stands, too, but I didn't really need to buy anything--so I didn't. Then we had to make it back over the border (we came up with all sorts of crazy plans). We ended up walking back the way we came through the Italian border patrol, where there weren't any officials positioned. The Italians just generally don't care so much as the Swiss about who comes and goes. So we walked against traffic (we walked out the "in" way, so to speak). We must have been rather obvious. But we didn't get pulled over; just kept on walking. Had no problems. I was not about to be stranded in yet another country.
Then we waited for the next FLP train to arrive, and took it down one-stop to Caslano, where the chocolate factory is! It was spectacular. They had balloon arches flying high over the buildings, and lots of small children on carnival rides and eating hot dogs... We went in and checked out the chocolate museum and free samples, watched a video in Italian about how they make their chocolate, then went and bought some chocolate to bring back as Christmas gifts. Looks like my Christmas shopping is officially done. :-)
We then took the FLP train back to Lugano, and I made lunch and cleaned my room before going downtown with Keely and Deniz, who needed to do some Christmas shopping, etc. I stopped in at the grocery store and bought some milk and cereal, as well as some popcorn (the kernels that you make on the stove). We got back to Girasole around 4:30/5, I want to say. I made a Christmas wishlist on Anthropologie.com, while watching The Life Aquatic, and talking to Soraya online. Soraya, do let me know how Christmas Dinner went.
Sometime around eight, I walked up to Giardino (another residence, up the hill) with Keely, Deniz, and Katie and went to a Christmas party put on by Tahnee. We ate some cookies, and she made some crepes and hot cocoa. Honestly, I think there was a little too much chocolate involved in yesterday. Deniz and I got back down here around here to Girasole around 11:30/midnight or so. It was a nice night.
Then I've been up for a couple hours now but have only accomplished eating breakfast and making a list of the things that I need to do. Hmm, better work on that.
Friday, December 01, 2006
Naptime
I thought today was going to be a very productive day, but then it failed me. I had no German class this morning, so I didn't need to get up the hill until 9:40 for Marketing. After Marketing, Christina wasn't at the Writing Center, so I ended up staying there for two hours, until her meeting was over. I actually got to review someone's paper today; for only the second time in probably three months. I was supposed to be meet with Karen Ballard at 11:00am to get her signature on my withdrawal form, but I ended up conferencing with someone at the Writing Center instead. So that fun event was pushed to Monday; same with getting my advisor's signature.
Then I had lunch at North Campus and walked down the hill. I proceeded to take a three-hour nap, which took a considerable chunk out of my day. By the time I woke up it was too late to go to the post office and mail this box back home, which has been sitting my room for the past couple of weeks. How frustrating. In any case, it shall be mailed out on Monday. I went up to dinner with Deniz at around 6:00pm; had turkey meatloaf and potatoes (lunch today was fish and boiled potatoes). Then we went over to the Grotto where Deniz and Keely used leftover meal credits to buy sandwiches; we walked away with eight sandwiches and eight bottles of various drinks, worth approximately 96CHF.
Now I am back in my room... Trying to figure out what to do with my Friday night. I think I am going to watch movie, but I can't decide which one. I am going to Italy with Alauna tomorrow mornign to check out the Ponte Tresa market. More soon. :-) Ari
Then I had lunch at North Campus and walked down the hill. I proceeded to take a three-hour nap, which took a considerable chunk out of my day. By the time I woke up it was too late to go to the post office and mail this box back home, which has been sitting my room for the past couple of weeks. How frustrating. In any case, it shall be mailed out on Monday. I went up to dinner with Deniz at around 6:00pm; had turkey meatloaf and potatoes (lunch today was fish and boiled potatoes). Then we went over to the Grotto where Deniz and Keely used leftover meal credits to buy sandwiches; we walked away with eight sandwiches and eight bottles of various drinks, worth approximately 96CHF.
Now I am back in my room... Trying to figure out what to do with my Friday night. I think I am going to watch movie, but I can't decide which one. I am going to Italy with Alauna tomorrow mornign to check out the Ponte Tresa market. More soon. :-) Ari
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
