Hiking!

For everyone that remembers me as the girl that didn't like to be outside unless it was by the pool, prepare to be amazed. Because I Savanna Alyse Myers spent all day today hiking. For fun.And by choice. Don't believe me? Yeah I wouldn't either. Therefore I have pictures to prove it. So we woke up at the crack of dawn(7o'clock actually) and headed out to start early. Not sure what good starting early did though, it was colder in the afternoon than the morning. For the first hour in rained. I'm thinking of it as my swimming for the day. We climbed up huge mountains! The largest I have ever seen. And I only fell a few times:) Quite the accomplishment to leave the mountains without needing stitches I think. On the way down someone Nino knows was going up and they were talking ya da ya da and then he asked me if I was from Russia???? Do I look Russian???? ApparentlyI sound Russian when i speak German. I thought it was pretty funny. Now, so that you allwill believe that I spent five hours climbing up rocks today, here is the proof :)

leaf in the mountains that makes tea!

LUCERNE!

"Hey Savanna, wanna go to Lucerne after class tomorrow?" -Wes. . .Me- "Um, yeah!!!!"
If we were in the US this would be like me asking my lab partner to take a joy ride to New York for the afternoon. Great thing about Switzerland, you can actually do it and be home by 9 o' clock. Gotta love small countries. Lucerne was so pretty! Only down side was that it was packed full of tourists. After living here for two weeks it feels strange to refer to other people as tourist and not myself. But I'm not technically! My name is on a piece of scotch tape on the mail box. But here they are actually mail BOXes. Not the awkwardly shaped half of an oval things that we have. And these would be much harder for someone to destroy with a baseball bat. So without further due, I present a tour of Lucerne:)


                                    

This is the first thing I saw when I got off the train. I don't know what is or what it is for but it is cool! And believe it or not this isn't the meeting place of the train station. The meeting place is on the very bottom floor by a grocery store. Not sure what the Swiss were thinking there.

This bridge is what Lucerne is known for.

There are swans everywhere around the bridge! They aren't even skiddish. I saw one lady petting one.

Wes and I wanted good ole fashioned chocolate chip cookies. This country doesn't believe in cookies. Though they do believe in hamburger shaped desserts. They are really famous and way over priced. Bite size too if you can't tell. They aren't like a big mac or anything.

They come in all kinds of flavors!!!! I had chocolate mango. Great combination!

I love this picture because a year ago I saw Jessica(the girl who went fromMO to switzerland last year) post a picture of herself in front on this same bridge. And now I'm actually here. It's pretty mind boggling.

Me and Wes, from Reno, Nevada

Mark Twain wrote about this in a book or something saying it was saddest rock in the world. It is in memorial of the swiss guards that died defending the king in the French Revolution. While I was there I was thinking awesome, fellow Missourian. But then I wasn't quite sure he is Missourian. But I certainly hope so or else I lied to lots of people.

I hope you liked Lucerne(Luzern in german). I know I did!

I Was In a Castle Today

I'm exhausted and words can't even describe how beautiful it was. SO here are the thousands of pictures I took. Oh and btw I met the president of switzerland on friday. Actually she met me. I like the sound of that better :)

COFFEE&CHOCOLATE

I have a new love. It's name is NESPRESSO. I'm not a big coffee person. But this stuff, WOW. I crave it almost as much as chocolate(keyword almost:)) The Swiss coffee machines even look cooler. There is no pot so I honestly don't even know how it works. Must be magic and that's why it tastes like heaven! But hey, what can you expect from a company whose spokesperson is George Clooney??? Enough said. Mom when you come to visit I am sending you home with a lifetime supply of NESPRESSO coffee and the machine. I will never life without it again. Yesterday I went with my host mom to get some more and it was pretty much the prettiest coffee store I have ever seen. The coffee comes in long boxes and all different colors. I took pictures. I don't care strange it must have looked. I mean, if some random person was taking pictures of the coffee aisle in the grocery store I would definitely do a double take and consider them a little bit insane. For all those who were worried I would meet a boy, fall in love, and not return. Well you should have thought more about the coffee because it is reason enough to stay :) (therefore mom you better get one!);)

You know something is great whenever it comes in a rectangle box! Ex. Jewelry, Tolblerone. . .

 

This is what is in the box. I must figure out how this works!

See! This was the poster in the window. George likes it, therefore everyone else should too!

Well everyone, let's take a poll. How many of you would pay $150 swiss francs(basically a big ole Benjamin and a Grant) for a chocolate bar? Think this question sounds crazy? Well what if it was this huge. . .

This is real I promise! And weighed so much! I figured it could be my Christmas present to EVERYONE in Springfield. It was the HUGE!

Dienstag-Tuesday

Well Springfield, now that I am in school I don't get to go sight seeing everyday so sadly I have no sandcastles or indians to show you today. But the average day swiss life is great! Except you must wake up so early!!!! I catch my bus at 7:23 and my train at 7:48. Then after about an hour, I change trains at the Zurich airport. Then before I know it, german class! But there are three other exchange students on my train so it is not so bad! I like it actually, more people that I are doing the same thing as you so you have a lot in common. And learning German is great. It is neccesary, can't speak english forever. Though now when I do speak German, people often reply in english when they hear my accent. So my german school is the weirdest thing I have ever seen. it is in a mall type thing with shops and a mcdonalds and a food court and a grocery store and a restaurant. It is so crazy! It is all due to this huge corporation here called Migros. They sell everything and have a gazillion stores all over St. Gallen. And they donate 1% of their profits to "klubshule" which is the schools they have. Which is where I take my classes.  Today I met the daughter of my 2nd host family, Aline. She is so great! I have never had an older sister but I think it will work out well! Now this next part you won't believe. She took me to see her horse. I know you all think I hate animals but after this experience I totally love them! they are the only ones that don't care that my german is terrible. They still love you! So the horse was really cool, he is an American quarter horse(Olena). She is the only one that does western riding as in like american cowboys but much more glamorous! So in september the exchange students must sing a song in a parade and wave our flags. The song is hilarious and about a brown cow. What makes it even better is that since all our german is terrible we can barely pronounce the words let alone sing them! And there are native swiss instruments. That must be played. Guess who might have to play one?! Bingo, ding ding ding. We have a winner. Me. I will link a youtube video to show you. And I think I heard something about outfits???:-/ As in like what the yoddlers wear. But that is uncertain as of now! Here is the link- http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XXpeG_NCTzo and http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bO3C0uXGWDU&feature=related