Berlin

Two days ago I set off on a journey to four new European countries completely on my own, and I have to say I was a little scared at first. I woke up at 3am nervous that something would go wrong and prevent me from getting to the airport on time, but the morning went smoothly and I arrived at the airport well before my flight began to board. Once at the airport, any previous worries I had disappeared. I have always found that airports have an inexplicable calming effect on me. Maybe it is because everyone at an airport has a purpose, and a place to be, or maybe it's just the promise of new adventure. Either way, I was content to simply watch the people bustle past until I boarded my own flight to begin the last of my adventures here in Europe before I return home. 

By the time I touched down in Berlin, the sun had risen and I had just enough time to get to the hostel before the walking tour began. The tour started at Brandenburg gate, and the guide took us to many historical sights like Hitler's bunker, the memorial to the murdered Jews of Europe, the square where book burnings took place, the building that once held the headquarters of the Luftwaffe and much more. After the tour, I caught a late lunch of currywurst, a local delicacy, near check point charlie, which once served as the allied check point between East and West Berlin. Next, I returned to the memorial to the murdered Jews of Europe. This was probably my favorite attraction in Berlin. It is such an emotional place, the architecture of the memorial really makes you feel small, weak and lost. It is a truly moving experience and the museum underneath the memorial is very interesting as well. 

On my second day in Berlin, I explored the East Side Gallery, which is a stretch of the Berlin Wall that has been decorated with murals by various artists, most of which convey strong messages about the history of the wall and the city. After the gallery, I headed to the Berlin Wall memorial site on the other side of town which tells the history of the construction of the wall and commemorates those who died trying to escape over it. Lastly, I toured the DDR museum and spent some quality time reading in the lawn in front of the Cathedral of Berlin before heading back to my hostel for the night. 

Tomorrow morning, I am off to Prague! Let the adventure continue :)

With love, from Berlin

Mindy

Budapest

I wrote this post once already, but it somehow was lost before I could publish it. So, now that I am sufficiently frustrated, this post is going to be much shorter, sweeter and more to the point.

Budapest was great, I arrived on Wednesday afternoon in the stifling heat and went straight to the famous thermal baths. It was a beautiful day for the baths, which were just down the street from my hostel. 

The next day I went on a walking tour where I saw the Buda Castle, the Chain Bridge, St. Stephen's church, and the Mathias Church among many other things. After the tour, I headed back to the Mathias church to admire the colorful wall to wall frescoes inside it which contrast which it's white gothic  exterior. Just outside of the church is the Fisherman's Bastion which is a line of white stone towers connected by walls. It give a great view of the amazing parliament building across the street. Later, I had a nice dinner at a local restaurant, followed by dessert and coffee at a the Cafe Corynthian. The Corynthian was recomended to me by my tour guide for their Esterházy torte, which is a local delecacy, and it was delicious! The last thing I did in Budapest was watch the sun set over the Buda Castle from the Freedom bridge. It was one of the most beautiful sunsets I have ever seen, and it was a great way to spend my last evening in this wonderful city.

I regret that my stay in Budapest was much too


short, but I am excited to be moving on to Barcelona today to see my best friend for the first time in 4 and a half long months. Spain, here I come! (Again...)

With love, from Budapest

Mindy

Vienna

So I am packing up to depart from Vienna, the third city on my Central European adventure. I had a great couple of days here. I arrived in the evening on Sunday, settled into my hostel and woke up early to hit the city on Monday morning. Little did I know, Monday was a Christian holiday in these parts, leaving the shop doors locked and the museums closed up tight. So instead of waiting in line to see art and listen to classical music, I led my own personal tour of the city. I saw the state opera house, the Hofburg palace, St. Stephen's cathedral, the Rathaus and many beautiful parks along the way. I grabbed lunch at a local festival that was going on in front of the Rathaus. It was a lively affair with carnival rides, live music and lots of food! My favorite spot in the city was the people's garden, which is a large public rose garden where I stopped to escape the heat and read a book in a spot of much needed shade. That evening I ate dinner at a little Italian restaurant and headed back to my hostel for the night.

On my second day in Vienna I went to the Schönbrunn palace just outside of the city center. It was a beautiful palace that was once occupied by the Habsburg family. After a short audio tour I headed outside to the extensive gardens on the castle grounds. The gardens were skirted by a giant ornate fountain and the gloriette arch. After the palace, I went to the Vienna zoo, which is just behind the palace. It was a wonderful and sunny day for a visit to the zoo. I saw pandas, polar bears, elephants, and even a white peacock. You name it, and the Vienna zoo's got it! I rounded out the day with a trip back to the center of Vienna in pursuit of what I had heard was the best chocolate cake in Austria. The famous torte is made from a secret recipe exclusively at Hotel Sacher, behind the state opera house. Although it wasn't exactly what I was expecting, the cake was great! It had two layers of chocolate cake with an apricot filling inbetween and covered with a dark chocolate ganache. It's was a wonderful way to end my last night in Vienna.

In just a couple of hours I will be in Budapest, Hungary. Bring on the thermal baths!

With love, from Vienna

Mindy

Prague

So I have a confession to make... I may have a new favorite European city and it's Prague! 

This city is wonderful! The architecture here is unlike any other European city I have visited. The buildings are so romantic and ancient looking and there isn't any metal to be found. Each building is covered in yellow or white plaster with terricota shingles that just looked warm and inviting when soaked in the sunlight. The landscape is wonderful too. The river that divides the city is leaped by many majestic bridges, and when you climb one of the large hills that surround the city, you are rewarded with awe inspiring views of the city from above. There is a reason they call it the city of one hundred spires, ya know.

Anyways, now that I am finished with my little plug, here is what I have been up to in this glorious city. When I first arrived, on Thursday afternoon, I checked into my hostel and spent a relaxing evening wondering the streets and sipping wine while reading a book at a small restaurant in old town square. The next morning, I went on a 3 hour walking tour of the east side of the city, including the old town, Jewish quarter, new town, king Wenceslas square, the astronomical clock and much more. Later that evening I had a delicious meal of Czech cuisine which consisted of roasted pork, cabbage, and dumplings with a good Czech beer. It was absolutely delicious. I was surprised to find that much of the traditional food here is very similar to that of Germany. 

On Saturday, my last day here in Prague, it was extremely hot! At first it was a nice change from the mild climate in Switzerland, but by mid afternoon it was nearly unbearable. Despite the heat, I decided to make the most of my last day and embarked on a tour of the west side of the city, as well as the Prague castle. On the tour, we saw great views of the city and the castle, as well as the changing of the guard, St. Vitus cathedral, and the Strahov monastery. After a long day of walking, I was content to spend the end of my adventure in Prague the same way I began it, with a nice dinner, a glass of Czech white wine and a good book.

In a couple of hours I will be on my way to Vienna, Austria (although I think Prague will be hard to beat.)

With love, from Prague

Mindy

Deja vu

Hello again, it's another beautiful day here in Switzerland and what am I doing? Sitting inside the University Library burying my nose in my textbook. Yes, finals are fast approaching here in the land of the Alps and I could not be anymore afraid of what the next few weeks have in store. On the bright side, I can bring a translation dictionary to all of my finals! Woot!

Anyways, I am taking a momentary break from my studies now to tell you about my recent trips (yes plural) to Interlaken in the Junfrau region of Switzerland. The Jungfrau is a particular range of mountains in the Swiss Alps that is known for its height and grandeur and I had the privilege to visit this area not only once, but twice in the last month.

My first visit was with my mom and Jim when they visited in mid-April. We rode the panoramic train with picturesque views through the mountains for 3 hours before disembarking in Interlaken. Unfortunately, the weather that day was atrocious. It rained all day long and even snowed in the higher areas during our train ride. When we arrived at our destination, we wandered the city briefly, picked up some souvenirs and post cards, and quickly took refuge in a nearby restaurant where we indulged in some authentic Swiss cheese fondue. It was the perfect way to spend a cool and rainy day in the Alps, stuffing our faces with warm cheese! 

My more recent visit to interlaken occurred just a week ago. A group of exchange students and I too two large vans up to the Jungfrau region, where we made our first stop in Lauterbrunnen. In Lauterbrunnen, we visited the mountainside caverns that are filled with glacial waterfalls. It was particularly amazing to me because I had never seen waterfalls on such a large scale before. 

After wandering the caves, we got back in the vehicles and drove to Interlaken. In Interlaken, we took a vernacular to the top of a mountain with a restaurant perched at the top where we stopped for lunch. We were served a traditional meal of Alpine macaroni, which is noodles with melted cheese, potatoes and onions. The view from the restaurant was absolutely amazing. From our table, you could see the three larges mountain peeks in the region and outside, there was a large viewing platform that hung over the side of the mountain which offered beautiful panoramic views of the city of interlaken as well as the surrounding mountains. 

After our meal and photo session, we took a two hour hike down from the top. It was a beautiful and sunny afternoon for a hike (although and bit slippery from morning rains). When we finally reached the bottom, we explored the city for a little while before returning to the cars and heading back towards Lausanne. We left just in the nick of time because just as we departed, it began to pour, and as we drove further into the mountains, that rain turned to snow. So, naturally, we all climbed out of the cars to play in the fresh flakes. It was the first time I have seen snow fall since I left Minnesota, it really reminded me of home. Speaking of home, I only have 38 days of this amazing adventure left before I come back to the States. Although I am having fun here, I can't wait to come home and see my family and friends again. I miss you all!

With love, from Lausanne

Mindy

Better than Disney World

I can't believe it was nearly a month ago since I visited Germany with my mom and Jim! Time really does fly by!

Well, I am now picking up where I left off a couple a posts ago, in Germany. After spending a beautiful day in Munich, we took a little excursion to the border of Austria, where we visited some pretty spectacular castles. (I wanted to cross the border into Austria, just to say we did but, unfortunately, our rental car didn't have insurance outside of Germany. Oh well, next time.)

Hohenschwangau

First we took a guided tour of the Hohenschwangau Castle which was the childhood home of King Ludwig II of Bavaria and it is pretty magnificent both inside and out. it is perched atop a hill overlooking the valley, spacious court yards, fountains, the whole shebang! And inside there are nearly one hundred ornately decorated rooms to explore with fancy furniture, jeweled center pieces and winding staircases. It is really something!

Selfie with the castle

After that we rode a tram up the mountain to the famous Neuschwanstein Castle. After disembarking, we headed to a nearby bridge for an amazing view of the castle from across a small lake, and man was it high! Definitely not a place for those with qualms about heights... or claustrophobia for that matter. There had to be a hundred people crammed onto that bridge, trying to get their shot of the castle, and on a Wednesday, no less! So we got our picture, got the heck out of that mess and headed for the castle for our tour. 

Neuschwanstein was build by King Ludwig II later in his life, but, unfortunately, the King died before he could see the final product. The castle was never completed because the King was bankrupt when he died and the castle was immediately opened as a museum after his death. The castle is known for it's Cinderella-esque exterior, but the interior boasts a measly 19 completed rooms, most of which were never really used. However, the rooms that we were able to see were really beautiful, too bad they don't allow pictures inside. 

Fussen

After leaving this surreal, fantastic little world, we drove to the nearby city of Fuusen for some schnitzel before heading back to our hotel in Munich for the night. Seeing the castles was probably the highlight of my trip to Germany, besides getting to see my mom and Jim of course. For a few hours I really felt like a princess, take that Disney!


With love, from Lausanne

Mindy

CERN

So I have been trying really hard to keep this blog well organized by writing my posts in chronological order, but I'm throwing that notion out the window today, and blogging about my day before it has a chance to fade from my memory.

Selfie with the ATLAS detector

The Big Bang

Today, thanks to my good friend, Sandra, I had the opportunity to tour the Large Hadron Collider (LHC) at the CERN research facility just outside of Geneva, Switzerland. We woke up early to catch a train, followed by a tram to CERN where we explored the exhibits before beginning our group tour. The tour, given by a very knowledgeable American PhD student, included a really cool 3D video and a look at the control room for the ATLAS detector. ATLAS is one of 5 detectors where data is collected from the events produced by the LHC. Inside the LHC, groups of protons are accelerated inside a ring shaped, underground tube that is 27 kilometers in circumference and lies underneath the soil of both Switzerland and France! How cool is that! I finally understand why Leonard was so excited to visit ( TBBT season 3, episode 15 in case you were wondering.) Which reminds me its new Big Bang Theory night tonight! Too bad I will be asleep when it airs *sigh* I guess I will have to watch it tomorrow.

Jet d'Eau

After our tour of the LHC, we headed back to the city center to find food. Our hunger got the better of us, and we quickly resorted to chez Mcdo (french slang for McDonald's). Then we explored some sights of the city including St. Pierre's Cathedral and the famous Jet d'Eau, a 140 meter tall fountain of water that can be seen throughout most of Geneva. Honestly besides that there is not a lot more to see in the city. Unfortunately we could not get out to the United Nations because it was a bit out of the way, but I'm not terribly disappointed about that. McDonald's and giant water fountains are pretty cool in my book!



With love, from Lausanne

Mindy

What is München???

When arriving in Munich the first thing I thought was "what the heck is München?" little did I know, this is what the Germans call Munich. So really, us Americans are saying it all wrong. (Oh and yes, I had to google search and copy paste that u with the umlaut.)

Munich was amazing! The first morning we woke up in Munich, we caught the metro to the Merianplatz where the town hall and other monuments are located. We wondered the streets, following a Rick Steves route of course, and vistited several churches as well as the Munich history museum. We took a short break at the famous Hofbräuhaus beer garden for a refreshment before we were off again, this time to the Residenz which is the old palace where the Bavarian royalty once lived. But we didn't take a tour of the inside until a couple of day later when we returned to the city to cover the things we missed on the first day.

After working up an apatite exploring the city, we sat down for a traditional meal of beer and sausages at a local restaurant near the Frauenkirche. Their signature sausages were very delicious! I would definitely go there again.

Two day later, when we returned to Munich, we spent most of the day touring the city by bike. Actually we stuck mostly to the English Gardens because the city streets were a bit scary for inexperience bikers. The gardens were really more like a huge park with lakes, rivers, winding paths and even some surfers near the man made dams in the streams! We stopped along the way to check out the beer gardens along the way.

We returned to the city center later to see the Residenz which was extremely beautiful on the inside. There had to be over one hundred rooms to peruse. I think it would take several days to really pay attention to all of the small details. We, unfortunately, had to breeze through it in about an hour and a half because it was going to close.

After our royal tour, we returned to the same little square near the Frauenkirche for dinner again, this time at a different restaurant were we had another traditional German meal and shared a table with a group of very nice Germans and two American girls who were also traveling for their Easter holiday. I had duck for the first time, and it was absolutely delicious! I think one of my favorite parts about visiting Germany was the food!


With love, from Lausanne

Mindy

Rothenburg : My first taste of Germany

Wiener Schitzel

On the Saturday before Easter, Mom, Jim and I boarded a flight to Frankfurt, Germany. After dodging some small snags in our itinerary, losing my phone yet again, and not to mention navigating the autobahn, we arrived in Rothenburg where we immediately crashed for the rest of the night.

The Night Watchman

In the morning we enjoyed a very pleasant Easter brunch at our bed and breakfast and hiked up towards the city, where we arrived just in time to see the good Christians departing from the morning service. Well at least we tried... sort of. We spent the rest of the day exploring the quaint city. We ate snowballs, a local pastry and I tried wiener schnitzel for the first time. It was delicious! The afternoon was spent walking the perimeter of the town on the large stone wall that once fortified the city. Before returning to our room, we went on the night watchman tour of the city. The night watchman was very comical and probably the highlight of my day in Rothenburg for me. 

Nordlingen

The next day we departed towards Munich, but made a couple of stops along the way. It is the romantic road after all. First on the list was Dinkelsbuhl which I often referred to as "Dinkeldorf" because it just rolls off the tongue better, don't you think? Anyways, it was a very cute little town, but much smaller than Rothenburg and less touristy. We were able to see the entire city within two or three hours and then we were off to the next town : Nordlingen.

In Nordlingen, we were met with a bit of a downpour from which we took shelter in an ice cream parlor. After finishing our treat, we dodged from eve to eve until we got to a near by church and finally the city wall which had a convenient covered view of the city. We walked along the wall until the rain stopped and we were able to once again emerge onto the streets. We finally arrived in Munich just in time for dinner at the hotel restaurant. 


With love, from Lausanne

Mindy

Chateau de Chillon avec ma famille

Two weeks ago I had the pleasure of seeing my mom and Jim for the first time in three whole months! I was so excited to see family again (and let's be honest it was nice to eat on someone else's dime too.) Before heading to Germany for our Easter vacation, we spent two days exploring the Lac Leman region.

On day one we spent a low key day perusing the Lausanne Lake front and the local Olympic Museum. The views were abosultely beautiful, as always, and the Olympic exhibit was surprisingly fun and interactive for a museum. It was recently remodeled and opened again to the public in January 2014. The museum features real Olympic torches, medals, clothing and even some games to test your reflexes. We ended the night with dinner at Cafe de Grancy in town with the very gracious couple who allowed me to stay with them for several weeks in January.

Day two involved a boat excursion to the near by Chateau de Chillon. The boat ride along the lake was absolutely breathtaking. Sitting by the window and watching the cities do by with a cup of hot chocolate in hand was quite relaxing. After arriving at the castle, we spent a couple of hours exploring its many towers and dungeons before catching a train back to Lausanne where we prepared a delicious dinner at my apartment which was accompanied by a bottle of wine created specially at Chateau de Chillon.



With love, from Lausanne

Mindy

Chocolate, Beer and Waffles

The title of this post says it all! A country that specializes in beer and sweet treats. What's not to love?

Manneken Pis

So upon arriving in Brussels, Belgium, we had a slight problem to face. We had nowhere to stay, for the first time in Europe, I had come to a city without a reservation for a warm and cozy bed. I had trusted some other members of our group, who were more experienced couchsurfers to find us a place to stay... only they hadn't. So we scrambled around town all afternoon searching for free wifi and hostels with available space but to no avail. Finally we got a hit from the SOS couchsurfing page which is reserved for those who find themselves stranded in a strange city with no place to go. A very nice and slightly eccentric man took us in. That evening, he brought us to an old carousel house that had been converted into a venue for music and dancing. He even arranged to get us into the Latin concert that was taking place there for free. After attempting to dance a little bit and finding we were to only ones in the room with two left feet, we parted ways with our host in search of some late night waffles (which were absolutely delicious!) and returned to our host's apartment utterly drained. But going to sleep wasn't the first thing on our host's mind. He is a film director and fancies himself a musician, specializing in percussion. So, we stayed up until the wee hours of the morning learning how to play several types of drums and tambourines despite our drooping eyelids. This man was probably one of the most interesting people I've met since arriving in Europe.

In Bruge

The next day, we set out for Bruge which is a small city an hours train ride from Brussels that looks like it was taken straight out of a story book. We wandered the city, explored the churches and admired the quaint town square with its massive bell tower before catch a train to Gent, another nearby town with beautiful churches, and it's very own castle! After wandering this city until dinner time, we set out back to Brussels and finished the night with more waffles, of course!

Town Hall at Night

The Arch

On our last day before returning to good 'ol Switzerland, we ran all over Brussels to see anything and everything we had missed two days before, when we were busy finding a place to sleep for the night. We saw the famous fountain with a sculpture of a baby peeing the "Manneken Pis" and the Park of Brussels, the arch of Half Centenary, the Federal Parliament, the Royal Palace, the Palace of Justice as well as some churches and museums along the way. We finished of the evening with a view of the Town Hall by night, which was absolutely beautiful in the way that is was lit against the night sky. My only regret about Belgium : not eating enough chocolate!



With love, from Lausanne

Mindy

I amsterdam

Dutch Pancakes

Yet again, I am trying to make up for lost time. This post and the following one are both much belated, so much so that I am struggling to remember all of the wonderful details of these particular adventures. So bear with me!

So, what is the first thing you do when it's early in the morning and you've just arrived in Amsterdam? You get Dutch pancakes, of course! And that is exactly what we did. We wandered the canals of the city until we happened upon a cute little pancake shop and ordered the local specialty : apple bacon pancakes. Boy, was it delicious. It had a wonderful sweet and salty quality, not unlike eating m&m's with popcorn at the movies, only of course we were in Amsterdam, and the sights were a lot more interesting than the latest blockbuster film to say the least.

I amsterdam

For the rest of the day, we explored the city by foot following along a particularly wide canal that seemed like a promising path. Along the way we stopped at the Rijks Museum, a church or two and some beautiful parks. At the end of our jaunt, we rested and ate at the Windmill de Gooyer. By the time we finished walking this path we were exhausted and struggling under the weight of our backpacks so we headed back to the center of the city for some refreshments. When it began to get dark we wandered over to the Red Light District. An oh was I surprised! Let's just say the ladies definitely aren't shy in that part of town...

Red Light District

Something that was a new and exciting adventure for me on this trip was couch surfing. For those of you who don't know, couch surfing is a website where people with extra beds and couches to lend network with travelers looking for a free place to stay. At first it sounds a but sketchy, at least it did to me. But I found that the people we stayed with on this trip were generous people who are interested in meeting new people and learning about different cultures, and the hosts themselves seemed to lead pretty interesting lives of their own. For example, we stayed with a very nice Dutch couple in Amsterdam, Henry and Mary who told us amazing stories about their motorcycle journeys through India, Eastern Europe and parts of the Middle East. On our first night in Amsterdam, we even attended a Blues concert at a bar where Henry played the base with his band.

Anne Frank House and Museum

On the second and last day of our visit to Amsterdam, we took a guided tour of the city where we learned some very interesting history about its politics and architecture. Our guide showed us the narrowest house in Amsterdam, as well as the Anne Frank house and museum, the Red Light district and taught us a very important lesson about being a pedestrian in Amsterdam : "If you here a bell, run like hell!" And let me tell you, that was some good advice! Afterwards, we strolled through some beautiful parks and payed a visit to the local flower market before heading back to our couches to pack for the bus ride to Brussels in the morning.


With love, from Lausanne

Mindy

This is Long Overdue

This post about my adventures to the Cailler chocolate factory, Gruyere and my first experience snowboarding in the Swiss Alps is long, long overdue! Because while students at home are beginning to bone up for their final exams, I just finished fighting my own battle against midterm exams here in Lausanne, and boy was it hellish. But just before this madness began, I had quite the adventurous weekend. 

On Saturday, March 29th I hopped on a bus filled with other exchange students for a tour and all you can eat chocolate buffet at the famous Cailler chocolate factory here in Switzerland! The factory is situated in the most picturesque little valley just next to the town of Gruyere. Our tour included a short history of chocolate and a insider's look into the entire chocolate making process. At the end of the tour, they led our ravenous group of college students to the tasting room, where we were able to eat as many delicious chocolate morsels as we could before exiting to the gift shop. (Needless to say, for most of us, "all you can eat" quickly turned into "all you can stuff in your mouth and your purse without the chocolate staff noticing.") Oh and on a side note, on the way out I milked a Swiss cow, and it is definitely real...

Next we walked along a wooded, riverside trail to the quaint little town of Gruyere, were we stopped to admire the castle, the cheese shops, and a particularly phallic museum dedicated to the "Alien" movie franchise. My personal advice when visiting Gruyere: stick to the castle and the cheese shops, and avoid the creepy extraterrestrial museum next door. Although, the bar adjacent to it sporting as similar alien theme is really interesting to look at. 

I am sorry to say that day two of this Swiss weekend of adventure began on the wrong foot. After missing the metro and attempting to run all the way to the train station while carrying skis, a snowboard and other miscellaneous gear, we finally arrived at the mountain. Verbier was absolutely breathtaking! Once there, we rode the gondola straight to the top. Being completely overwhelmed by the grandeur of the mountains, I failed to notice the signs warning off all not-so-advance skiers from venturing to this particular peek. Needless to say, I spent the majority of my first run in the Swiss Alps sliding down massive inclines covered in 4 feet of powdery snow on my butt. And, yes, that did hurt the next morning. But, "no pain, no gain" right! And in this case, the soreness and inability to walk... or really get out of bed... the next day was completely worth the view from the top! 

On the right, there is a rare shot of me actually on my feet while boarding in the Alps!





With love, from Lausanne

Mindy

I'm Officially Swiss!

So I officially became Swiss this week... well sort of. I apologize in advance for the ranting nature of this post, but sometimes a girl's got to vent.

Let's start from the beginning, shall we? 

You arrive in Switzerland, and you are super excited! After spending a week or two exploring and getting your student visa problems straightened out, you figure it's time to go declare your residency to the city so you don't get kicked out of their country. Yeah, you should probably get on that.... 

So you arrive at city hall, or at least where your GPS told you city hall is supposed to be. And after 20 or 30 minutes, you finally realize that that little hotel you've walked past 4 times, is actually city hall because "hôtel de ville" actually means city hall in French... As you enter, you silently curse all of your previous French instructors for never teaching you this little key phrase.

So you go inside, and open the door that says "Contrôle des Habitants" because this is what you were told to do. And you walk in the secretary starts yelling at you to leave in French... WHAT!?! So you stand outside the door with a befuddled look on your face before reading the sign on the door that instructs you to ring the bell before entering. Okay so you ring the bell, and a little light turns green and you enter again... Was that really necessary? Nope... but the Swiss like their rules. 

You're finally in, and you give them your paperwork and you pay your $150 fee and return home only to get a letter saying you are missing some of the paperwork. So you go back, and this process repeats itself a few times. Until you lose your nerve and start yelling at the city hall receptionist in English, and you really wish your French was better so they could actually understand how frustrated you are... Luckily, after that little spat, you have finally completed your paperwork and you will hopefully never have to see that receptionist ever again... Phew!

A week later, you receive a letter in the mail, and you nearly cry at the thought of having to deal with the contrôle des habitants AGAIN. So you open the letter, and jump with joy when you see that it is you summons to go to the Biometrics Lab to be fingerprinted. This is a good thing... this means you are in the home stretch of finally getting your residency permit! (Even though you have been living in Switzerland for a good two months now.) 

You go to the Biometrics Lab, and you step into this booth and put your finger on a screen that catalogs your finger prints and then takes your picture... Unfortunately, you weren't aware that your photo was going to be taken, so, like any other college student, you just dragged yourself out of bed without out brushing your hair or putting on any makeup. Great! Well, at least it can't be any worse than those passport photos you had to take in the Paris metro station. And when it's over, the nice Swiss woman directs you to a desk where you have to pay yet another fee for their services.   

Four days and one long trek to the post office later, you receive an envelop containing none other than your residency card! All of your hard work finally paid off! So what's the first thing you do? Take a picture with it and write an obscenely long blog post about the grueling process so everyone understands what you have accomplished!

With love, from Lausanne

Mindy

 

Smiles From Home

Today was a typical Tuesday abroad. I woke up, ate my favorite chocolate cereal, attended class, and checked my mail box on my way home. But today, a little yellow slip of paper was waiting for me in that letter box...

The anticipation builds!

So, of course, I turned right around and ran straight back to the metro station! I waited impatiently in line at the post office, and when they called my number, I giddily accepted my parcel and headed for home. (If I had had something to cut the tape with, that box wouldn't have made it past the parking lot!) 

I got the package home in one piece and hurriedly sliced open that pesky packing tape and emptied the treasures from home out onto my bed. 

Sometimes, all it take is a jar of peanut butter and some girl scout cookies to make you feel at home again. Thanks, Nana! I love you!

A photo of my delicious spoils

With love, from Lausanne

Mindy

Why Spain Took All My Money

Check Spain off my "Things You Must Do in Europe" List! It's a beautiful country, with awe inspiring architecture, delicious food (especially for meat lovers like myself) and absolutely amazing shopping!!! (In case you were wondering, those last two are the culprits behind my increasingly thin wallet.)

The beautiful Toledo

My first day in Madrid began much like my first day in London, with a walking tour of the delightful city. It began at Puerta del Sol, the center of the city where the city gates used to stand. After getting a crash course history lesson and an appetite whetting peek at all of the sites of Madrid, I stopped to eat an authentic Spanish meal with some new friends I met on the tour. I wrapped up the first day with a bit of shopping (okay a lot of shopping) and a little taste of the city's night life.

This is Amazing! EAT IT!

On Saturday I took a little excursion to the old capital of Spain, Toledo. Toledo is one of the most beautiful cities I have ever seen! The architecture is so original and unmodernized, it feels like stepping into a history book. The Cathedral of Toledo is absolutely breath taking too, with its high arches and intricate sculptures, it is by far the most grand cathedral I have visited in Europe. After working up quite an appetite, myself and two others I met on the trip went looking for a hardy meal. We found what we were looking for in a little hole in the wall place called  Casa de Cisneros where we all ordered a specialty of Toledo called Carcamusas a la Toledana which is a pork stew that was TO DIE FOR! Despite my wonderful meal, the highlight of my day was meeting up with my friend Zoe and some of the other globe-hopping WISE girls for dinner back in Madrid.

Some lovely WISE ladies

Palace Real

I spent the last two days of my trip with the girls from Iowa State. We toured the Palace Real, the Cathedral in Madrid, as well as the Reina Sofia Modern art Museum. (Personally, I wouldn't recommend the museum, I mean unless phallic sculptures and paintings are your thing.) On Sunday, we emptied our wallets yet again at the local Rastro Market and ate sandwiches from the famous Ham Museum, and delicious tapas. (Seriously, a meal with meat for less than 25 CHF! Is this heaven?!) I finished up my trip with a visit to Retiro Park after which Zoe and I said our good byes. It was so nice to see a familiar face it really makes being away from the people I love a little bit easier, thanks for letting me tag allong on your adventures, Zoe! I can't wait to see everyone at home and at Iowa State again in the summer!!!

With love, from Lausanne

Mindy