Remember that time that I said I would blog my entire swiss adventure....well, I'll just say what everyone is thinking: I failed! There is still hope, well for the 3 months I have left here. So for those who don't have facebook or my favorite social media, instagram, I'll fill you in on a little bit of what's been going on since I last wrote. Briefly of course, because it's been far too long!
Since my last post:
I have been to Paris! It was an incredible trip with two of my Swedish friends. We rented a cute little flat for the weekend, and ran around like chickens trying to see and do the best of the best of Paris. We did well for our time span!
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| Does this really need a caption? Eiffel Tower at night! |
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| Eiffel Tower during the day before we went up |
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| There are locks for days |
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| The Louvre |
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| Winged Victory |
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| Arc de Triomphe |
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| It really is amazing how small it is! |
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| Sacre Coeur-Paris |
I took a day trip to Annecy, France with 2 friends. It is a lovely little town on a lake with canals running through the old town. The lights on the canals at night were beautiful! This city is a must see if you are in the area.
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| Annecy, France |
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| Annecy, France at night |
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| Practicing the art of falling gracefully |
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| First adventure skiing in the Alps- Verbier, Switzerland |
I went on my first Swiss Alps skiing adventure in Verbier, Switzerland. The first of many, but this one was quite a treat. I had no idea that I was getting myself into. The slopes were very difficult and I had forgotten everything I had learned the 2 days I had skied two years ago. I was with a group of advanced skiers, so I sent them on their way, and hoped for the best. After about 45 minutes a man saw me struggling after about 30 falls ( my bum was sore ), he asked in French of course "are you ok". I responded, yeah I'm fine with what I'm sure was the most pathetic smile he'd ever seen. He then switched to english and introduced himself. He was the director of all of eurosport swiss ski schools (WOW!) and introduced me to a very fine looking young man standing next to him. He said "This is Ben. If you want, he will give you a lesson free of charge down the mountain. We want to make sure you make it home safe and in one piece." so obviously I agreed! So we chit-chatted all the way down, and the director comes up to us at the bottom and says that Ben was doing an interview/trial run to see if he could be an instructor, I said he should absolutely get the job and He DID! He took me back up the lift and I went down another slope alone repeatedly until I had it down! All in all it was a fun experience and it truly sparked my ski obsession.
I have also learned to ice skate and play ice hockey! I love it. There is a tiny, and I mean tiny patinoire (ice rink) in the village that we live in, and it's free!
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| Ice Skating |
I went across Switzerland to Zurich two different times. The first time I went to visit some family friends (that's the easy way to explain it) Nik, Jeanette & their cute little pups! It was so fun to reunite with Nik and finally meet Jeanette! We had a lovely 2 days. They have a fantastic house by the lake and her interior design skills are beyond compare as well as her cooking! They showed me around Zurich, which I think is a lovely city. I would like to live there at some point in my life.
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| Montreux Christmas Market |
Christmas Markets- This part of the world is big on their Christmas markets, supposedly Germany has the best, but I didn't make it up there. I went to three this year, one in Zurich, Switzerland, the big one in Montreux, Switzerland and one in London in Hyde park. People set up stands side by side and sell all kinds of goodies! I think I bought a hat at each one. It reminded me of an arts and crafts fair on steroids. The one in Montreux has a large ferris wheel, and all kinds of decorations along the way. The food is incredible and it really gets you in the Christmas spirit, which is somewhat difficult to do away from your normal traditions.
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| The boys & I on Christmas Eve |
Christmas was hard to be away from home. I am usually with the Looney's on Christmas eve and morning and head down to Mom's, the Anthony's, and the Reeves' on Christmas day. I missed the craziness of that as well as the traditions. I spent Christmas eve with my host family. We had dinner which was very good, except one small dish....foie gras. For those who don't know, foie gras is a food product made of the liver of a duck or goose that has been specially fattened. It took everything I had to keep it down. But I challenge you to try it! It's a french delicacy, and I'll keep it that way and cling to my American-ness when it comes to foie gras. We exchanged gifts, and sat around talking. Early Christmas morning I went skiing with my friend Savannah and her boyfriend who was visiting from the states. It was a memorable adventure packed with my first hitchhiking experience, a trek through snow up to my knees (in ski boots), arriving to the "Ski resort" that was one run, making a fool of myself on a new kind of lift that I'd never seen, and trying to teach/remind them how to ski when I'm only a beginner myself. All in all it was hilarious and I can only laugh when days like that occur. Went skiing with my host family on the 27th for the first time in France. It was a nice place, I had a lot of fun!
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| New Year's Eve (post craziness) |
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| He's here & very grown up |
My brother and nana were supposed to arrive in Geneva on Dec 26th, but there was a blizzard in Arkansas and they weren't able to arrive until late afternoon on the 28th, but they made it and that's what matters! We quickly jumped on a train and headed to Zermatt, Switzerland. It is one of the cutest little towns I've ever been to, I can't decide if I like it better in the summer or snow covered in the winter. We settled in to our very cosy and I mean cosy hostel room, a first for my nana and brother. HILARIOUS! The next morning we woke early to catch the Glacier Express that would take us from Zermatt to Chur and a fantastic panoramic train. We sat in first class and enjoyed our wine, meal and breathtaking views of the Alps. That is something I will never forget. Then somewhere between Chur and our hostel in Zurich, I was pick pocketed. I didn't even realize it until the next morning at the airport :( That put a small damper on the trip, but we weren't going to let us bring us down. We then spent the night in Zurich and flew out to London the next morning. Ran into a little trouble leaving Switzerland, because my swiss ID was in my wallet, but fortunately they let me through. We arrived in London, and made the long journey to our little apartment that was about 20 minutes outside of the city. It was New Year's eve so we walked around our area searching for a light dinner, finally found a fabulous place called Strata! We were obsessed. We then headed home to get ready for our evening out on a river cruise for the fireworks. We arrived in London at 7pm to search for Westminister pier, and then the craziness began. The lovely police officers told us to "just walk over the westminister bridge, and you'll see it" we made it across through thousands of people standing for the fireworks and it was blocked off. We could SEE the pier, but they wouldn't let us through the gate to get to it. So there we were running here, there and everywhere trying to get across the river. We missed the very expensive cruise, with no refund of course, but during our attempts to get across, someone let us into a VIP viewing area for the fireworks that are shot from the London Eye. It was miserably cold, especially next to the river, but we grabbed some snacks from a kiosk and waited until midnight! The fireworks were incredible! The best I've ever seen for sure. We then tried to get home, again being directed to go the wrong way! We stood in "cue's" or as we call them, lines, to get into the train station. This lasted for 2/3 hours. A belligerent man and his 3 friends tried to pick a fight with my 16 year old brother (most terrifying moment). We finally made it home around 3:30 or so. The next 2 days we did some sight-seeing and shopping. My brother and I went ice skating in hyde park at the Winter wonderland. On the 3rd of Jan, we headed back to geneva and quickly hopped another train to Les Diablerets. This was everyone's favorite part of the trip! It is a ski resort that also has a sled run. You rent a really cool wooden sled and take the ski lift all the way up the mountain, and down you go! 7 kilometers or 30-45 minutes of continuous sledding! I have not laughed that much in a long time. Seeing your nana extreme sledding is quite humorous, and she was really good at it! I'll post a video at the bottom ;) We then headed home to my host families for a lovely fondue dinner and then to bed. I hated sending them home the next day, but I am so thankful they were able to get here. It was such a fun trip, even with all the bumps along the way!
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| Nana & bug in Zermatt |
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| The Matterhorn: Zermatt, Switzerland |
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| Glacier express |
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| View of a village on Glacier express |
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| Fireworks for the London Eye |
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| Big Ben |
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| Extreme sledding: Les Diablerets, Switzerland |
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| Acting all touristy |
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| Taylor & I on the ski/luge lift |
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| My sunset ski on my birthday weekend |
Ski fun- I went skiing in Villars on the 5th to celebrate my 23rd birthday! It was my favorite ski resort so far. Had dinner with my host family on my birthday. Later that week I took a ski lesson in Villars, but it was a blizzard out there. It was fun, but very difficult to see. I went skiing yet again with a group of my friends who are also au pairs to Mont Blanc. It was a blast, I was getting really brave by this point and did some red slopes! I nearly wet my long johns, but I did it! The last weekend in January I went on a snow weekend with LiNK (the au pair group that I'm in) to Rougemont/Gstaad, Switzerlad. We stayed in a really cool old chalet and there were about 40 of us. I skied both days, the first day with my friend Shiffy! The second day, I was pretty sore so I decided to try to help with the super super beginners. I sometimes wonder why I didn't get a degree in education, I loved it. I decided to meet up with a few other girls and do a few runs before it was time to head home, and that's when things went downhill (pun intended). My knee was sore and I was exhausted from the day before and I knew I should have taken the gondola down, but I didn't go with my gut... It was getting dark and icy, and I was going way too fast, and then I met the large wall of snow! My skis were stuck in the snow and body continued forward and my skis did not. My knee did a bad little twist and I was on the ground. I was laughing and crying at the same time because I had no idea what happened. Shiffy was ahead a bit and couldn't see what happened, and fortunately Savannah was behind me and saw the whole thing. I couldn't move my leg, and knew I would not be able to ski down. A family came up and helped call the rescue team, which seemed a little dramatic personally, but it was the only way I was getting down the mountain. 15 minutes a knight in snow-gear and a stretcher on skis arrived. They loaded me on the sled and down the mountain I went being pulled by this strange contraption by a very attractive young man. There was one point in the journey, where I must add that I was going down on my back, head first strapped in very tight and could not move, I felt as if the sled would topple over and I fall off the mountain, never to be seen again. Fortunately, he was a professional and we made it to the bottom, where I was greeted by a slightly intoxicated gentleman who proceeded to offer me apple schnapps that was made here in switzerland...I giggled and refused and he offered again. The neon yellow ambulance arrived and I was off to the tiniest hospital I've ever seen. I left there with a big blue knee brace and some strange crutches (with reflectors). I did not break anything and later found out at an MRI that nothing was torn, but the doctor did have to get out an anatomy book to tell me the names of the ligaments. He said I just strained/sprained/stretched whatever the word a ligament on the exterior of my knee! I had to wear a brace for 2-3 weeks and do some physiotherapy (awkward leg massages, sans pants). I'm not walking normally and only a little bit of pain if I make certain turns. I'm trying to not push it, but I really want to ski again before I leave!
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| Hot air balloons in Gstaad. You could see them all while skiing |
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| How I reached the bottom of the mountain, and me at the hospital (morphine) |
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| Shiffy & I skiing in Gstaad with LiNK |
February 10-13 I went to Barcelona with my friends Anna & Moa (Swedish girls of course). We had a nice flat just 15 minutes out of the main city. It was a great trip, weather wasn't bad. We did a hop on/hop off bus one day which was a brilliant idea. It makes seeing the city in a short period much easier, especially when a lot of the stuff you just stop look at it take a pic and move on. We did some shopping, made some friends, ate tapas & paella, drank margaritas & mojitos and tried to channel our inner spaniards! It was a blast. ( will post pics next time)
Ok, well I'm tired of typing so I'll wrap it up, but there is a somewhat brief re-cap of my last few months here. I will try to do better, but no promises. Time has gone by so fast and so slow at the same time. I won't start getting sappy yet, but I'm warning you, IT WILL HAPPEN. If not on here, than on the phone, skype, facetime, imessage, google hangout, or whatever form of communication we may have. But, I can't mope around for long because I have a fun new adventure to announce.....drumroll
I am going to AFRICA!!!
In mid/end of August I will be moving to a small town on the coast of Kenya for 4 months as a volunteer. This is an incredible opportunity to go and serve in a way that I never thought I could. I will be teaching(yes, me teaching! Yikes) english, math & science at a special needs school as my main project. After school I will hop, skip, & jump over to the orphanage to teach/coach girls sports...so all of you soccer players, I need tips. The other project I will be working on will be at a pediatric clinic/small hospital, there are only enough funds to keep it open a few days a week for a few hours, so I will spend some time there trying to get some experience with children in the medical setting to prepare for my "big girl career". I am extremely excited about this new adventure and I hope you will follow me on my next adventure! I appreciate your love & support, and well if you don't know me and you are reading this, I hope you feel inspired to travel even if it is just to another city or state, or maybe in your backyard. Go be adventurous!
lots of love from your crazy swiss miss,
Brooks
