July 9th
It's been 4 days now that we've been together. Everyone is, for the most part, still on good behavior. Though you can see tensions building here and there. Our own little “Real World.” I definitely made the right decision to not have a roommate. The rooms are fine, but small, and I can't imagine sharing with another person. It's a little weird to have a hall bath, but it's not gross like I thought it would be. There are only two showers, but that hasn't been a problem. We each have a sink in our room-- most people have TVs. I don't, but I think I'm ok with that. A little break from the telly won't hurt me. I have an armoire, which is bigger than the closet in other rooms. That works out nicely. I also have a bed that's bigger...somewhere between a twin and a full size. There are also French doors leading to my very own balcony. Yesterday we went to the grocery, bought food and had a picnic out there. Peanut butter and Nutella sandwiches. We really don't eat enough Nutella in America. Basically we hung out around Engelberg on Saturday and had a little hike. In the afternoon we visited the local Benedictine monastery, which has a cheese factory. We watched them make cheese, and had a tasting. It was so yummy.
Classes start tomorrow and most of us aren't sure of our schedule yet. The lab classes that normally meet three days a week in Atlanta are only meeting two days a week to give us more time for days available for our internship....it works out to two days of class/two days of work/ off or traveling on Fridays-- works for me! Tomorrow or Tuesday I will visit my internship site. So far, things have been really laid back. That will soon change, I imagine.
Today we went to the top of Mount Titlis...it's one of the mountains behind the village and is 10000 feet high. You get up there riding a series of cars hanging from wires, one of which rotates and plays techno music. Well…it was a cross between something and techno. A sort of dum-dee-dee-da-da with a techno backbeat. I'm not kidding. For the last 2500 feet we were in a rotating car, suspended from a cable with music blaring.
At the very top, you could hike out onto the glacier…it was about 4 degrees Celsius. I’m not sure of the conversion off the top of my head—somewhere in the high 30s or low 40s Fahrenheit. They also had the ice flyer and tubing. I’ve posted some picture below. Basically, the “ice flyer” was kind of like a ski lift that took you off of the highest part of the mountain. At first it was a little scary—with my feet hanging in the air and the sight of dropped gloves and shoes. Within about 10 seconds, I was over the scary part and thoroughly enjoyed it. The only disappointing thing was that it moved kind of slow. We were thinking that we would have more of a “flying” experience. Oh well. Still fabulous. We discussed that there was really nothing to complain about when one is in the Alps in July playing in some snow. Whether you fly fast or not. Oh—and the music that they played was once you were in the “ice park”—with the tubing, ice flyer and other stuff—was all rap. We were greeted with a little Wu Tang.
After the ice flyer we went down a trail on rubber tubes….You sit in the middle, a woman swings you around with the attached rope and off you go! I went up a bank and did a flip, which would have been even cooler, had I been holding on at the time. Nevertheless, my tube and I stayed together and I continued down the slope. It was so much fun. You’re going from side to side, down a hill while spinning around. We wanted to do it again, but there were other people there, so we had to give them a turn. Instead, we opted for some French fries—ok, they give you one pack of ketchup with the order. After that, it’s .50 CHF each. That’s like 45 cents! I could go broke on ketchup. The good news is, though, that the fries were yummy enough without all the Heinz and we moved on. After getting cold and wet, and walking back in the rain, I went to the sauna that’s here in the hotel. Pretty lovely. I’m sitting in the lobby of the hotel, and Foreigner’s “I Want to Know What Love Is” is playing. They make interesting choices about what American music to bring over.
July 10th
Today is pretty uneventful. I woke up early enough to take the 8:15 a.m. train to Lucerne. I went with one other student—we had a mission-- An alarm clock and laundry detergent. We were doing some price comparison. Because Engelberg is a resort town, everything is super expensive. Well….we lucked up and found ourselves outside the Target/Wal-Mart of Lucerne. It’s a bigger version of the Migros supermarket that we have here in the village. They had everything….food, clothes, electronics, cookware. We found it within the first 15 minutes we were there, and spent another hour or so wandering in and out of other stores. I bought some hair gel for about $2. I’m sort of scared to use it, but we’ll see what happens. We spent the rest of our time going in every supermarket that we saw. The fruits and vegetables were beautiful. The eggplants were such a deep color purple, they were almost black. And completely pristine. No bruises or scrapes or anything. Same with the mushrooms—you know how you pick through a bin of mushrooms at the supermarket, and they have brown marks on them, chunks missing out of them, etc? These were just beautiful. Also, Cool Ranch Doritos are called Cool American Doritos here. And we were the cool Americans, taking pictures of them—heehee.
This afternoon, I was supposed to visit the bakery where I’ll do my internship—it is just up the street. A three minute walk. I’m so lucky. Other people have to catch the train to Lucerne, which can take more than an hour. Anyway, we had to cancel the meeting for today, I’m not sure why. Chef assures me, however, that I still have the job. And that, really, is what matters. Today, tomorrow. We’ll see. Also, it turns out that we may do our shifts in one day. So it would be one ten hour shift for me….that could start as early as 12:30 a.m.! So…it seems I have a free afternoon. I think I’ll take a little walk, and go find some postcards so you guys can get mail.
Some pictures...
Some pictures...
A view from my balcony.
Another view from my balcony.
Jesse, Colin, and Corrina, our travel guide and tour coordinator.
This is a fire hydrant. Around here they're all painted into little people.
A view from Mount Titlis.
Me, Eric from DC, and Anita from Chicago in the cable car going up Mt. Titlis.
More mountains because they're pretty.
Ice tubing on top of Mt. Titlis.
Small and large french fries. Kleine und grosse pommes frittes.
A view in Lucerne today.
Cool Ranch Doritos-- Swiss style, yo.
It's been 4 days now that we've been together. Everyone is, for the most part, still on good behavior. Though you can see tensions building here and there. Our own little “Real World.” I definitely made the right decision to not have a roommate. The rooms are fine, but small, and I can't imagine sharing with another person. It's a little weird to have a hall bath, but it's not gross like I thought it would be. There are only two showers, but that hasn't been a problem. We each have a sink in our room-- most people have TVs. I don't, but I think I'm ok with that. A little break from the telly won't hurt me. I have an armoire, which is bigger than the closet in other rooms. That works out nicely. I also have a bed that's bigger...somewhere between a twin and a full size. There are also French doors leading to my very own balcony. Yesterday we went to the grocery, bought food and had a picnic out there. Peanut butter and Nutella sandwiches. We really don't eat enough Nutella in America. Basically we hung out around Engelberg on Saturday and had a little hike. In the afternoon we visited the local Benedictine monastery, which has a cheese factory. We watched them make cheese, and had a tasting. It was so yummy.
Classes start tomorrow and most of us aren't sure of our schedule yet. The lab classes that normally meet three days a week in Atlanta are only meeting two days a week to give us more time for days available for our internship....it works out to two days of class/two days of work/ off or traveling on Fridays-- works for me! Tomorrow or Tuesday I will visit my internship site. So far, things have been really laid back. That will soon change, I imagine.
Today we went to the top of Mount Titlis...it's one of the mountains behind the village and is 10000 feet high. You get up there riding a series of cars hanging from wires, one of which rotates and plays techno music. Well…it was a cross between something and techno. A sort of dum-dee-dee-da-da with a techno backbeat. I'm not kidding. For the last 2500 feet we were in a rotating car, suspended from a cable with music blaring.
At the very top, you could hike out onto the glacier…it was about 4 degrees Celsius. I’m not sure of the conversion off the top of my head—somewhere in the high 30s or low 40s Fahrenheit. They also had the ice flyer and tubing. I’ve posted some picture below. Basically, the “ice flyer” was kind of like a ski lift that took you off of the highest part of the mountain. At first it was a little scary—with my feet hanging in the air and the sight of dropped gloves and shoes. Within about 10 seconds, I was over the scary part and thoroughly enjoyed it. The only disappointing thing was that it moved kind of slow. We were thinking that we would have more of a “flying” experience. Oh well. Still fabulous. We discussed that there was really nothing to complain about when one is in the Alps in July playing in some snow. Whether you fly fast or not. Oh—and the music that they played was once you were in the “ice park”—with the tubing, ice flyer and other stuff—was all rap. We were greeted with a little Wu Tang.
After the ice flyer we went down a trail on rubber tubes….You sit in the middle, a woman swings you around with the attached rope and off you go! I went up a bank and did a flip, which would have been even cooler, had I been holding on at the time. Nevertheless, my tube and I stayed together and I continued down the slope. It was so much fun. You’re going from side to side, down a hill while spinning around. We wanted to do it again, but there were other people there, so we had to give them a turn. Instead, we opted for some French fries—ok, they give you one pack of ketchup with the order. After that, it’s .50 CHF each. That’s like 45 cents! I could go broke on ketchup. The good news is, though, that the fries were yummy enough without all the Heinz and we moved on. After getting cold and wet, and walking back in the rain, I went to the sauna that’s here in the hotel. Pretty lovely. I’m sitting in the lobby of the hotel, and Foreigner’s “I Want to Know What Love Is” is playing. They make interesting choices about what American music to bring over.
July 10th
Today is pretty uneventful. I woke up early enough to take the 8:15 a.m. train to Lucerne. I went with one other student—we had a mission-- An alarm clock and laundry detergent. We were doing some price comparison. Because Engelberg is a resort town, everything is super expensive. Well….we lucked up and found ourselves outside the Target/Wal-Mart of Lucerne. It’s a bigger version of the Migros supermarket that we have here in the village. They had everything….food, clothes, electronics, cookware. We found it within the first 15 minutes we were there, and spent another hour or so wandering in and out of other stores. I bought some hair gel for about $2. I’m sort of scared to use it, but we’ll see what happens. We spent the rest of our time going in every supermarket that we saw. The fruits and vegetables were beautiful. The eggplants were such a deep color purple, they were almost black. And completely pristine. No bruises or scrapes or anything. Same with the mushrooms—you know how you pick through a bin of mushrooms at the supermarket, and they have brown marks on them, chunks missing out of them, etc? These were just beautiful. Also, Cool Ranch Doritos are called Cool American Doritos here. And we were the cool Americans, taking pictures of them—heehee.
This afternoon, I was supposed to visit the bakery where I’ll do my internship—it is just up the street. A three minute walk. I’m so lucky. Other people have to catch the train to Lucerne, which can take more than an hour. Anyway, we had to cancel the meeting for today, I’m not sure why. Chef assures me, however, that I still have the job. And that, really, is what matters. Today, tomorrow. We’ll see. Also, it turns out that we may do our shifts in one day. So it would be one ten hour shift for me….that could start as early as 12:30 a.m.! So…it seems I have a free afternoon. I think I’ll take a little walk, and go find some postcards so you guys can get mail.
Some pictures...
Some pictures...
A view from my balcony.
Another view from my balcony.
Jesse, Colin, and Corrina, our travel guide and tour coordinator.
This is a fire hydrant. Around here they're all painted into little people.
A view from Mount Titlis.
Me, Eric from DC, and Anita from Chicago in the cable car going up Mt. Titlis.
More mountains because they're pretty.
Ice tubing on top of Mt. Titlis.
Small and large french fries. Kleine und grosse pommes frittes.
A view in Lucerne today.
Cool Ranch Doritos-- Swiss style, yo.
posted by l-sauce at
10:55 AM
3 Comments:
Surely you've misspelled the name of that mountain? Or is it an oxymoron?
I wondered who would say something. Titlis. It is pronounced just like it's spelled (when spelled correctly and incorrectly).
Hip Hop here. Nice photos. I have also tubed on Mount Titlis and skied that region. I used to live in Garmisch-Partenkirchen. Beautiful area you are in you lucky girl. Tschuss und viel gluck!
BTW I will see Carlos in a week or two.
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