A Not-So-Mundane Weekend

My weekend, as I look back on it, seemed rather "mundane". Friday, I stayed in. Saturday, I went out. And today, Sunday, I am here in my apartment, doing my homework, writing a new entry for my blog at my mother's request.

"Mom, I don't have anything to write about."

"The 'mundane' - a day in the life of a Franklin student... or how to get around Lugano... what a tourist might consider..."

"All true. Okay, I'll write an entry, just for you."

So here I am, writing of the mundane. Except that as I reflect back on the broader picture of what happened, I find that my supposedly uneventful weekend may actually have served a greater purpose.

Friday:

Friday. The one night every college student yearns for the moment the week begins. But this time around, as the rain pelted down on Lugano and the thunder sounded from Milan, my friends and I decided to stay in. It had been a long day of classes, and a night of hot chocolate, hazelnut chocolate chip cookies, good friends, and Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban was in order. Now THATS not your typical collegiate Friday night, even here at at atypical Franklin. But the thing is... I was completely satisfied.

Saturday Morning:

Franklin offers students for the first two months of the semester a daily "tutte le strade" activity, or "all roads" in english. These events are extremely unique and vary widely. Here are some examples:

Wednesday, September 15 @ 17.00 in the Falcon’s Nest: Black Gold: What’s in Your Cup? A Night of Coffee with Professor Long. As westerners revel in designer lattes and cappuccinos, impoverished Ethiopian coffee growers suffer the bitter taste of injustice. Join Professor Josh Long as he presents an eye-opening documentary of the multi-billion dollar industry, Black Gold traces one man's fight for a fair price. Following the film Professor Long will guide an enlightening conversation about ethical practices for producers and consumers of coffee. Additionally, fair-trade organic home-roasted coffee will be provided for you to enjoy.

Saturday, September 25 & Sunday, September 26: Smart Car Rally. With midterms just around the corner, the Franklin community is itching for a weekend of fun and traveling through Switzerland. The Smart Car Rally, sponsored by the Franklin College Student Government Association (SGA), is a chance for students to explore the country, eat great food, and make some friends! Students will leave from Lugano on Friday night and head for St. Gallen. After a day exploring the sights and sounds of north eastern Switzerland, the group will head west toLausanne for the night. The next day will be spent discovering Lausanne and the western side of the country. The group will return to Lugano on Sunday evening.

The fees for these events, if there are any, are covered by the college. They present incredible opportunities to the students to help assimilate into college life and swiss culture.. I just had to post them here to give you all a taste of the support that Franklin gives us as students. At any rate, I decided on Saturday to go to the Ponte Tresa Market Tutte le Strade event. A  group of us took the FLP Train (a smaller train for transport in the Lugano area) to Ponte Tresa, an Italian town almost directly on the Swiss/Italian border. 

As my friends put it, our adventure was ALL ABOUT EATING. Because many things are cheaper in Italy, we went a little wild.  First, we got breakfast pastries. Then we found a pizza stand selling slices for 1,50 euro, a godsend compared to Switzerland. Next to the pizza stand was an older, charismatic man selling cheeses and meats. He handed us chunks of the most delicious, crumbly and flavorful parmesan cheese I have ever tasted. As we moved on to the next market stall, I thanked him, "Ciao, grazie!" and he replied in the only way any Italian male can, "Ciao, bella" and winked. Sometimes, you just have to laugh. 

I asked the next seller where we could find the best cappucino. He pointed to a nondescript bar called Cesare's. In American culture, you let the waitress know how many people you have before you sit down. In Italian culture at the bar (what they call a cafe), you sit down yourself and order up front. This cultural mixup left the waitress chuckling for a good ten minutes. After we sat ourselves, I promptly went up to the woman who seemed to make drinks and attempted to ask her how I was supposed to order in my VERY limited Italian. Of course, she couldn't understand anything I was saying, and so the people around me were trying to help translate, but nobody could understand my Italian. Again, you just have to laugh at yourself sometimes. When we went back into the market, it literally began to POUR. We ran for cover, and found a CHINESE RESTAURANT. After a month of being deprived of Asian food, this was a blessing.

All in all, the market was a chaotic, tasty, wet, and satisfying cultural experience.

Saturday Night:

After the rain ceased, my good friend Callie convinced me to go out to a new club called Qube. Her sister and a friend were(are) in town, and she wanted them to experience some nightlife. A lot of other Franklin kids were supposedly going, and since I had stayed in Friday, I thought that I "should" go out.

The night ended up being expensive, headache-inducing, and just not my scene.

But the thing is... even though I had a terrible time, I learned something valuable. The "european" college experience means so much more than going out and partying on free nights. Although the pressures for a college freshman to do so are immense, it would be disrespectful of this opportunity to give in. My collective experience over the next four years will be not be defined by how much I drank, how little I went out, or what clubs I went to. Rather, it will be defined by the places I saw, the people I met, the cultures I experienced and the languages I learned. 

I'm not saying I'll never party again, but following this "mundane" weekend, I can vividly see the value of finding the correct balance between both.

Becoming a Resident

I started my day off rather unusually: waking up at 3:30 this morning to hike Mount San Salvatore (the mountain I see every morning from my balcony as I wake up), with my friend James. Why so early in the morning you ask? Well, some older Franklin students had told me that hiking up San Sal to watch the sun rise was something every newcomer should put on their bucket list.

Which makes me wonder.. do I have a bucket list? I find that I have a general list of "things" I think I'd like to do running through my head, but with the chaos of settling into this new life, I haven't truly set out to do any of them yet.. with the exception of San Sal.

The reason I made it my goal this weekend to conquer the mountain was because I needed to get to know my city. After a lot of thought, I've realized that the best way to embrace Franklin and this entire experience  is to establish a relationship with Lugano. To explore it. To discover it's secrets. To observe its people and its traditions.

And so I climbed nine hundred and twelve meters in the dark. Using my friend Callie's head lamp, with my Wigwam hiking socks pulled up to my knees, I set out stumbling through town, half asleep, and up a MOUNTAIN. Once we got to the top, we found a nice patch of grass, and promptly fell asleep while waiting for the sun to rise. After it finally did, I climbed to the top of the church that sits on the summit. I felt on top of the world.

 

Those of you who know me from back home probably would have NEVER guessed that I would hike for two hours.. in the dark. I will openly admit I hated hiking for a long time. But doing so was one of the most rewarding and awe-inspring things I have ever done. As I sit here typing, staring out at this mountain, I can hardly believe that in one day I climbed up to the top and back, cleaned my apartment, went to a club meeting, and made hot apple cider for my dorm building (we are having a potluck tonight). I guess you might say I'm becoming more open to trying new and challenging things.

Oh, and yesterday I was in Italy. Its incredible how casually I can say this! My friends, Ellie, Callie, Cristina, and Ariel and I wanted to take a trip together somewhere. So we started small, with a short one-hour train ride across the border to Como. I had been earlier this spring to visit my cousin Brooke, and stayed with her for a week. I was proud to show my friends this beautiful lakeside italian city. We strolled through the picturesque streets, taking pictures, and then stopping for lunch (which was blissfully much cheaper than eating out in Switzerland). After fattening ourselves with pasta and gelato (our requirements for the day), we picked our way along the Saturday morning market stalls, and then laid down for a nap in a nearby park. It was a perfect day.

Its been an exhausting but extremely satisfying weekend. Time to hit the books. 

Ciao!

A New Beginning

So - this my first attempt at a blog, spurred by my family's desire to keep up with all that I do here in Switzerland.



Yes, I just said Switzerland.

Well I'm attending Franklin College, an American institution whose mission is to create a respect and appreciation for other cultures and countries around the world. In order to do so, they provide a spectacularly unique course here called Academic Travel. Each semester we prepare for and travel to a different country with our professor for that course. (My first is coming up, and I'm going to Geneva, Lausanne, and the Alps! But more on that later.)

Along with the interesting coursework, there are many other benefits to being here. Take a look at my amazing "dorm".

The residence is called Panera -

I get to see this view every morning! How crazy is that.

This was still in our unpacking phase, but that's my desk on the right
and through that door you see is our kitchen, and then our bedroom is on the
left behind that couch.

I've been here in Switzerland now for almost three weeks, but adjusting to life here hasn't gotten any easier. Throughout the countless freshman orientation activities (some of which were pretty sweet, jumping off a cliff into glacial water!) and the whirlwind of beginning my first college classes, it's been hard to sit down and find a second to breathe. But when I do get the chance to relax, I can truly see that I am the luckiest girl in the world.

I've found some GREAT friends here who I already know will be my friends for life.

Cristina, Callie, Ariel, Me, Ellie. We're all a little weird and
quirky, but that's what makes us such great friends :)

When we're not dealing with work from our classes, we try to go downtown and try new things. For instance, grocery shopping. A seemingly simple concept, but not for us. You MUST use a plastic glove to touch produce and then you must go to the scale and print out the sticker for how much it is. The swiss definitely do things a little different around here.

Franklin is in the canton of Ticino, which is the Italian speaking canton. Since we're only a few minutes away from the Swiss/Italian border, the area has a distinctively mixed flair to it. You can still see the stucco style architecture here and there, but the buildings have a very uniform shape.

Communication around here is also not easy. I have been learning italian, but spending most of my time on campus where people speak english isn't exactly helpful. So, my italian professor gave me an assignment where I had to go downtown and interview three italian speakers, in italian, and record it on video. It was one of the most fun and culturally engaging things I've done here.

All in all, "The Swiss Experience" has been nothing short of amazing. Although it often challenges me mentally and physically, I grow every day because of it.

Ciao for now.

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