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.

1.