Zurich aka Home of the Money

Last week for German class, I feel pretty confident that I won’t try to speak Spanish instead anymore. Our final was intimidating, but not actually so bad, and I miss it a little bit already. It was a nice reason to not practice 211. If I could give the next year’s group a bit advice, it would be to come in with a bit higher level in Duolingo. I feel discourteous when I can’t speak to anyone in German, especially with the obvious things. German class is pretty easy, but the real world is hard.

We had our first enmodes presentation this week, too. I loathe public speaking to the full definition and intensity of that word, but my partners Jake and Kelly are supportive and all sorts of amazing. I found myself with a surprising amount of passion for our design, for PDMS, and for the destruction of bubbles as a whole. I think it went pretty well, and I’m proud of us for tackling this project thus far.

We had (kind of) a girls’ trip to Zurich this weekend! Another group in Switzerland joined Kendal, Madison, Hannah and me. We blind booked it,  so I really didn’t know what we were getting ourselves into. Fortunately, it was the extreme opposite of sketchy. I’m not the biggest fan of spending money, but I gathered that, despite having world-renowned banks, the Swiss might be. Dang, it was expensive. How is that a college town? However, we were in astonishingly beautiful Switzerland for the weekend, and that made up for 98% of the loss in my bank account. Also, I’m a bit peeved at the Swiss for having their own currency. It complicates things for me, I was just starting to have a consistently solid amount of change in Euros, and now I have too many useless ½ Francs.  I would combine them, but 8 Francs couldn’t buy a cup of tap water.

* Author’s note: Please excuse my attitude. Currency makes me bitter.

Anyways… Switzerland was gorgeous and magnificent. I love that you can drink from the fountains, which may have been my favorite part of the city. I didn’t trust our tour guide when he first informed us of this magical gift; I thought he was hazing us. This tour was actually pretty cool. Apparently, Swiss women rocked and saved the town from invasions while the men were away. I can’t remember the full story, because I was too busy drinking water with Elaine at the fountains. The town had plenty of high-end stores to take advantage of, but I’d rather spend my time outside. I think the picturesque scenery would entice just about anyone. While we had some wacky weather, we did end up getting the best of both worlds – a train excursion to the snowy semi-peak of a mountain and a sunny boat cruise around Lake Zurich. We froze in the rain, the rain froze into snow, and sometimes the sun would shine in between.

If I were to go back to Switzerland, I’d definitely go to a place more adventure-friendly. The town Zurich was beautiful, but my favorite part of the trip, which is definitely a striking memory for this trip as a whole, was being on top of the mountain. The snow and air felt crisp and fresh, the trees were marvels to walk through, and the views were breathtaking. I think I’m going to add that to my list.