Economy of words- How can I condense the past weekend into a reasonable entry? To summarize I went to Luzerne, Eldenberg and Interlaken, 3 cities/villages in the Germanic region of Switzerland. My activities included skiing, sledding, meandering and sampling local Swiss fare. I stayed up late, slept well and woke up ready to explore again. I am having the time of my life. I think I was made to travel.  Read on for extended version. 

Class ended at 12 on Thursday. I rushed home to pack my bag. Impressively I fit everything needed into one book bag including ski gear. Around 2pm I met up with the group and boarded the train for Luzerne.  The time flew by. The train system is very user-friendly. I used my Swiss army knife to open a bottle of wine and divided some cheese for the group. (Thanks dad)  

We changed trains in Lugano and arrived at our destination around 5.  We stayed in “Youth Hostel”. I really enjoyed sharing a 20 bed room with my class mates. We plied into our bunks and sat around getting to know each other.  The accommodations were clean and safe but about as charming as the name. It was also a little ways from the city and took awhile to find transportation.

Around 9pm we took a bus to the center of town. We were 13 in all so we couldn’t discretely walk into the small cafés. So we did what any American tourists would and headed for an Aussie packed club. The Roadhouse went on forever and filled with people from all over. I met quite a few Americans, Kiwis and South Africans. We even met some Swiss Soldiers on vacation. I showed them my knife. Contrary to what you may have assumed Swiss Army men do not yield Swiss Army Knives.  

It might not be the best idea to float as an island of American students, but there is something to be said for camaraderie. Everyone danced and enjoyed their 15 franc mixed drinks. I’m not sure why but American music just sounds better here. Maybe we thought it wouldn’t here it again until May or that we aren’t constantly isolating ourselves with Apple products? For what ever reason we sang Journey’s “Don’t Stop Believing” and Bon Jovi’s “Living on a Prayer” louder and more heart felt than ever before. And as you would guess we lost our minds to Metalica’s “Enter Sandman”. 

I left a few hours later and met up with Stuart and Pearl. The two had separated from the group for a more authentic experience. From what I gather they hopped around to a few smaller cafés and preferred to remain inconspicuous. After talking with them I felt a little ashamed for being so cliché. They adopted me and gave me a second chance.

 All was well. That is until we got lost. Correction, until Stuart knew the way home. We wandered around the city gawking at different buildings and statues. I climbed onto a bronze horse and offered my own interpretation of a cathedral. “No, no it must be Neo-gothic Revival”. We walked across the oldest covered bridge in Europe but in the wrong direction.  We started walking up a hill. When it started to rain we gave up, turned around and called a taxi. The next morning I looked a broucher and noticed our excursion exceeded the confines of the map.