On the Road Again

Dear Readers,

It is official. My only remaining adventure is the one that will bring me home. In a mere ten days I will bid farewell to my beloved boot and return to the land of watery coffee and open-toed shoes. In the meantime, I have a rather elementary week of exams, papers and final projects. I know you tease me relentlessly about the very strenuous classes I am taking; wine and culture, art restoration, studio art classes. Well, I am not afraid to admit that I stifled a laugh when I encountered the section about "critical thinking" and "intellectual sophistication" on my class evaluation. While it might be true that I was not extremely challenged this semester (academically), the lessons I have learned about culture, adaptation, language, tolerance and how to avoid creepy men are invaluable. However, I am getting ahead of myself...

First I must tell you about my final trip to Lake Como and Switzerland this past weekend! As usual we embarked upon our journey at 6AM and arrived in Como, Italy several sleepy hours later. It was Riley's 21st birthday, so Sheila and I devised a plan to give her 21 small gifts throughout the day. Some of these gifts included things like a rubber eyeball that squirts, silly pictures and mini bottles of wine with screw-tops. It was a very successful afternoon, and the weather in Como was beautiful! It felt like a day in late June, and almost reminded me of a beautiful lake town somewhere in Maine.

The next part of the journey begins in Switzerland. We arrived at our hotel in the evening and ate our mass-produced tourist meal. In case you don't know what this means- ambiguous poultry and french fries. Afterward, I collapsed into the most comfortable hotel bed I have ever experienced. Oohhhh that down comforter....

The next morning I somehow woke up in winter-time. It was very cold, cloudy and rainy, but we took a walking tour around St. Moritz anyways. St. Moritz is a beautiful mountaintop resort town, famous for their winter sports. Since it was the off-season, it was basically a ghost town, but I did manage to find some swiss chocolates! Next we boarded a train that looked vaguely like the Hogwart's Express, and spent three hours traveling through the most beautiful landscape I think I have ever seen. There was snow everywhere, and I felt like we were on our way to the north pole. I have pictures that I will be posting later, even though they do not even come close to doing justice to the beauty of Switzerland!

Today is a holiday in Italy, and I don't have class! Therefore I must get back to my very extensive to-do list. I shall be posting pictures soon!!!