I left August 6th at 5:30 and arrived in Switzerland at 11am. The Jet lag was more intense then I could ever have imagined. All I wanted to do was sleep but obviously you cannot do that because you have to get on their time immediately. Just being in the International part of Chicago Airport I felt different. I could see them starring me at and of course everyone looked very different to me too. Andy thought I was crazy because I kept saying their fashion was so different. It seems that my middle school years just caught up to every other country. They still wear Abercrombie and Fitch for crying out loud. Finally it was time to board the plane. I was just excited to be there. The plane trip was not bad at all. What I mean by that is the plane itself was AMAZING but Andy and I could both both not sleep yet we were extremely tired. Each seat had a T.V., which of course was my favorite part about it. :) We got to pick from about 25 different movies that we wanted to watch at any given time. All I could think was we really don't have to pay for this... Endless games, most television shows, documentaries were all at my fingertips for FREE. Andy politely reminded me that the amount paid for both plane flights just about covered whatever extracurricular activity we might have wanted to do on the flight :) And no sissies don't go where you just went in your head. I watched Water for Elephants as my first movie. It was great!! Then I watched 17 again with Zac Efron and Matthew Perry. That was okay. At any point in time I could have pressed on the television and it would tell me where the plane was and how far we had to go. I liked that part :) There was only really turbulence for about 20 minutes of the whole flight. Obviously this was the time when I was wanting to SLEEP!
We finally made it to Zurich. I remember thinking what was I going to see? Beautiful mountains, unfashionable people, farm animals, little cars, people speaking a language I had no idea what it was..... We stepped off the plane and it was cold and rainy outside :( It was only about 60 degrees so all of my little dresses and shorts are perfect for this weather, NOT. My outfit yesterday consisted of black yoga pants and a long black zip up. The Swiss people were thinking, "were the unfashionable ones, really?" If only I could yell out in German that this is not the attire I am used to wearing...
We got our luggage and headed for the train to Basel. I had to pay close attention because I was going to be doing this a lot on my own. We walked straight outside across the street into the train station. People were everywhere. It was very overwhelming because I was exhausted and everyone knew where they needed to be. I was happy Andy was with me. I would have felt very alone at this point. We went down an escalator bought our Basel tickets and looked for when it was coming. We went straight to the train as it came pretty fast. I tried to stay awake for the train but it was impossible, Andy and I both slept. I would wake up periodically only to see graffiti all over the walls. You all will see what I mean when you travel here :) Nothing too exciting on the train.
Finally we were in BASEL!!!!!!! This was the moment I was waiting for. There were literally people EVERYWHERE. I remember at one point Andy saying Basel wasn't that big and I might see the same people again. I thought wowsers were not in Kansas anymore... Everything but restaurants are closed on Sundays. I liked this though because entire families were out having the times of their lives. Kids are not chained up on leashes here, rather they run the streets of Basel and look back time to time to see where their parents are. It is such a safe place here the last thing parents are worried about is them being abducted. We go to our hotel first thing and it is such a beautiful quaint little hotel. I was thinking to myself, no wonder people aren't big here I could barely fit through the doorway. I am not even exaggerating. Everything is so small here it makes me feel HUGE. The hotel room that Andy and I are staying in for 2 WEEKS is literally a little bigger then a cruise room. The obviously don't want people staying in their rooms rather out spending American dollars.
We left and ventured out on the town. Right in the middle of town we see that Beach Volleyball is happening. I am thinking, there is no way that people are playing this and that we just get to sit up there for FREE. Oh yeah competitive Beach Volleyball and we got to sit for free. I was in and out of consciousness because I was so tired. The cold air definitely kept me up. Today I am hanging with my girl Sylvia and I cannot wait for her to show me around!! I am going to take lots of pictures today and hopefully add them to this!
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