Switzerland. What can I say about Switzerland? Oh, and by the way, it is really easy to
confuse with Sweden. After having
traveled to both countries, I frequently interchange them for some odd
reason. It doesn’t help that the Spanish
pronunciations of them are “Sway-see-uh” and “Swee-suh.” Pretty similar. But anyways, if I had to sum up what I
thought about Switzerland in 3 quick points, I would write what I wrote below…
1) Switzerland
is gorgeous. If you have the chance to
visit, definitely do it. It is
incredibly peaceful and quaint. Although
there isn’t a ton going on in the cities, you just get the feeling of
relaxation everywhere you go. It’s
splendid.
2) Switzerland
is expensive. Very expensive. When the cheapest meal you can find is a $12
McDonald’s meal, you know something is up.
Also, when 16 year olds roll up like the own Geneva in sparkling, new,
red Audi sports cars that easily go for over 100k, you realize that there is
more money than people know what to do with in the country.
3) Swiss people
speak French. French sucks. French is not very close to Spanish. No one likes France. Switzerland…stop speaking French. That is all.
What did we do
in Switzerland? Apart from walking
around a good portion of Lake Geneva, eating gelato every night, playing
Frisbee with dead fish in a park, and getting yelled at for “breaking” toys in
a street vendor’s stand, my favorite part was definitely taking this gondola
called the Téléphérique du Salève (don’t ask me why on earth there are so many
accent marks in that name) to the top of the Swiss/French Alps. It offered a gorgeous view over Geneva and
the surrounding towns. There was also a
plethora of hiking trails. We decided to
take one figuring it would take an hour or two to hike and then return, but we
were very wrong. We ended up spending
the entire day traversing the Alps and have the remnants of sunburns to prove
it. From blue-painted sheep, to Buddhist
monasteries that dual-functioned as restaurants to hundreds of paragliders to a
troupe of model airplane enthusiasts, this string of mountains had it all. Not to mention it looked like something out
of “The Sound of Music” (never actually seen it, but that is what people say)
with rolling green hills and mountains as far as the eye can see. Also, there were lots of cows. There were pens of cows everywhere, and you
were free to walk in and “play” with them.
The four of us (Ed, James, Momin, and myself) quickly learned that these
cows weren’t nice. They also weren’t cautious
or scared. And they weren’t
curious. They. Were.
Mean. I’m not scared of animals,
but these cows would make goring motions at you with their heads, and they
would stare you down with the most intense leer I have ever seen it. We tried to take pictures with them, but we
quickly learned that cows were not like that.
I miss the Chick-fil-a cows in America.
There was supposed to be something special about these cows (they were
brown and white… not black and white), but we didn’t stay around them long
enough to find out. Oh yeah, I did a
handstand on top of the mountain right next to this cliff as well. The pictures might not look very impressive,
but I assure you that I was a little scared for my life, and it is a good thing
my mom can only see the pictures and not the real-life danger I put myself in
(once again, hope you’re not reading this mom!). We also checked out the UN late at night
before we left the next day at 4 am. In
a nutshell, going to Switzerland was great.
I’d definitely recommend it-just not for a long time unless you are fond
of losing all of your money and having to speak (can we even call it a
language?) French. I’m attaching some
photos below. Hope y’all like them!
As for Spain
(and yes, I realize this is already getting pretty long and most of you have
already checked out by now), Spain is going splendidly. It feels weird to say that it took me 4 weeks
to really get the hang of living here, but that is the truth. I have finally figured out how to do things,
handle schoolwork, and manage to see as much of the city as possible. There have been a lot of protests here in Spain
as of late, and although it is a little intimidating, it is pretty cool to be
here while everything is happening and hear firsthand about the problems and
attempted solutions of a country other than the US. I said we were going to Asturias tomorrow (actually
today). Yesterday, I was watching the
news, and there were a bunch of rebels in Asturias who used RPG-like (Rocket
Propelled Grenade for the my peace-loving and violence-free readers) guns to
knock down trees and block the roads in the country. There was also a huge protest in the Plaza
del Sol (Plaza of the Sun) after the government-owned television channels laid
off a ton of workers. I was in New York
for the Occupy Wallstreet movement, and things in Spain have a very similar
feel right now. Americans: we aren’t the
only ones with problems. Be appreciative
of what we do have. What else have I
done? I bought a dagger in Toledo (I
hope TSA isn’t reading my blog…I know I have thousands of followers by
now…actually I only have 4), and I found the ever-elusive “La osa y el madroño”
statue that had been right in front of my face for a month (it’s this statue of
a bear eating out of a tree that has fruit similar to strawberries and is the
symbol of Madrid). My Spanish is
improving rapidly… I’ve found myself speaking sentences really quickly and
words just rolling off my tongue. When
this happens, I pause in mid-conversation and give myself a pat on the
back. Also, EUROCOPA. If you are reading this and not watching Euro
Cup, I implore you to stop reading and start watching. It’s incredible. It has really stolen a lot of my productive
time, but watching the game in the Fan Zone with thousands and thousands of
fans was one of the best experiences of my life. Duke basketball is great, but nothing beats
soccer in Europe. No joke, I feared for
the life of a couple Italian fans after they scored first in our draw. Beer bottles, Coke bottles, rocks, and all
kinds of heavy/dangerous things were immediately bombarded at them, and let’s
just say it was not a good time to be an Italian. There is so much more to say, but I don’t
want to bore you, and I should probably sleep now…Try 5 hours plus til I have
to wake up now L.
If you’ve got any questions, feel free to ask, and I’d love to hear from
you. Sorry if I haven’t kept in touch as
much as I should have; things are crazy busy here, and I’m trying to live it
up. I’ll attach a couple more photos for
those of you who don’t like reading (don't make fun of the childish "myspace" pictures. It was the only way to take a picture of them in the Real Madrid team shop). I
miss and love all of you!
-Cameron James
Host Family
story of the week:
We started a
game where if Pedro and I say a word in English, we get a “red circle” on the
refrigerator. My host family has a
wedding in a month (July 14th), so they are on a diet. Every time they eat something
fattening/fried, they get a “red circle” on the refrigerator. The first person to get ten “red circles” has
to buy everyone a drink for dinner.
Maybe it doesn’t sound that cool, but it has been really funny. Especially when we were learning the sounds
that animals make, and I somehow amassed 6 red circles for saying “ribbit” and
“chirp” instead of “kraaakkkk” and “Peeoh Peeoh.”
A Taste of
Madrid:
*This week, some
of my favorite things have been drinks.
Here are 3 or 4.
Sangria/Tinto de
Verano: I’m sure most of you know what Sangria is, and I have heard a lot of
different opinions on how tinto de verano is different, but I think the
consensus is that tinto de verano has Sprite/Lemon Fanta, while Sangria just
has juice. Regardless, they are both delicious.
*Nestea al
Naranja: That’s “Orange Nestea.” It. Is.
Incredible. Multiple sweet tea
with lemon by like a thousand, and you might have Nestea al Naranja. USA please get on Spain’s level.
*Bifrutas: These
drinks come in cartons and are half milk and half juice. Yes, that sounds ABSOLUTELY DISGUSTING. But, I promise you that they are
delicious. I wouldn’t recommend making
them by yourself, though. I guess this
goes under “Don’t try this at home, kids.”
Cool Bible
Passage that I read to me and felt encouraged to share. Maybe it won’t mean much to y’all, but I
thought it shed a new light on “wisdom” and “understanding.”
It’s a series of
verses from Job 28:
Verse 12: “But where
can wisdom be found? Where does
understanding dwell?”
Verse 20: “Where
then does wisdom come from? Where does
understanding dwell?”
Verse 23: “God
understands the way to it and he alone knows where it dwells…”
Verse 28: “…The
fear of the Lord-that is wisdom, and to shun evil is understanding.”
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