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| On my way to Gimmelwald |
Tita (what Natalie calls her)
I know I should be having a great time in Switzerland and for the most part I guess I am. I just feel a little lost on a path that does not seem to suit me. So in an attempt to start over, and maybe fix that, I have decided to go back to the states. No, this is not forever but I need to make sure that I still love where I am and what I am doing. I am hoping to go to Mexico in November and learn how to play golf and see natalie. I also need to take my GRE since I promised our cousin that I would start looking into schools in November. I know you are thinking I just wrote that I was going to mexico in November, but just because I am in Mexico does not mean that I can not use the Internet and find a school. Maybe one in New Zealand. I had this big idea that I would pick grapes in France in September and then get a sailboat across the Atlantic and it would be adventurous and interesting, and it probably would be. I am jealous of the person that is going to do those things. I just think that right now I want to be with people who don't care if I lay in bed all day or only do a small hike or only have one beer or don't have a f-ing clue what I am doing and am living everyday wandering from plan to plan. I have realized that I need other people's energy to keep me on track. Like the astrologer said I should never be alone, it is not good for me. The more time I am alone the more I start to fall deeper and deeper into myself and then it takes more and more of someone else to pull me out. I know, how lame is that of a world traveler. I miss having someone else to get excited about an 8 hour hike, the bakery down the street, and getting lost. Well, enough of that crap and now for what I have been doing while you were hard at work.
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| Interlaken and the Jungfrau |
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| Posionous but magical mushroom ( I did not eat it) |
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| hiking the ridgeline |
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| Ashlee's birthday party |
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| Toby and I |
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| My Flatmates |
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| Biking around the lake |
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| Small lake I found on my bike ride |
Switzerland is a beautiful place with waterfalls hiding in moss covered nooks and mountains that seem to be almost as oppressive as the swiss German lady yelling angrily at you for not speaking the language. The first week was rainy and the only thing to do was sit around and drink with friends. Then it started to clear up and I got to go canyoning with Spencer, a friend and guide I met in India. It was an amazing experience. I could have done it every day. Then there was the first of august also called swiss day, the only day where I saw Swiss people really let loose and have fun. I wish you had been here to help me make my Swiss day costume. The theme for the alpineraft group was circus freaks. I decided that my outfit would be a mixture of Swiss pride and bearded lady. So I wrapped a strand of flags around me for a skirt and painted my face with a mixture of face paint and mascara. I think I ruined my mascara brush. It was a great night and everyone was so funny. I will let the pictures speak for themselves.
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| Men representing every canton or state of Switzerland in the parade |
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| I have no idea why I took this picture but it is a great shot of both a mullet and mustache |
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| try carrying one of these cow bells to a State game |
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| no clue |
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| Ricola |
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| Human cannon ball |
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| hobo clown |
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| conjoined twins |
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| bearded lady and the clown sheriff |
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| Half reptile half woman and the newly separated twin |
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| New team leader has to funnel a beer |
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| half asian pig half man |
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| Add caption |
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| picture time |
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| monkey man |
After too many days of partying I needed a break so off to gimmelwald. I rode a bike out there and nearly died. I am so out of shape that an old woman passed me. It was a sad moment, but I made it to the gondola and then it was just a quick ride down to the hostel. The first thing I did was get my boots on and head out to explore. The lovely ladies at mountain hostel told me about some great hikes and gave me a map. I took the rest of my lunch and about a pound of chocolate to find the best lunch spot. On the way back I decided to run and was doing great until I came to a wooden bridge over a creek. I put one foot on and just slide all the way across. Luckily I stayed on my feet and it looked like a weird Michael Jackson dance move and cartoon banana peel gag. I just wish someone had been there to enjoy it.
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| hiking in Gimmelwald |
That night I got a message from Sam, a friend in wengen, that she was doing a hike on the other side of the valley. I was torn because I really wanted to go for a long hike on this side. Then she mentioned that they may barbacue and I was in. I got up the next morning and met her at the train station in wengen. We met up with her roommate Klark and headed up to meet his girlfriend, Louise, that worked at the top of the mountain. It was a relaxing walk filled with travel stories and the realization that we were in India at the same time. It was nice to have good company on a walk. We made it to the top and had a break for a beer and then headed down. At this point it started to pour down rain and we took a chance and stuck our thumbs out at a passing gravel truck. It worked and we made it down in record time. Then we stopped at the store and decided to make fondue for dinner. Well I should not say we since in just sat there and drank wine while everyone else prepped dinner. I have to say it was some if the best fondues I have had or maybe it was the company that made it so good. We stayed up talking till one in the morning. I don't remember what we talked about but I do remember enjoying the conversation.
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| Wengen with Klark |
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| Our savior |
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| On the way to the falls |
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| sometimes I hate my camera's metering |
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| the falls I was supposed to go to |
The next day I set off on a hike that I totally underestimated. I thought it would take me 4 and a half hours to do the whole thing but it ended up taking 6 hours. I took the longest trail to the waterfalls adding 45 minutes on to my trip plus I wandered off on a game trail looking for something cool and ended up crossing a slippery stream with a rope and almost falling off a cliff when the path became wide enough for only a mountain goat to navigate. Yeah I turned back after that. It was a beautiful trail though. Just great views at every break in the trees. I did not make it to see the falls. my mistake with the trail and my search down the goat path cost me too much time and the falls closed 5 minutes before I got there. So I set off back down the valley and then in true Arrested Development style, I made a huge mistake. I decided to hike back up to wengen. It is a terrible ugly steep bunch of switchbacks. Thankfully I met a crazy Belgian guy that was pushing his bike up and we talked about how ridiculous we were for not taking the train. When I got back I told Louise that I had hiked up and she told me I was crazy. She told me that she has lived here for ten years and only done the hike twice. The next day I just walked around the town because my legs were worn out after three days of nonstop hiking and cycling. Then it was back to Interlaken. Now I am off to see another friend in the Italian part.
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| Luzern |
