Back to where I came from

Last week
- I worked Tuesday and Wednesday like normal. Nothing special there. The same old. But not as bad since I was coming back well rested and energized.

Thursday
-I was up early and on another 5 am bus to Madrid and catching the metro to the airport. This time not to meet someone but to fly myself to Zurich Switzerland! Flight took off around 9:30 and arrived 2 hours later.
-I was sitting next to 2 older American women from St. Louis. They thought I was Spanish and were a little surprised when I said I was American too. We talked the entire 2 hours. They were really nice and really curious about different things in Spain since they had only spent one day there.
-From the airport I took a tram to the place where I was couchsurfing. There was a misunderstanding between me and the dude so I sat and waited, reading my book for a while until he came to meet me.
-Ilir was this super cool Swiss guy who spoke perfect English. Like he would come up with words and phrases that were super slangish. And he was just super chill and laid back and really easy to get along with.
-later I gave myself a little tour of the town. It was quite pretty but I felt intimidated. Like all the people in the tourist part of the city are all dressed super well and expensively and all the shops are super pricey. I just really felt like I didn’t fit in.
-later Ilir and I went to meet his best friend at the train station and they took me to a bar in the university area for some good Swiss beer and bratwurst. They taught me enough German to order my beer. Haha. The university part of the city is a lot better, a lot more relaxed and I felt like I fit in a little bit more.

Friday
-After getting ready I went to the train station and bought myself a ticket to Baretswil. I had to take a short train ride to one town and then take a bus to the actual town of Baretswil. By sheer luck I got off at the right stop, the one closest to where I was staying. I surprisingly found couchsurfers in this small town of like 4500 and they had offered me to stay there even when they thought they weren’t going to be there. However the one roommate ended up staying. No one was there when I arrived but they had told me to just help myself to the unlocked apartment.
-after ditching my stuff and writing a note I went out to explore the adorable little town. I ended up having a little picnic lunch in the woods- some macaroni salad and a cheese sandwich.
-I briefly met the one roommate Fede before he returned to work and then later I met Sarah. She was a super sweet girl. Later in the evening she took me to see her family’s farm. It was a typical little Swiss farm on top of the hill. Their house was amazing. And from the 1700s! and her family was super nice. I enjoyed chatting with her dad. (ps. Pretty much everyone in Switzerland speaks perfect English. Even the small town farmers).
-they loved that I went to Baretswil because it’s where my ancestors are from and they told me that Hess is more Swiss last name than theirs. Haha.

Saturday
-I set out for a little hike. It was suppose to take me about half an hour but I got a little lost and it ended up taking me 2 hours. I also learned that when you ask a Swiss person for directions and they tell you that you have to go up a little hill, what they mean by a “little hill” is what we call mountains in PA.
-although I was super exhausted and frustrated, the long hike was well worth it. I made it to Tauferhole, or the Anabaptist Cave. The Anabaptist/Mennonites were persecuted in Switzerland for their differences in beliefs about baptism so they used to go to this cave to have church and whatnot. This cave was one of the main reasons I came to Baretswil. It was super gorgeous. I absolutely loved it. Quite possibly one of the coolest places I’ve ever been. I can’t even begin to explain just how cool it was to be there.
-on my way out, I ran into an older couple and the husband went to explain to me how the cave was a place where people went for safety and I said “yes, I know. those were my ancestors.” He and his wife were super impressed and very happy that I made the journey all the way from the US to find this cave in the small Swiss town.
-I left Baretswil around 3, cheating the bus and train system and riding for free back to Zurich where I caught a different train to Bern, the capital. (Sarah’s family loved that I’m from a town called Bernville).
-In Bern I couchsurfed with a young couple originally from Germany. They had another guest, a friend of theirs who just moved to Bern and was waiting for the new month to start to move into his apartment. All 3 of them were fabulous. Super outgoing, easy to talk to and just really friendly people.
-that night we hit the town and went… swing dancing! There was little crash course before a live band and other people who knew what they were doing came in. and it was a ton of fun. I laughed a lot and met a lot of people. Who would have ever thought I’d find myself swing dancing in Bern, Switzerland? Reasons why couchsurfing is such a great thing…
-on the way home they walked me through the “alternative” part of the city. It was pretty cool. Definitely different. And I would not have felt comfortable being there if I wasn’t with people who actually knew about it.

Sunday
- I did my own little walking tour of the old town. It’s beautiful. I loved it. Although I got a little lost on my way there and ended up in the ritzy part of town where all the ambassadors and whatnot live.
-everything in Switzerland is really expensive. The Franc is less than the Euro but prices on everything are ridiculous. Therefore, I didn’t buy much at all. Plus it was Sunday and most of the shops were closed.
-there was a demonstration thing for May 1st/Labor day. It was pretty cool to see. I met a Canadian kid there. And we walked around for maybe half an hour and bought some good expensive chocolate together.
-in the evening my 3 couchsurfing friends and I did a little barbecue in a lovely park by the river. It was fantastic. The people next to us were Jamaican and they played some sweet music.

Monday
-I left in the morning. Took a train back to Zurich and then flew back to Madrid. Our flight left more than a half an hour late for no reason. It was perfect weather in both places.
-I sat next to no one exciting. However there was an annoying small child in the row catawampus to me. He talked most of the trip and then when we were trying to land he refused to sit and be seat belted in and therefore screamed and cried the entire time. Like more than a half hour or so.
-I made it back in time to head straight to my classes.

Tuesday & Wednesday
-both days of non-stop. I had to make up for my Thursday classes that I ditched to go to Switzerland.
-Wednesday after conversation, I skipped out on dinner with Manuel and Ana to do dinner at Felipe’s. He and his girlfriend are visiting Quintanar for a week or so. I ran into Felipe’s mom earlier in the day and she took me to their house to pop in and say hi since I had been away during their first few days back. So I finally got to meet Felipe’s girlfriend. She’s quite possibly one of the nicest, sweetest people I ever met. I felt like we’ve known each other for a long time (probably cuz we’ve heard a lot about each other). They invited me over for dinner with them and some of their friends, most of who I had met before. So that was a lot of fun

Thursday
-went to Toledo again for another meeting thing for my program. Got to see Natalia and Casey. I was actually originally suppose to speak at this thing, like talk about my experience, but I backed out. Natalia ended up doing one though, so I went to hers and one other. Eddie, Piedad and I skipped out on the last one cuz we had to catch a bus so I could make it back in time for my 4 class.
-I ran into Celia on the street and ended up having a mini girls night with her, Pilar and Maria. We walked Pilar’s new puppy, went to Cuevas and then to another little restaurant and sat on the terrace and talked for hours. It was good catching up with them.

Friday
-today was quite the productive day. I got up and ran (only 3 miles because the wind was awful), I ran some errands, made an actual lunch of lentejas for me and Eddie, sent out a long overdue message to a friend, baked some cookies (I’m totally a great roommate) and RESTED! I traveled every single weekend in April and actually spent more days away from Quintanar than in it (I was only here for about 11 days out of the entire month!) so it’s been a much needed thing to finally stop and settle down a bit. That’s the plan for the rest of the weekend too :)