Le chien suisse

The dogs here constantly amaze me. My friends always laugh at me for my love of dogs, but hey, they are (wo)man's best friend!  Thus, this will be a little exposition on dogs in Switzerland.

There are two dogs that are native to Switzerland, the Bernese Mountain Dog and the St. Bernard. These big mountain dogs are from the Alps (St. Bernard's specifically from the Italian Alps and Bernese Mountain dogs are from the canton of Bern, which is in central Switzerland). You will not see many of them in Geneva because it is a little too far from the Alps, and it's a city so having such big dogs in the city would be hard! But I did spot a Bernese Mountain dog in my neighborhood, and I saw a St. Bernard in Gruyere (yes, the town where they make the cheese!).

Even though these dogs are native to Switzerland, there are all types of dogs in Switzerland, from big golden retrievers to small chihuahuas. The big dogs hold a special place in my heart, and they are the ones that I am most fascinated with. No matter what the size of the dog, however, they go everywhere with their owner. Into stores, restaurants, and on the trains, it is a dog lover's paradise. Opposed to the dogs in the US, they fit right into Swiss society, incredibly orderly and rule abiding. They sit outside patiently waiting for their owner and sit quietly on the train. Here, I asked myself, "Why are these dogs so well behaved?" There is actually mandatory dog training if you acquired the dog after September 1, 2008. You are required to go with your dog to the trainings.

Now you know all about dogs in Switzerland (and probably more than you ever wanted to!). I will leave you with a picture of a dog on a tram! (I apologize for the quality of the pictures, but I feel weird taking pictures of people's dogs so I have to snap it really quickly!)

Dog on train to Champery

Barcelona: Gaudi and Tapas

Parc Guell for Sunset over Barcelona!

This will have to be a quick update. Even though the work load remained light for a while, it has picked up. The semester has flown by and I am a lot closer to home now than I realized. There are comforts and people that make miss home, but it has been quite an adventure. My latest adventure was with a very special visitor from home ;) We spent a couple of days in Geneva exploring the Swiss life, and then headed on out to Barcelona.

Barcelona treated us very well. With our combined love of maps and tunnels, we headed out into the land of Catalan Spain to eat tapas, see Gaudi, and walk by the water. The first night we arrived, navigated the train and subway system, and headed down the famous "La Rambla." With our stomachs rumbling and it still be 2 hours until dinner time (in Spain they don't eat until 10!), we had our first Spanish ham that did just the trick to hold us until dinner. We had a nice dinner in Placa Cataluyna before retiring early before our super Barcelona day.

We walked all over Barcelona, from our hotel down towards the water to see the site of the Olympic stadium and the beautiful Mediterranean. We walked along the water, and then back through the Gothic town. We then navigated our way up to Guadi's La Sagrada Familia, which was started in 1882 will not even be completed until 2026. It was definitely the most unique Cathedral I have ever seen in my life. The pictures I have can't even start to describe the intricacies of it. Here is one picture, but I would definitely look it up online! We ended our tourist adventure watching the sunset in Parc Guell and eating tapas in the Gothic Quarter. Barcelona treated us well, and I had a great time!

La Sagrada Familia

Paris, je t'aime!

I apologize for the delay in posting. I am still kicking over here in Europe, but yes, I do have school work to do and got a European cold for 10 days. I knew I was running at a fast pace, so it was bound to hit anytime. I decided, however, to take a break from studying and writing papers to take the 3 hour train ride on the TGV (the French high speed rail) to Paris. I mustered up the courage to head to Paris by myself, thinking my French at this point was good enough, where I would later meet another exchange student. But, the first day I was on my own!

I arrived in Paris, bought myself a metro pass (and was complimented on my French!), and used the metro to find our apartment for the next 3 days in the Latin Quarter (5th arrondissement). I quickly dropped my bags off and headed to what Paris is known for, art museums! My first stop was Centre Pompidou, which is a modern art museum that was commissioned by the former President/Prime Minister of France, Goerges Pompidou. I loved it! I saw Picasso, Matisse, Giacometti, Arman, Pollock, and so many more! Afterwards, I headed to Le Marais where I had my first crepe! Later, I met up with an exchange student in Geneva, who is actually commuting from Paris. She was having people over for Mexican, so it was nice knowing someone there in Paris! (And she lived about 10 minutes away in the 5th, so it worked out well!)

 I was joined on Friday morning by another exchange student, who had previously lived in Paris. We walked around the Latin Quarter, ate crepes in Montparnasse, walked down to the Bastille monument, and then headed to Jardin des Tuileries, which is a famous garden near the Louvre. We drank the most amazing hot chocolate at Angelina's, where you actually have to add cream because the chocolate is so strong! That night we stayed on Rue Mouffetard where we had a traditional French dinner, with French onion soup, beef bourguignon, and topped it off with sorbet at the end. The next day, it was raining quite heavily in Paris, so we spent the morning in un grand magasin, Le Printemps. It was fun to walk around and see all the designers, although I had to keep my hands off!! Before I headed back on the train, we walked down the Champs-Elysees.

I fell in love with Paris. There is so much to do and I had such an amazing time exploring. I really hope to go back at some point, if not during this trip then another time. While there were no major "zut alors," I did make a mistake when I was buying some wine for dinner. The man in the store asked if Paris was treating me well, and I said, "Je t'aime," which is "I love you," rather than "Je l'aime" (I like it). The wine store man got a good laugh out of it. Oh the adventures of speaking French!

On the Champs-Elysee!