traveling is like falling in love, the world is made new. -jan myrdal

I skipped an in-depth post about Switzerland because I didn't know how to best articulate the trip and all that I learned from it. I hate it when people ask me how the trip went and I reply it was "awesome". No, it wasn't awesome. Awesome is too trite a word to pay the trip any sort of justice. The ten days I spent in that country was a once in a lifetime experience that openend my eyes to new places, new people, and new ideas.

Before leaving for the trip I had no idea of what to expect besides amazing views (which in reality were tenfold what I was expecting). I was nervous (as were much of my family and friends..ahemm...nay-sayers) because Jamie and I were traveling alone, staying in hostels, and being thrown into a country where the only phrase I could communicate was "guten Tag"..meaning Good day.

Switzerland far surpassed my expectations. Everything about it was beautiful. The alps, flowers, the larger cities and quaint towns, and people were all beautiful. By staying in hostels we had the opportunity to meet people from all over the world, including people from various un-visitied regions of the US. The best way I can summarize my feelings of this wonderful meshing of culture and people is through our night in Lucerne. Lucerne was the second city we visited, a fairly large city with the capacity to hold all of Switezerland's citizens plus thousands of tourists. Jamie and I speculated there was a major event going down in Lucerne when we visited the train station in searh of an ATM and were bombarded with a mass of people charging in our direction. A nice lady who directed us to a machine (only one of the EXTREMELY nice people we met) confirmed our assumptions and informed us of the firework show that night. JACKPOT. Firework show over the Swiss Alps? I think so! So after we finished up our seventh cheese pizza for dinner we ventured out amongst the crowd and watched the show. The firework show was beautiful and long (the Swiss really out did themselves) and featured a variety of music (and I mean VARIETY). The song that gave me goosebumps when it was played then and still does now was "What a Wonderful World" by Louis Armstrong.

So we stood, being two of maybe a handful of Americans in that massive crowd of thousands sharing in a firework show. The only commonality of our languages was the ooohs and ahhhs over the fireworks illuminating the sky. A perfect mix of different people from different places, listening to Mr. Armstrong sing about what a wonderful world we all share. I so often am consumed with my section of the world, confined to my "bubble", but hearing that song and singing along with people from literally all over opened my eyes to a world larger than the one I consume my self with daily. And if the Alps hadn't made me feel small enough, how was this for gaining some perspective on my life? Not saying I now view my self as insignificant, just maybe I view others not like myself as more signficant than before.

Now for what you really care about: