Day 60 in Europe: Breaking Dawn & Interlaken

No more Ciao-ing this time around... but rather Hallo-ing! 

Yep, as you can probably guess by the title and by my greeting to you, my lovely blog reader, I am no longer in my beloved land of Pasta, Pizza, David's Rocky Mountain Oysters, and Italian Studs. Nope. I am in Svizzera, which is what the Italians call it, but we Americans refer to this magical place as SWiTZERLAND! The last time I came to Switzerland I was 16 years old and I came here with my family, but today I travel alone. 

Confession time for me: This is a HUGE step for me. 
Why?
Well, lets just say I haven't always been the biggest fan of traveling alone. Not even to harmless places like the grocery store. Well, lets face it the grocery store can be a frightening place sometimes. I remember when I was around thirteen one time my mom was getting her nails done and asked me to go across the street and pick some things up at the grocery store. I thought she was crazy. Me? I thought, stunned. Are you crazy woman? You want me to go pick up some things at the grocery store. But I'm just a kid. 
Now, I don't know what my problem was. Was I afraid of getting kidnapped? 

That's a possibility. 
Was I afraid of taking a step into adulthood via grocery shopping? Dun dun dun. 
Not sure. I'm really not sure, but that definitely could have been it.
I think it sort of goes back to that post I wrote way back about being afraid when doing something for the first time. This was my first time grocery shopping on my own and I was absolutely petrified. I should have been placed in the frozen food section. 
But I mean... isn't that sad and kind of pathetic? To be terrified of doing something because you don't really know what or how to do it. There are tons and tons of quotes out there that encourage you try new things in spite of the fear you may feel doing it. Simple example is: Never let the fear of striking out keep you from playing the game. 
And what I've discovered is that it really comes down to being afraid of failure. Why are we so afraid of failure? It's such a human thing. I mean, what about failure bothers me so much? No one likes to fail, but the thing about failing is that you learn something and therefore become wiser. I guess it's what you make with the failure that really defines your character. I mean you could either sulk around and wallow in self pity or you can do something about it. You can take that failure as an experience and move on with life, knowing what to do or what not to do this time. But the thing is, if you NEVER try to do something you will always be stuck in that safe bubble of cluelessness. 

There is this great quote I saw shared on Facebook one time that said: 
THERE IS NO GROWTH IN A COMFORT ZONE
AND NO COMFORT IN A GROWTH ZONE


I LOVE this quote so much. It just speaks to me and totally explains what I need to do in life. I need to venture out and do stuff because seriously when you are 18 and won't even go to Powell's Bookstore by yourself when your family is staying in Portland--it is just PATHETIC! It's absolutely pathetic. At least you can understand everything that is going on there because it is in ENGLISH! 
I think I was such a wimp was because from the time I was 14 to the time I was 18 I was in and out of the hospital/doctor's office/physical therapy place and basically clinging to my parents' side at every moment. You become really dependent on people when you are in agony and it kind of sucks. No, not kind of... it TOTALLY sucks. Big time. 

It sucks! It sucks! It sucks! 
It sucks when you need assistance getting into the bathtub or moving a flipping stack of books to a nearby table. 
It suuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuucks!!!
(Is this a blog or Amanda's counseling session?)  
I wanted independence and now my surgery has given me that... the second one that is. Now is my time to venture out, to be independent like I wanted to be. And instead of dipping my toe in the water before jumping in I went off the freaking high dive. I figured if I do the scariest thing possible first everything else will be easy. 

So, that's the real reason why I came over to live in Europe for three months. I just want grocery shopping in the USA to be less scary. 


End of Confession.


Ok we are SO moving on right now. 


I was thinking about doing this intense review of Breaking Dawn, but honestly... ha... it just isn't worth my time. Let's just say it was disturbing like I expected to be and was just downright silly. The whole series is like one big Soap Opera with vampires and werwolves thrown in. 
I'm going to let this guy explain it to you. 

The experience of going to the movie theatre in Florence though was a blast. It was a one screen theatre with a small screen and a ton of seats, but the weren't on a sloped hill like they are at home. The seat were comfy but super close together, so you really had to squeeze by when moving out of the rows. Oh! We got a student discount so that was pretty dang sweet. 

The atmosphere was amazing. Everyone was so enthusiastic and it was just a blast. We all giggled when Jacob took of his shirt and had a freaking heart attack when Edward came out. It is fun to be around a group of people (well.... girls) in a movie theatre when EVERYONE is laughing and cringing together. When everyone is laughing at the ridiculousness of the Twilight movies it makes it that much funnier for some reason. 
Let me just say this... I have waited a LONG time to see that birthing scene and oh boy did I ever get it. Hahaha. 
Oh yes and there was an intermission which completely threw us off, but was nice to have since some of us had major code yellow. 

Reneesme 

Ok moving on. 


So, yes Switzerland. Coming here on my own is a huge step for me and you already know why. Ok. So here is what I did...

1. Bought my train tickets on my own and boy was that a fiasco. From Florence to Interlaken and then from Interlaken to Freiburg and then from Freiburg back to Florence. 
2. Then I actually came here on my own... 

WOW. 

Yep, so this morning I woke up at 06:30, which was a pain in the butt since I was up really late skyping and IMing my friends on Facebook till like... *sighs*... 01:20. 

So, I took a shower and then went to the train station. My train was slightly delayed. 5 minutes. Not too bad. I had to take three trains to get here by the way. 

The first train was from Florence to Milan. That was 2 hours long and guess what...? Apparently I bought a first class ticket for that first train and I was treated like freaking royalty. They served me cookies and coffee. We all know I needed that coffee in the morning. It was good too. 

Then I got to Milan, which is a beautiful train station and needed help figuring out which train to go on next because it didn't show my destination, which was Spiez, Switzerland. Instead it showed Basle (I think that was it) and so the Italian train-helper-guy helped me out, so I didn't miss my train because that would be Michael Jackson bad. Then I got on my train for Spiez, which was around 3 hours long and HOLY MOLY was it a beautiful trip!!!!!! The mountains are dipped in snow right now and tower over you like giants. SO pretty. Then I got to Spiez and had to wait about 25 minutes before my next train to Switzerland. It was really sunny, but FREEZING. When the train got in the way of my warm beautiful sun I was shaking I was so cold, but once it got out of the way I was burning up. So, I got on the train to Interlaken and accidentally sat in the 1st class area when I was clearly a second class passenger. Luckily by the time they found out I was lower class scum it was my time to get off the train, which made me laugh. Then I had code yellow, which I dealt with accordingly. Next I had to find the Hotel Bellevue. 

Sorry I am going through this really fast and not being super descriptive, but I don't have a Swiss converter yet and my battery is dying!!! 

Ok so I walked down the train tracks (Well, not ON them) and went the wrong way a couple times, but eventually found the place I was looking for. My mom's friends actually own this hotel, so I am staying in my very own room for free! I get a SPECTACULAR view too. This is just so crazy. I kept having to tell myself that this wasn't some dream. 

The family here is SO nice. Their names are Regula and Thomas Dubendorfer. I sat down with them and had coffee and then their son Timo who is 18 showed me around a little bit. I got some money out of the ATM because they don't have euros here they have francs (I think that's how it is spelled. Not sure. Don't kill me if it is wrong.) Then Timo and I split up, he went to go hang out with his friends, while I took a walk on the river. 

The water here is unbelievably amazing. It is seriously BRIGHT turquoise. I've never seen water SO amazingly blue before. I mean definitely not LAKE WATER. The lake is surrounded by these massive and I am not joking here. The mountains here are absolutely MASSIVE! Some have snow. Some don't. And then there are these trees by the water that are this burn't orange color, kind of like the orange on my blog that makes this incredible contrast against the turquoise water. So, I went on a really long walk into the countryside and went over to moo at these REALLY cute cows. They had their bells on and were ding-a-ling-ing all over the place. This one cow came up to me and I REALLY wanted to kiss him on the nose, but I resisted. It was getting super cold at that time. I think it was about 14:30 then. So, then I walked back, but wanted to keep walking, so I went down this residential area where I saw all these houses that I wanted to buy. I want a Swiss style home. They are the most beautiful homes EVER. I ended up walking past this hospital that I kind of thought was out in the middle of nowhere, but whatever... now I know where the hospital is for when I need it, which hopefully I won't need it. 

Then I walked back home and at that point it had gotten super dark. Christmas lights are already up and it looks gorgeous here! I went into this store and bought the one thing EVER person should buy when coming to this wonderful country.... CHOCOLATE!!! It has hazelnuts in it and kind of taste like Nutella and we all know how much I ADORE Nutella. 

This is my friend Frank.

When I got back to the hotel I went back to my room. Thomas was hosting this party in the... I guess you could call it a Party Room, though I'm sure it has some other spiffy name... where they find out about who has won the elections today. 

I later ate dinner with Regula and Timo. We had this delicious pasta with meat and sauce and also some salad on the side. It was SO, SO, SO, SO, SO good. I felt like a pig for having seconds when I really wanted to have like ten helpings. We had a nice conversation. We talked about my crazy journey to Rome where I had the bedbug issue.... gah! Then we talked about what I am studying... English. I want to be a writer. We talked about all sorts of things. They told me that what I was eating was a traditional Swiss meal and I told them what my favorite traditional Swiss meal was... Raqlette (sp?), something my cousins introduced to me. Regula smiled and nodded at this because Raqlette is freaking amazing, though I'm sure her reply would be something more sophisticated. 

There cat, by the way is SO cute. He is gray with a white belly and is super fat. He loves me though and I love him. I kept petting him and then he laid down by my feet at dinner. I really miss my kitties now. I really miss my horse too. 

So now I am in my room. It is such a NICE room too. No worries I will take pictures. You know me. Oh, but something in my camera broke... I mean I can take pictures still, but I don't know how good they will be. I know. It is rather annoying. 

Ok battery is looking deader by the second I need to hurry. What else? What else? I am trying to think, but nothing is coming up. Um, well, I guess I would like to say that I have definitely stepped outside my comfort zone, but you know what this traveling to a different country by train thing was a heck of a lot easier than I thought it would be and taking a deep breath and not worrying definitely helps. Looking at life as an adventure definitely makes things a lot more fun than worrying about failing. 

I challenge you to do something that scares you whether it be grocery shopping ALONE or backpacking through Europe alone. Step outside you comfort zone and grow. 

Trust me. It's fun!

I'm in freaking INTERLAKEN eating chocolate... :) 

Bis später! (Got that off Google translate so if it is wrong it is not my fault.)

~Amanda