Europe Day 68: Hapkern

Ciao Ragazzi! (Yep you know what that means... I'm back in Italia.)

I had the most wonderful trip to Switzerland, Germany, and France (for the day). Sorry, I haven't blogged about it immediately. The next day in Switzerland I was tuckered out BIG TIME... like scarily tuckered out. I was delirious and was completely freaking out my friends on Facebook.

So, sorry to those of you who entered the Twilight Zone when IM-ing me. Then I couldn't write on my blog when I was in Germany because the internet wasn't functioning on my laptop and the computer that was available to me had a different keyboard that drove me nuts, because some of the keys were switched around (I actually had to look at the keys, while typing...) So, here is what that means for you: You have a lot of reading to do. And for me: Well, I have a heck of a lot to write for you. So let's get started shall we. 



Wait, first I need to put some music on or I will go nuts. I can't write without my music. Going to listen to the Twilight Saga: Breaking Dawn (Part 1) soundtrack. Movie sucks, but I like the soundtrack. Haha. Favorite song on it is "From Now On" by The Features. I'm sort of obsessed with this song.

Ok, better. Man, you know what I just realized... I haven't had my precious Nutella crepe in 8 bloody days!!! I don't know how I've lasted. I really don't. Whoops I've gotten sidetracked. Sorry. 


I want to tell you about my trip to Hapkern. 
The Swiss family I was staying with asked me if I wanted to see a REAL Swiss village and I nodded, because of course I wanted to see a real Swiss village. So, the next day I went down the front desk and asked Jurg (he is really nice) how to get there. I had to take the number 106 bus that came every hour. I took it at 11:07. It was interesting getting the bus because as you all know or rather, should know this, I don't speak German at all. I can't understand any of it. I know "hello," "thank you," and "your welcome." That's pretty much it. So, basically what I've learned  that works really well with trying to communicate with people who can't understand you and you can't understand them is Sign Language. Ba-bam! And people tell me that was a useless class to take. I can be very animated and get what I want across pretty dang well sometimes. 


Anyhow, I was able to get my ticket to Hapkern and it was interesting because I was the only one on the bus. There were about five buses waiting for people to hop on them and there were a lot of people. Apparently there were some really popular places to go to, but I was told to go to the unpopular one, which made me pretty dang stoked. I was like: Well, maybe not that many people know about this place and therefore it makes it that much more special. 
But then I was a little paranoid because it was just me and the bus driver who was basically my taxi driver, so I changed his name (well, hold on there, I never knew his name to begin with) to Travis Bickle, which I realize doesn't sound super Swiss, but it worked for me. 

So, then Mr. Bus-Driver-Swiss-Version-of-Travis-Bickle drove me up the mountain and man oh man was it ever whindy (do you know what word I am trying to use here, you know like curvy, but I'm getting a red line underneath it and it is telling me this word does not exist, but I know it does... grrrr!!!) road. I was starting to get car sick. 
Or is it bus sick?
Not sure. 
So, this drive was super beautiful. I was already bundled up in several layers of clothes. I looked puffy and pregnant and was wearing my hat and gloves and scarf. I was ready! But as we climbed up that mountain the sun's rays shone through the window and burned me (in a good way that is). The sun felt soooooooo good. I was in heaven, but as I wrote before I was getting bus sick and it was just me and Travis Bickle the Swiss Bus Driver, so never mind about being in heaven. 
It was getting kind of freaky because the closer we got to the village the narrower the road got. It wasn't a road made for this giant bus I was riding and finally it turned into a one way street width, but with people driving in both directions still. I was used to this because the last time I came Switzerland this is what I experienced, except I was in a smaller car and there were like cliffs around us. I sort of felt safer with the bus and no cliffs. 
Yes, I liked the no cliffs part. 

So, I finally got to Hapkern and... no one was there. 
I am not joking here. 
The driver just stood around for a while, patiently waiting for some people to emerge from this ghost town and hop on his bus, but nobody came. I just stood there beside the bus, in the sun, wondering where the heck I should go. There were all these beautiful houses and shops, but I'm telling you in all seriousness NO ONE WAS THERE. Then the bus driver left after a couple of minutes and it was just me in this Swiss ghost town. 

The city of Hapkern is absolutely beautiful. In fact, I wanted to buy a house there. I saw this sign in the bus sitting area (is there a name for that by the way?) and saw a RE//MAX sign. Ok, before coming to Hapkern I was not aware that RE//MAX existed outside of the United States. 

Wow. Well, now I know and now you know. 
Good. 
Moving on. 
So, there I was. Alone. Should I bring out that YouTube clip again? Because I was definitely thinking it while I was there. 

I'm serious. And I'm not sure why I keep repeating myself about no one being there, but maybe it is because I was so surprised myself. I started walking up and down the hills, wondering what I should do with myself. Actually, I was also searching for signs of life as well. Actually, (haha, this makes me laugh and cringe at the same time) for some reason that banjo tune from the movie "Deliverance" was playing in my head as I was walking around. 

I started having this existential crisis with no one being there. 
Here was my thought process:

1. Where is everyone?
2. This is freaky.
3. No one is here...
4. Or are they.
5. No, I don't think they are. 
6. I'm the only one here. 
7. It is just me. 
8. Oh yikes. 
9. I feel like the only one left on the planet. 
10. Am I still alive?
11. Did I die?
12. Is this heaven?
13. Not sure why my heaven would have no people in it. That seems rather antisocial of me. 
14. Oh wait... there are cows here. I could be in heaven. 
15. I don't want to be dead. 
16. Amanda, your not dead. What is wrong with you?
17. But no one is here. 
18. Do I even exist?
19. Of course you exist.
20. How do you know I exist?
21. First of all we are the same person, so... wait a minute. I'm not sure how we exist. You've got hands.
22. Yeah, so...
23. So, you can see your hands. That must mean you exist. 

Only AP English students will get this. 

And so went my strange thought pattern of trying to explain why I exist. Reminded me very much of my first day in AP English. SUCH AN AWESOME CLASS by the way. One of my all-time favorites.

So, I finally found a path and I walked down this path and it was so beautiful with the rolling hills, the river running (couldn't see it, but I could hear it), and the smell of cow crap in the air. Ah, how nice! I walked down this gritty path and had to take my sweatshirt off and gloves and scarf off because of how warm it was at first. I listened to my iPod and then started contemplating life... yes this is what happens in the mountains with nothing, but yourself to keep you occupied. 

Beware of decapitated children crossing the roads. 

For women and Drag-Queens? 

I thought about growing up and how you have to be the one to make your own decisions later in life. I tried to come up with a great comparison of how I thought growing up was like. I thought about how your family makes this iron casting for you, but it isn't the most perfect piece of art because everyone's got their own idea of what they want it to look like. They want you to fit this mold at first. They teach you morals and various lessons and they shape you into the person you are. You start filling up this mold and turn into the person they want you to be, but then you are released into the real world and are let loose of this mold. Suddenly, you can wiggle your fingers, stretch out your limbs. It's scary, but you are the one in control and you don't really have that cast to protect you anymore. You have to shape yourself, support yourself, think for yourself... 
You know... it kind of sounded better in my head at the time. Hopefully you just skipped over that rant of mine. Now, I think it sounds stupid. 

So, why didn't I just delete it then you are probably wondering? Hmm, I don't know. It sort of sounded interesting, so I will leave it up. Plus I am kind of just writing everything I think of as I am thinking of it for this blog. It is called Stream of Consciousness. Yep. That's what I am doing right now. 


For example even though this has nothing to do with Switzerland I had a crepe just a few minutes ago--that's right I took a break from blogging to go across the street and grab a crepe--and it was the most delicious thing ever. Oh! By the way it had two scoops of chocolate chip mint gelato on it too. Goodness gracious it was soooooooo good.  

That's my lonesome shadow there. 

Erika Juengling: This is the part where we die...

Logs. Logs. Logs. This was before creepy, dark, scary woods. 

So, moving on. I came about these really dark woods and I couldn't really read the sign, so I decided not to go into these really dark, ominous looking woods that could have been the last of me. It was sort of funny because cars started driving past me (about 3 I think) and two bikers went past me and that's when I started to complain about it being too crowded. 
HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA. (Off to the left you will see that this made me laugh.)
I had gotten so used to the peacefulness of being COMPLETELY alone that one person made me feel too crowded. Haha. Cracks me up. 
So, then after turning around from the edge of those really dark, ominous looking woods I started walking back from where I came from. (No I didn't walk all the way back to the U.S.A in search of my mother's uterus... you weirdos who were thinking that.) The bus station. 
I found this nice bench to sit on and decided to sit there for a little bit and just enjoy the view. Holy smokes people! I sat there for about an hour and a half because here is what I did... I took out my notebook ( I carry this notebook with me EVERYWHERE I go because I'm always having thoughts pour into my head and I really like collecting quotes) and just started writing down more details for this really horrendously, sad part at the end of my book. My critic partners are absolutely right about it needing more details. It has to be sadder than it already is. So, I wrote down every possible detail I could come up with that would create this really intense, sad mood. I heard a crow cawing and these cute little birds chirping, so I wrote about that and how different the two sounds were. I wrote about the creek. The cow crap. I wrote about how much colder it felt in the shade than it did in the sun. I actually had to put my gloves and sweatshirt and scarf back on because of it. I jotted down stuff I remember seeing in my head when imagining the scene, but it was something I never actually wrote into the scene because I forgot to. It was a very, very, very productive time for me. 

Then once I was done I just sat there and you know what? My mind was incredibly quiet. I thought of nothing, which is SO RARE for me. My mind is always bouncing around from one thought to the next about stuff that happened in the past, about stuff that needs to happen or that might happen in the future. I worry too much I've noticed. I mean, I've gotten a lot better at this since my two back surgeries, but I still worry about stupid stuff. Sometimes you just need to tell your mind to shut the hell up and live in the moment of the here and now because otherwise the days seems like years and the years will feel like days. I was in the countryside of Switzerland and I didn't even have to yell at my brain to shut up. It just did it on its own. That is how peaceful and magical this place was. 
So, then I hiked back down to the bus station and I had to wait about 40 minutes for the bus to get there as I waited I kept thinking about how much I wanted to live in Switzerland or at least visit it more often than every 3 years. I like it too much. It is one of my all-time favorite places on this earth. I sat on this bench, that over looked these gorgeous hills, which was dedicated to the people who continually visit Hapkern each year and who have visited Hapkern continuously for a decade now. If you have you can write your name on a list. I would love to be on that list. I'd be more than happy to visit Hapkern every year. I love that place too much. I wonder what'd it be like with people next time...

So, then later I loaded the bus to go back down the hill to Interlaken and this time it wasn't just me and Travis Bickle the Swiss Bus Driver--there were more people. We had to pick them up as we went down the hill. It was funny because there was this group of 4 Swiss kids and they were so cute, speaking in German. I don't know what I was wearing or what I was doing, but they kept giggling and laughing at me. I wonder what they were saying about me. I bet you my zipper was down... that wouldn't surprise me AT ALL. 

Hotel is off to the left there. 

So, then I went back to the Hotel Bellevue and grabbed the bike from the shack and took it out. Cars are so generous to the bikers in Switzerland. I felt very safe. I haven't really biked on the road with cars before. I was surprised to have remembered the turning signals and everything a biker should know when biking with cars. It was fun. I road my bike on this really, really, really long path through this residential area and then through the country where I passed by several cow fields. The grass was so green. The mountains were so high and beautifully sprinkled with snow. It was so sunny. The air was so crisp. It was fantastic. 
Those are the awesome moments where I am like: LIFE! I love it and I want to keep doing this. I want to keep exploring the most beautiful places in the world. 
CONFESSION: I LOVE SWISS COWS!!!!!!!!!!!!

Isn't this cow super duper cute???

Then I biked through the park and along the river. I still can't believe how turquoise that water is. It is incredible! 
Then I biked back home and went up to my room and nearly passed out on my bed. 
Later I had dinner with Thomas, Regula, and Timo, but I will tell you about that later in my next post because I need to eat now. 


Oh, quick sidenote before I leave you. When I ordered my crepe today, I almost said: Danke. 
Haha. Oh languages. There are so many of you. 

Ciao! 


~Amanda