Sunday May29

 Today was a very long day. We had a free morning to explore Lausanne one last time before we had to say bye to one of our favorite places yet. Some people went to the beach to sit by Lake Geneva, others took this opportunity to sleep in, and some more just walked around town. When it finally came time to head out, we went to the train station which would take us to the airport. The train was nice and quiet, and was about an hour long.

We got to the airport and headed inside. With all of our luggage, we needed to check our bags, however the line was very long. It took us between forty five minutes to an hour to finally tag our suitcases, which put us in a time crunch as we only had about another thirty minutes to forty five to get through security and to the gate, before the plane was scheduled to take off.

We were scattered by the time we checked our bags, so we headed to security individually, with the hopes that we would all make it through quickly. For some that was the case, as about half of us, myself included, got through security in roughly ten minutes.

Everyone was on their own in terms of getting to the departure gate, which was a few minutes walk away from where security was located. I got to the gate, along with a few others, just as the boarding process began. About half the group was missing at this point, which was a little worrisome. The boarding of passengers continued, but thankfully as people continued to get on the plane, more of us showed up. We all finally made it to the gate around the time it was our turn to get on the plane.

We made it on the plane, and it took off a few minutes later than it was supposed to. But that wasn’t the main inconvenience of the flight. I would roughly estimate that about 40-50% of the passengers were kids, clearly on a school trip, aged around 12-13 years old. They were way too loud for a majority of the flight. From takeoff they were screaming and talking with each other, and throughout the flight there were random bursts of yelling. The worst occurred while landing, when right as we touched down, literally all the kids started screaming. I think almost all of us got headaches from these kids, and we probably weren’t the only ones who were a bit annoyed.

After getting our luggage, and meeting as a group, we got some food at the airport, which we all loved for its cheap prices. Some people got snacks, some got dinner, and everyone got some water. We were preparing for the 3.5-4 hour bus ride ahead of us that would take us to Olympia. 

We finally got to the hotel around 2am with everyone very tired. We all went to our rooms and passed out, getting a little bit of sleep before our first day in Greece.

Saturday 5/27

Today we started bright and early at nine to go hike in the Swiss Alps! We hopped onto a train that first took us to a farmers market where we were given free cantaloupe and grabbed a bite to eat. I personally went to Starbucks where I learned my lesson about the pricing of Swiss products (10 dollars for a drink). As much as I love it here, the prices make my budgeting difficult. After this, we hopped on our next train which took us up through the Alps and dropped us off at the base of our hike. We had to take a pulley cart up the mountain to get to our trailhead. The hike was a lot of steep hills and mud. I was very thankful I decided not to wear my white shoes, I can’t say everyone else made that same decision. Despite the mud, the hike was absolutely beautiful. We saw people hang gliding and got a gorgeous view of Lake Geneva. We also walked past lots of cows that had actual cowbells on. After a successful hike with no one falling (there were lots of close calls) we headed to Montreux where we got a nice, healthy lunch at McDonald’s. We ate in the market and got some gelato for dessert in the hot weather. We also got to check out The Queen recording studio where they recorded their last album. It was a pretty small exhibit but still cool to see their instruments and recording studio, especially if you’re a fan like Kirstyn. After this, we headed back on the train and had some free time before dinner and we were finally successful at doing some laundry. We got an amazing fondue dinner as it felt necessary while in Switzerland. We had three types of cheese fondue: regular, truffle, and garlic. We also got a dry meat board to add on top of our bread and potatoes. Between the 13 of us we ate almost all of the fondue and we were absolutely stuffed by the end of it. We ended the night at our new favorite place Lake Geneva swimming in the very cold water. We wanted to jump into the water cold or not because who knows if the opportunity will ever present itself again. The cold water was somehow not the biggest problem we came across, the rocks at the bottom of the lake were causing us a lot of issues walking in and out of the lake. Despite this it was still a really great experience, and something I will remember forever. After swimming we sat on the rocks around the lake listening to music and taking in the last night in Switzerland. I speak for the group when I say Switzerland has been absolutely amazing and we do not want to leave. I am however very excited for Greece and can’t wait to be there and eat the amazing food they have to offer. We miss you Professor Ryan and GM!