Le Jour Vingt-Cinq (Day 25)

Sorry I’ve been super behind on blogs. It’s been really difficult to find wifi for the last several days. I’ve been writing, just haven’t been able to post anything. In fact, not having wifi, a phone, or any contact with what is back at home is…freeing. We’ve had to do everything old school even here, including saying when/where we are meeting if we even want to see anyone! If I could resort to letter writing and face-to-face interaction for the rest of my life I totally would, in all seriousness.

Kelly and I woke up early this morning so that we could have a long breakfast and get a good seat on the bus, as in, NOT in the very back. The breakfast of course didn’t compare to Munich’s, but it was still good and had that yummy chocolate granola I’m obsessed with.

We spent most of the day traveling on the coach, and it rained most of the day today. The only time it really didn’t rain was whenever we stopped in Fussen to take a tour of the Neuwachstein Castle! It was built by King Ludwig II who built it in order to withdraw from public life, but he never finished it because he died from “mysterious circumstances,” most likely suicide. The castle remains unfinished to this day. We walked across a bridge between two huge cliffs; below us was a very, very long ways down with rushing water that reminded us of canyoning, except it looked a million times more dangerous. I spent a long time admiring the castle from the bridge and taking pictures from it before we had to go tour the inside of it! It was way more colorful and more home-like than any castle I’ve ever seen. There were so many paintings, colors, and one can tell he had a lovely personality (or at least I want to think he did). Also, a symbol all throughout the castle was the swan, and it made the atmosphere of the castle even better. I love swans! We figured the movie Swan Princess (one of my favorite Disney movies) was inspired by this too. We even saw big, live swans in a nearby lake! I ran like a little girl over to them and took probably 20 pictures of them; there were even babies! It was incredible.

This is really random, but there were also like a million Asian people there too. Everyone noticed, and it became a small joke while we were there, but none of us really understood why HERE?! They were super friendly though; they kept initiating pictures with us for some reason…? Large groups of Asians and old people. That’s what we’ve seen A LOT of. It’s hilarious!

More traveling, sleeping, and rain, and we arrived in Liechtenstein, which is the smallest German-speaking country in the world. We were there 45 minutes, just enough time to walk around and get a change of scenery. Kelly and I met these British boys who came boldly up to meet us while we were getting free wifi somewhere. They asked if we spoke English or if we were from England, haha, we wish! We noted that boys and Europe are much more forward than in the U.S., and they are just more confident in who they are, not really caring what other people think. Hm....

More bus, more T.A. Ryan talking on the microphone at the front (that’s become a big joke on the trip; he’s very southern, talks way too much, and loves the sound of his own voice), and more staring at the rainy window as I had so much time to listen to music, think, come up with strategies on how I can get back here, and wish this trip wasn’t almost over.  By the end of the bus ride, lots of people were getting a little antsy, so I started playing the song “Some Nights” by Fun out loud on my phone and tried to start a dance party. The only one who really participated (and she overly participated) was Sydney, who grabbed my phone and made Ryan play it over the microphone. We danced and clapped and had a grand ol’ time, not really caring about what the grumpy gills in the back thought; I announced it was our Swiss theme song… SHOWEEEEE! Haha, then we played the wobble and Sydney wobbled in the isle of the bus and everyone died laughing. We love her. So much.

We arrived in Lucerne, cold and a little wet, but this place is SO COOL and beautiful! I love our hotel, the atmosphere, and the people so far. The women are gorgeous and the men are too, after Kelly and I eye-balled each other with raised eyebrows after a whole slew  of them walked by in some sort of uniforms. We grabbed a slice of pizza from a place right next to our hotel, and the workers in there were so funny! We immediately noticed that everything here is VERY expensive, like, pretty much everything is double, sometimes triple what it would be in the U.S. That pizza was some of the best I’ve ever had, and we got a “smoothie” from McDonalds afterward for dessert! We had orientation, final group presentations, wi-fi hunt, and bed. We get to go to a mountain tomorrow J