Finally made it to UTAH! Which also means I started a new blog. Livin' in the Powder.
Follow me on http://livininthepowder.blogspot.com/
Sunday, January 24, 2010
FOLLOW ME IN UTAH!
Finally made it to UTAH! Which also means I started a new blog. Livin' in the Powder.
Follow me on http://livininthepowder.blogspot.com/
Tuesday, January 12, 2010
J'adore Switzerland! Geneva, you treated me well!
The reason it has taken me so long to finish this blog is because in a way by ending this blog I am concluding a very meaningful, fun, and exciting experience in my life, and I haven’t wanted to do that yet. I still go to bed at night thinking I will be waking up in Geneva once again, and experience it all over again, but life goes on and I have a lot of exciting times ahead of me. So I am not ending this blog I am keeping it up, until the next time I live with the Swiss. I fully expect to return to this great country of Einstein, Swiss chocolate, and beautiful jewelry/watches, but until I do I will document other adventures around the world. My next destination: UTAH. Yep I will be skiing my way through the Rocky Mountains this winter in hopes of exploring new lands and most importantly impro
ving my skiing. As soon as I get there I will post a link to my next blog in hopes you will follow me to my next destination. All I have left to say is thanks to all of those who were able to be there with me and those who read my blog! I love you all! XOXO
Until we meet again.
Love,
Anja
Escalade and Our Final Goodbyes
Escalade weekend began with a very hectic crowd of students attempting to finish their final portfolio to be submitted. Everyone was eager to finish it in hopes we would all be able to spend the last couple days stress free enjoying the winter season together. For many this wasn’t exactly the case, but everyone eventually turned it in.
After all the folders were submitted we all gathered for our final potluck dinner. This is an event we held every couple of weeks, but this week was a bit different we all brought out our leftovers and made very interesting concoctions with what we had. I surprisingly had enough pasta to feed forty people. Apparently I like pasta. After our meal we ent around the room and each gave speeches about our experience and how for most of us this experience was the best time of our life. By the end all of us were near tears.
The following morning we arose early to celebrate the Genevian festival of Escalade. Think carnival meets halloween meets a renaissance fair and you’ve got an idea of Escalade. The celebration dates back to the 12th of December, 1602 when the citizens of Geneva successfully defeated troops that unexpectedly attacked their city. I won’t go into too much detail, but the tradition is to buy a large chocolate pot like the one in the picture (which surprisingly are very expensive) and the oldest and youngest person in your group goes up to the front and smashes the candy filled pot and sings a long brutal French song and then the whole crowd eats the chocolate. It was very thrilling. This little tradition was followed by a walk through the town and a large parade with lots of little children walking around with fire in their hands. Nicki and I got stuck in this massive crowd of people and it was one of the coldest nights with snow falling. It was difficult to be in such a large crowd.
That night we went to sleep for the last time in our rock hard IKEA beds with excitement and sadness. The next morning we were up at 5 am I was off to an eight-hour train ride on my way to Germany and everyone else off to catch their flight back home. I got on the train near tears thinking back to this amazing adventure… Thank you Geneva!
After all the folders were submitted we all gathered for our final potluck dinner. This is an event we held every couple of weeks, but this week was a bit different we all brought out our leftovers and made very interesting concoctions with what we had. I surprisingly had enough pasta to feed forty people. Apparently I like pasta. After our meal we ent around the room and each gave speeches about our experience and how for most of us this experience was the best time of our life. By the end all of us were near tears.
The following morning we arose early to celebrate the Genevian festival of Escalade. Think carnival meets halloween meets a renaissance fair and you’ve got an idea of Escalade. The celebration dates back to the 12th of December, 1602 when the citizens of Geneva successfully defeated troops that unexpectedly attacked their city. I won’t go into too much detail, but the tradition is to buy a large chocolate pot like the one in the picture (which surprisingly are very expensive) and the oldest and youngest person in your group goes up to the front and smashes the candy filled pot and sings a long brutal French song and then the whole crowd eats the chocolate. It was very thrilling. This little tradition was followed by a walk through the town and a large parade with lots of little children walking around with fire in their hands. Nicki and I got stuck in this massive crowd of people and it was one of the coldest nights with snow falling. It was difficult to be in such a large crowd.
That night we went to sleep for the last time in our rock hard IKEA beds with excitement and sadness. The next morning we were up at 5 am I was off to an eight-hour train ride on my way to Germany and everyone else off to catch their flight back home. I got on the train near tears thinking back to this amazing adventure… Thank you Geneva!
Monday, January 4, 2010
Nicki's 21st Birthday/ Ollan
Celebrated my roommate Nicki’s 21st birthday in Geneva at a local Irish pub and early the next morning I was on a train on my way to Ollan a small town outside of Montreaux to meet up with the Elias’s. The Elias’s have been family
friends for years. We met every Christmas at a castle in Austria where we’ve had many skiing adventures together. Later that Sunday evening I took a train back and stopped at the Christmas market in Montreaux. The crowds were so large there was no way to walk through the market, which is typical near the Christmas holiday.
BASEL CHRISTMAS MARKET.
CHRISTMAS has finally arrived in the Swiss city of Basel. I met my good friends Jazmin and Erica, who brought their holiday spirit. We toured around the Christmas market and ate two dampf kunduln (if that’s how you spell it…) a German dumpling with vanilla
sauce. My favorite desert since the time I was a little five-year-old skier. I brought Erica back with me to Geneva, there we went ice skating and toured around the city once again. Great friends, great company and great food!
Thanksgiving with the Swiss??? Why ofcourse!
Yes our gang celebrated thanksgiving together at the most beautiful five star hotel in the center of Geneva. We had the most delicious food prepared for us, as we gathered around large tables with all our friends. At the dinner there was an auction where they were auctioning off George Clooney’s tie and Roger Federer’s tennis shorts. After dinner when all the older folks were heading 
home the Boston U crowd took up the dance floor and danced to the latest and greatest pop music all night long.
Bathing with the Swiss
For all my faithful blog followers, I apologize for the delay in posts!!! I’ll give you an update of my life thus far pre and post Switzerland.
The weekend of the twentieth I went with some friends to the Genève baths. We soaked up the heat in the sauna and Turkish bath and jumped in the lake which was much colder than I had expected… Our group also went wine tasting in a small town called Russin. The vineyard we visited had been in the family for thirty-five generations!!! I can’t even begin to imagine how far back that goes.
The weekend of the twentieth I went with some friends to the Genève baths. We soaked up the heat in the sauna and Turkish bath and jumped in the lake which was much colder than I had expected… Our group also went wine tasting in a small town called Russin. The vineyard we visited had been in the family for thirty-five generations!!! I can’t even begin to imagine how far back that goes.
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