I really wanted to take you all on a photo tour, but, of course, this server won't let me upload photos. Although your first reaction might be disappointment, you might reconsider when you find out that I took over 500 pictures in Switzerland... The narration to half the would-be slide show goes something like, "Here's a beautiful fall tree next to a beautiful turquoise river with the Alps in the background" .... "Here's the beautiful orange tree from the left" .... "Here's the tree from the right with a boat in the foreground" .... "Here's a leaf from the tree floating in the river by the boat" .... "Here's a self-portrait of me with the tree and the boat and the mountains" etc etc. You know it's bad when you suspect that you would lose the attention of your own parents!

I've been bad again and I can't possible cover all that's happened since the last time I posted. A brief re-cap: paperwork, teaching, vacation. Lauren and I just returned from the first of our four paid vacations :) We spent a week and a half traveling through Switzerland and it was absolutely stunning. A country full of mountains where in autumn you can go back and forth between gorgeous fall and North Pole Narnia, famous for chocolate and cheese, where the people (at least in the French part) speak French but are organized more like Germany ... yes please. It also a country where scientists have constructed a massive proton accelerator in hopes of capturing on film what exactly happens when two isolate protons smash into each other at ridiculous speeds, a side effect of which could be the accidental creation of a "minor" black hole. Haha. But, I think I'd still move there in a heartbeat if anyone gave me an opportunity, or lots and lots of Swiss Francs.

Lauren and I traveled with CouchSurfing (which sounds really sketchy utnil you try it). It's basically a website like Facebook where you can contact people who live in the area where you want to go and stay with them for free. Obviously it's great for the budget, but the real reason I love it is because of the cultural exchange. As a tourist, you rarely get the opportunity to see a place from the perspective of someone who lives there, which is what couchsurfing allows you to do. This time Lauren and I had a fabulous host in Luzern, Remo, who took us to meet his mom in the village where he's from and then drove us above the clouds so we could actually see the mountains. And, in St. Gallen, we stayed in a sweet converted farm-house with Sebastian and his family. We went hiking to a nearby mountain and we got to meet his darling Grandparents who live just up the hill from his family.


It was a super trip...but I do laugh when I realize that basically I took a vacation from vacation. Sigh. I will never be able to do "real life" after this.

Sorry for the abrupt ending, but the cafe where I'm using the internet is closing so I have to run! Hopefully I'll be able to put up some picture sometime soon and also write about what my day to day life is like!

bisous to you all!