Hey everyone! This is going to be a Saturday 10! Yay!

1. So I had such a good time going up the Ammertenspitz white blue white trail that I and a few other vollies did anther one! This was a completely different path though. Rather than up to a peak this path was along the side of a mountain. The reason why I think this is marked as a white blue white is because of how much shale and water there was over the path. One wrong slip and you were going to slide down the side of a mountain. However I found this a lot less challenging than Ammertenspitz so that is progress maybe?


2. On my next day off I did something a little less fun. On the staff challenge one challenge is to clean stockli (the staff house) all by yourself. So all the vollies made a chart at the beginning of the season and assigned a week to everybody. Mine was one of the last weeks, this past week to be exact. Let me tell you this was no hour job. It took me all day. I cleaned all bathrooms, living room, common areas, kitchen, and my room. Stockli is like a frat house except for all the beer cans and solo cups. Us girls are tired, we get home and maybe eat something and put away half of what we get out. I am just as bad, no denying it. I think most of the vollies will be happy to have their own space that they clean and keep up (or don't) when they get back home.

3. On my last full week on program I got to go to both Thun and Interlaken! These are two great towns in the Bern Oberland and they are both lake side. In Thun I got to go to the oberhofen castle which is just so pretty. From the castle there are great views of both Thun lake and Neissen, the swiss pyramid. Then in interlaken I got to go to Trummelbach falls, which I have already mentioned in my post on waterfalls, but this time I learned a new fun fact! The valley that holds the Trummelbach  falls was J.R Tokens inspiration for Rivendale! So cool! I also got to hangout with so cool vollies, Alison (my roomie) and Danita!




4. Then on my next day off I went somewhere that I have been looking forward to since the beginning! Geneva! It was a Princess day out, as me and Alison went together :)) (Princess Pollard and Princess Proctor) Unfortunately (like verrrrry dissapointingly) the UN was closed as it was a Sunday. But the weather was really nice so that was good. We went to the red cross museum and up the famous church were you get a birds eye view of the city, the gigantic fountain in Lake Geneva is pretty nice. Later in the day I even went swimming in the lake. Over all, nice day. However as far as cities go not my favorite. I think I must have built it up for more than it was because I found it to be a good city, but no where near amazing. Still very good day!


5. The day after Geneva we had our staff day out! It was supposed to be a surprise, but one of the Adventure park guides let slip what we were doing. And so the staff day out activity was.... klettersteiging! Which is a combination of climbing and hiking! We went on the entsligen one and it was very cool! Unfortunately it was a bit of a rainy day, however it did not take the enjoyment out of the klettersteig so that was nice. After the klettersteig we were suppose to go to the Adelboden pool, but due to weather we decided just to go back to Our Chalet and play games. We watched movies and then for dinner we had burgers and chips! (french fries). It was great I had not had a burger in forever! Then an adventure park guide (Christian) came to dinner. He was there because, actual surprise, we were going to repel out of the chalet attic window!!! So great! The long term staff planned it all and they did a great job!





6. This is now our last event group, event 8. The staff has started to get a little nostalgic because some members will be gone before this event is over with. I have met so many wonderful people this summer, it is hard to see when good things end. I know I have other things to look forward too, but I hate change especially if something is going really well. Not only will I miss the people, but I am going to miss Switzerland. Seeing these views everyday, they never grow less spectacular. Ok getting sad now gonna stop talking about it.

7. Because the klettersteig was such a success on staff day out me and another vollie, Emma G. from Maryland USA, went to go try the Kandersteg one. The one on entsligen was rated a two out of five for difficulty. The Kandersteg one was a high four. So we knew it was going to be more difficult, how much more difficult I do not think I would ever have known until I was actually doing it. This was the MOST terrifying thing I have ever done. It was so crazy scary it is hard to justly describe. So like many other things I will post a video.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1jJ7WimRyW8

8. After I survived the Klettersteig, Emma and I went to get some ice cream. It started to rain, perfect timing! Then we went off to go see the KISC (Kandersteg International Scout Center) campfire! This was a must see during the summer. The KISC campfires are legendary for their size. It is more of a bonfire than a campfire. Sam, another summer vollie, Emma, and I met up with some of the KISC staff that we had met before sat to watch the campfire. Bosco, one of the KISC staff, said that there was 700 guests, 600 of which were British. So it was not the most diverse campfire, but it was so much fun. The energy was really great everyone was getting into their songs and skits. We got to share a song, which was fun. Here are some pics.




9. Tonight I finally went out to eat. Eating in Switzerland is so expensive. A normal price for dinner is 20 to 40 francs, which are the same as dollars. 12 dollars in the states gets me a pretty decent meal at some decent restaurants. Not so in Switzerland, where the minimal wage is 25 francs an hour. I had Rostii because I heard the traditional way was so much different than the Chalet's. It was really good, but I am so full! It was nice to have dinner out for a change though.

10. Today I made my traditional dish from home, the yummy chocolate chess pie. It actually did not turn out too bad. Most the vollies ate it anyway. Here is the recipe:

http://allrecipes.com/recipe/chocolate-chess-pie-ii/

Have a great weekend everyone!!!

Hey guys! Happy Friday!

1. So I did it! Hiked to the top of Ammertenspitz! The white blue white trail was crazy, not physically too hard, but wow I tried not to look down at all. It is a good thing the girl I went with was so chill about it because I was definitely nervous enough for the both of us! Not only did we hike to the top, we hiked faster than the predicted time, so that is cool. I can officially be called a keen Mountaineer. That is what the sign said anyway. Here are some pics. And a video if I can figure out how to post it.




(this is what we hiked up!)




2. So these past few days I went to Locarno, the Italian part of Switzerland, with Betsy. It did not necessarily go exactly as planned. First of all it was so rainy and expensive and just Murphy's law all over the place. I spent a good amount of francs to see a movie, 2 Guns, at the Locarno film festival. Really cool right? About 30 mins into the film it started to poor and lightning and thunder. We are sitting outside mind you no cover whatsoever. So we sit like this for 10 mins getting soaked, eventually we try to find shelter around the surrounding areas. There is no room at all, it is to loud to hear the movie, and we missed half the movie trying to find a dry, quite spot. Finally we are like fine lets just leave. We catch a train mind you at like 12:14. Because though the ticket said the movie started at 9:30 the mcs talked for AN HOUR AND A HALF. Then the next day we get up and it is still pouring. look at weather this is the forecast for the rest of the day: 100-80% chance of rain all day. And not just drizzle but buckets of rain coming down. Suffice to say not as successful as I hoped. I did have some excellent raspberry crumble....

3. Meanwhile, as I am on my sad trip, my family is here:


and doing things like this:

and this:


Uhmppphhh. Can you believe they went to Bald Head Island without me? I mean yes I am in Switzerland, but still. The nerve, having fun without me.

4. Also back in NC, lots of people, as I can tell from Facebook, are returning to the Hill after their awesome summer adventures. It seems everyone is gearing to go back to school. And a part of me wants to go back and start this upcoming semester with everyone else. It is a bit sad seeing everyone gearing up and knowing I am going to be absent this time around. It is like missing a day of school, fun, but you kinda wonder what you missed at school and you feel a bit like you might have missed out on something. One of my friends is gear up for freshman year! She is even in the same dorm/floor/side as I was! Good luck to all those in this coming semester at UNC! Hopefully I am not going to be missing anything to big...

5. Finally I just wanted to know if any of you guys have any suggestions for places to visit in any of these countries: Germany (most likely Berlin), Netherlands, Belgium, Luxembourg. Suggestions can be cities, or activities or not well known areas that you think is worth a visit! You can leave a comment on this post or shoot me an email. I would love to hear your suggestions! Also I will be visiting these places in winter so keep that in mind :)

With that have a good weekend everyone!

(ps when I wrote this post it was Friday, then the internet failed, so it is now kinda a saturday 5..)

Hey everyone!

1. This week I am guest services again! Yaaaay..... So to counter how much time I am spending indoors cleaning and cooking, on my off days I am determined to go hiking around the area. So one day me and a few other vollies, Betsy from Hong Kong and Jana from Slovakia, hiked to Kandersteg! This required going up over a mountain range to get from one valley to another, about a 5 hour hike swiss time. It took about 6 1/2 hours. On the hiking signs there is always an estimated time for different destinations, see below: 

So the time estimates you see on the signs are in swiss time. For example this sign says it takes 3hrs to get to kandersteg. It took us 4hrs and we were going to a closer point in the valley than kandersteg so going into the town center would have been at least another 1/2 hr. These shorter time estimates are due to the fact that the Swiss grow up hiking, they bring their 6 yr olds out and up onto mountains (seriously passed a 6yr old running down the mountain not 20 meters from this sign, notice the height of this mountain pass?) When we got to Kandersteg we ate dinner there and slept over. It is a great place to hang out, I even met a group of boys there with their unit from Chapel Hill! (One was wearing a UNC t-shirt). Then in the morning me and Jana grabbed some breakfast and headed back to Our Chalet on the bus, cause we both had to work that day. Here are some more pictures from our journey:
Betsy and Jana and Kandersteg! 
Adelboden!:


2. We had a special staff night out this week! We got to go to the Circus! It is a pretty famous circus in Switzerland and features no animals. The main acts were clowns and acrobatics. The Clowns were meant to act like goofy children and came in acts between the acrobatics. Clowns are not my favorite, I am not really a clown person, but this little girl behind me found them hysterical, so I think it is just me. The acrobatics were amazing, both girls and boys participating. I was expecting older people preforming, however all the acts were preformed by especially youthful looking folks, and some very attractive might I add. So that was nice. A lot of people compared it to Cirque du Soleil, which is the really famous, amazing Circus that lots of people go to. Including my family! Without me. So I personally do not know how it compares with Cirque du Soleil, but as far as I can tell it was a good show.

(also we got photo bombed... that random guy in the back we have no idea who he is....)

3. This week was a very special week for several reasons:

1. The most diverse group evvver! two groups from Japan, one from Norway, 2 from Canada, 1 from the US, and 1 from the UK. wow! For a place that has seen a lot of North Americans in this particular event the North Americans have been out numbered! 
2. It is the largest group we will have, the total number of guests rounding right about at 100. We are typically comfortable at around 60 people.
3. It was Swiss day! August 1st is like Switzerland's July 4th! It was super exciting, firework bangs starting to go off around noon and continued until 6am (not as cool). At night we made a Chalet precision into town where we sat and listened to an important person speak, about what I do not know I do not speak swiss-german. There were free sausages and bread, which were delicious. There was an alpine horn show and yodeling. Finally after the Swiss national anthem we gathered and joined the parade, which was oddly enough a majority of non-swiss people waving swiss flags. The other groups in the parade included the UK girl guiding group staying somewhere else in the valley and a group of Scottish boy Scouts who brought and played bag pipes in the parade. So it was a bit bravehearty... Then after the parade we sat and watched the spectacular firework display! Then home to bed. 
4. It was also the CHALET'S 81st BIRTHDAY!!! We had a carnival were we did different stations and crafts, games, you name it. At the end of the day we had a huge cake, lots of candy, and the chance to make great smore's! We decorated the place head to toe, and gave out invites with schedules. I think everyone had a good time. My roomie (Alison) and another vollie (Aisling) made the cake! Take a look: 

4. I have been hearing a lot of new information from Nottingham! I now know my dorm, Derby Hall, which is where a friend who went there suggested I stay at and where she personally stayed for two years! It is super central, but also very close to the bus stop so you can get to town really easily! I also now know my classes: American Chaps and Maps: American foreign policy since 1950, American Film adaptions, IPE and the political economy, and Democracy and it's critics. This ends up being 20 hrs credit so I will have to drop one... but I am into all the ones I wanted which is what counts! It is nice now that the summer is barreling to an end to have something else exciting to look forward too! 

5. The last thing I want to mention is that tomorrow I plan on completing my personal challenge! For our staff challenge you have the chance to come up with your own personal challenge which you can then earn points for. Mine is completing a white blue white trail. There are three types of walking trails, road, white red white, white blue white. We only take guests on roads and white red white trails. The white blue white is supposedly a big jump from red. Blue trails are supper exposed and usually falling of them can be very detrimental to health. However, I will be careful and slow up the white blue white path, and it is supposed to be a challenge. I have seemingly developed a little bit of vertigo as I have grown older so hopefully it won't be too terrible... I guess we will just have to see tomorrow! 

New blog post tomorrow, promise!

Have a good weekend everyone!!