Tutto Benne!

Last week I was all over Switzerland. First, we, as a group, were in Bern for an educational excursion. Except the person we were to meet with in Bern copped out on us. Well, they were "really sick." So, we took a walking tour of the capital city of Switzerland. It was nice. Some pictures will follow. There's a famous clock tower in the center that was very intricate. Every hour on the hour, there's an elaborate dance or "timeless procession" of small wooden bears, kings, and jesters that spin, ring bells etc. It was built over 500 years ago, so it was an amazing feat of mechanics. We also saw the bears that Bern is famous for. Except, it was incredibly sad. The bears obviously wanted out of their small pen and were starting to go crazy.

Next it was on to Lucerne, located in the center of Switzerland. Very beautiful because it is located on a lake with a tributary of the Rhine running through it. A lot of ancient bridges, buildings etc were there. We spent the night there, and the next morning we went on a walking tour of Lucerne. At the end of the tour, we sat on the banks of the river, in the sun and had a tea/coffee. It was one of the highlights of my week. Both Bern and Lucerne are in the German-speaking sections of Switzerland, so thank goodness one of my friends speaks fluent German. It's fun living in a country with so many languages because I am learning small phrases in German and Italian.

The next destination was Lugano. IT WAS GORGEOUS! On the border with Italy, on a lake front, in the middle of the Alps. Are you imagining this magnificent place yet? Plus, it all of a sudden it got warm, so we ate outside on the lakefront almost everyday we were there. In Lugano, I felt we actually had a purpose. We met with FOSIT, the Federation of Swiss-Italian International Organizations. We were briefed by three International organizations specific to humanitarian aid in developing countries. It was really interesting, but unfortunately you have to speak Italian to work with them. So, I guess I'll be learning Italian in the near future...

I loved the city though. It was funny to be walking around and have people speak to me in Italian. Mainly because I didn't even know how to say "I don't speak any Italian" But, I managed with a combination of French, Spanish and English. It was really an amazing mixture of communication. Ok, so as not to bore those who have a short attention span, I will write more later.