Leaving in 10 minutes...ah!

I'm sitting at my computer, leaving in 10 minutes when my host dad will drive me to the Nyon train station. I'm pretty much all packed and about to head downstairs. It's so crazy that I wont be back here for awhile, but at the same time I've come to peace about it. It's been an awesome 3 months but I'm ready for new adventures and new things to come.

Get ready Croatia!

Germany and last night

Sorry again for the late update, its now Friday November 20.

I went to Germany this past weekend. It was such a fun weekend, definitely in my top 3 of the trip. I don't feel like writing about everything that happened. But lets just say it was a great weekend. It was so fun to see Jonathan, his family was totally great especially his twin sister Maria who's awesome. I learned a fun new drinking game, went bike riding to get milk at a farm, went into a big energy wind mill, and learned some German.

This past week has been hectic, I've basically just been at the UN library every day trying to get my paper done. So far I have 1 3/4 pages single spaced out of 15, so not bad as its due on Wednesday.

Annddd its my last night at my house :( We're leaving tomorrow morning for Croatia for the next 2 1/2 weeks. Then we come back to Geneva on December 7 for one night, then I fly with Annie and Megs to Dublin the afternoon of December 8. So I do get to come back to Switzerland, but its my last night with my host family. It's so out of control crazy that the semester is basically over. I go home in exactly 3 weeks which is to insane to even consider. Its been such a great semester and I'm bummed to leave for sure. But I had the best time and am leaving with awesome friends so I can't be too upset.

Ok, its only 10:15pm and I am exhausted. I'll update more tomorrow or the next day in Croatia. Hugs and love.

Amsterdam :)

hello loyal followers, i hope you all have been doing well. This past weekend, Annie, Megs, and I went to Amsterdam. Last week was fairly uneventful, just a lot of work...just like the next few days will be. But anyways.

We left at 4:30am on Thursday from Annie's house in Nyon to walk to the train station and meet Megan. We had an easyjet flight at 6:30am and got into Amsterdam around 8:30. It was absolutely pouring and cold and we had the entire day to occupy ourselves as we couldnt go to the house we were couchsurfing at until 6:30pm when the guy got off work. We walked for only a few minutes and went into the first cafe/restaurant we came to to eat breakfast and where we proceeded to spend 2 1/2 hours talking and waiting for the rain to subside. We met up with Meg's friend Dirk (a guy she met in South Africa this past summer who lives right outside the city). He showed us around in the afternoon and we did some shopping and stuff.

the attic where we slept...there must be something about attics as it was the second weekend in a row..

At around 6pm, we took the bus 20 minutes outside the city to this guys house where we were couchsurfing. He was just getting home so that worked out. His name was Stefan and he was perfectly nice and accommodating, just soo weird. He's 32, and we think that he's just kind of lonely so hosts couchsurfers to have people around, who knows. But it worked for us as we saved at least $150 on a hostel.

our street...it reminded us of the neighborhood that Harry Potter lives in

We stayed in that night as we had barely slept at all the night before. The next day we slept till around 12:30pm then spent the afternoon in the city. Amsterdam is sooo amazing. It's a bummer that the only thing you hear about it in the states is about the weed, because the city is so cool. Central Station (the main train station) is in the north of the city on the water, and then canals go out from that in arcs, here's a pic:

so cool right??!

So Friday we just explored and did some shopping. We had thais food for dinner which was absolutely amazing.

Saturday was really fun too. We explored in the afternoon and went to the flower market.

flower market...mom you would have loved it!

That night, Dirk had gotten us tickets for museumnacht (museum night) where you get into all the museums you want form 7pm-1am. We managed to go to all the ones we wanted which included the Anne Frank house, the Van Gogh museum, the Rijksmuseum (dutch history), and a photo museum. We had a blast and took the bus home around 3am (I love public transportation in Europe, I am seriously obsessed. The US is desperately lacking).

this is in the red light district, annie and i thought it was funny with the swans

Yesterday (Sunday) was a great last day. Up until then, it had been overcast and on and off raining all the days, but the afternoon yesterday was sooo beautiful.

megs and my christmas card pic on a tree at Vondelpark

Sun and a bright blue sky. We walked around Vondelpark in the afternoon, a great area that reminded me of Central Park in NYC. It's so fun because dogs are allowed off the leash literally everywhere. So there were people and dogs and lots of music also.

one of many canals, they all have boats along them

Oh, the other great thing about Amsterdam is the bikes. They are seriously everywhere. There are separate paths/marked off areas for bikes on every road and it definitely takes some getting used to to make sure you look both ways when crossing the street. We almost got hit a few times...but by the last day we finally got the hang of it.

this is just a small sampling of all the bikes...

Last night was fun, we made dinner at the house and Dirk came over as well.

meg, dirk, stefan, me at dinner

We went to sleep fairly early as we had to wake up at 5:15 to catch our train. All the traveling went well, without a hitch. We had to take a bus from the house to the Amsterdam train station, then a train to the airport, then the flight, then another train back to Nyon from the Geneva airport. This afternoon was great, we played football all afternoon. We played 6 v 6 which was a total blast.

This week looks fairly dull and busy. I have to work my butt off the next few days, then I leave for Germany on Friday to visit my friend Jonathan who was an exchange student my senior year of high school. I'm really excited to go there and see him, but also kind of bummed as its my last full weekend in Switzerland :( We leave in less than 2 weeks, Saturday November 21 I think, for Croatia for 2 1/2 weeks. Then we get to come back to Switzerland for one night before Annie Megs and I leave for Dublin for a few days.

So thats pretty much everything going on in my life for the moment. It feels great to be back in Switzerland. It felt like coming home when we were flying over back to Geneva. I have a problem of getting adjusted too well to wherever I am and never want to leave. I'm trying not to think about the fact that I only have like 10 days left...But it will be fine. Croatia should be fun and I'll be with all my friends which is whats most important. And we'll get to have a last night in Geneva as we fly back on Monday December 7 and then we don't fly to Dublin until Tuesday afternoon (December 8). On the plus side, when I get home, it means I get to see all you fantastic people, which as much as I love this trip and Switzerland, I will be so happy to see everyone when I get back. That's about all. I probably won't update to much until next week when I get back from Germany. I hope everyone's doing well. Hugs and Love.

interlaken!

This weekend we took a girls trip. Annie, Megs, Ace, Chels, and I went to Interlaken for the weekend. We couchsurfed at this hostel, meaning we slept in the attic which was so cool, its a bouldering room with mattresses all over the floor. We got to stay there for free and got breakfast, but just had to help out with some dishes and stuff in the morning on saturday and sunday.

our sweet attic.

We woke up super early on Saturday to take a 6:50am train out of Nyon. We got to Interlaken at 9:30 and got settled in and then planned to take the train up to a town called Grindewald to hike, its a bit more up in the mountains. First we stopped by the tourist office though because we wanted to sign up for zorbing which is when you get in a giant ball and get rolled down the mountain. But alas, we missed the morning zorb, and the next time wasnt until Tuesday. So we went for the next best option...canyon jumping. We signed up to get picked up at 1pm the next day.

We then took the train to Grindewald were we did a short hike.

you know you have been in switzerland for a long time when walking by cows that are a foot away from you is completely normal...like all the time

It was so beautiful. It gets dark so early so we took a 5:45 train back down to Interlaken.

grindewald

The night was pretty chill, we had happy hour at the bar and drank some wine and talked alot. Megs, Annie, and Ace went out for a bit but Chels and I were both exhausted and passed out around midnight.

Sunday was insane. The morning we just walked around the town, it was such a gorgeous day

interlaken...so beautiful

and then got picked up to go canyon jumping...only megs annie and i went, so ace and chels took the train home early. we were in a big van with some indian people and other american kids. We drove back to Grindewald and partly up this mountain to literally, a canyon.

so how crazy is this pic?? the platform was over to the right, and then you just...jump

so basically the deal is, you put on a harness and hooked to the rope at your belly button. then you stand on the platform...and jump. you literally drop like 150 feet until you start swinging. it was the most exhilarating, intense, crazy thing i have ever done in my life.

so after that, we checked out of the hostel and took the train home, all pretty beat.

megs , annie, and i are going to amsterdam early thursday morning so I'm going to try and do a lot of work the next few days. oh and i love today's crossword puzzle. mostly because its easy and i am almost finished with no help (knock on wood!). more updates soon to come, hugs and love.

beginning of ISP period...freedom

so finally ISP period has begun. which means that we have no obligations or commitments for a month and the whole time free to research.

of course monday though (26 October) we had a take home test due in the afternoon that I had not completed. So Marisssa, Megs, Ace, and I went went to this great cafe in Geneva in the morning. That night was really fun, we had a big bon fire to celebrate the official end of classes.

Tuesday was a pretty average day. Megs, Annie, and I got lunch at this great cafe in Nyon. I got a vegetable panini which was totally out of this world. Then I hung out there in the afternoon to get some work done. I tried to start doing some reading which didn't go to well...but I did read the newspaper which was good. And I am still completely obsessed with my podcasts.

Yesterday (Wednesday 28 October) was great. In the morning, Annie, Jess, and I had French class. We decided to keep taking small group lessons with our teacher once a week. Then in the afternoon, a bunch of us went on a hike. The weather has been soo weird here. In the beginning of October it was absolutely freezing, like total winter weather. Then for some reason this past week has been super warm and sunny. So our group of 9 took the little train up the mountain (the same one I take every day except all the way up the mountain) and got off in St-Cergue. We hiked for a total or 3 hours maybe and had lunch on the top of this great glassy plateau field area with an unreal view of France and the alps.

first try at a group pic

It was so beautiful, I'll post pics of our group there soon. It was so funny, we had 2 cameras on timers and it reminded me of all our crazy family get togethers trying to get a good group pic. And of course the first time, you underestimate how long the timer is, so as soon as someone goes to check if its working, the camera flashes (that one was Chels, ha). But it was worth it, we got some great pics.

yayy, a good one. we were all kneeling to try and get the mountains in

jess steve and i with mountains!

Today: In the morning I hung out with Megs and Annie at the cafe we like then went to the grocery store and bookstore. Then we got roasted chestnuts (marrons in french) which are so good. I love getting food from street vendors especially when they remind me of christmas ("chestnuts roasting on an open fire..."). I have spent most of this afternoon trying to get all my ISP stuff organized. We only have a little over 3 weeks left in Switzerland to do our ISP before we go to Croatia which is so out of control.

I honestly can not believe that I am leaving so soon. Everyone says abroad goes by fast, but seriously. This is crazy. I'm going to have to crack down and start getting research done.

Tonight should be fun. Some of us are going to see Taking Woodstock in Geneva, I can't wait. Then hopefully we are going to Interlaken this weekend, yay!

I'll post pics soon. Hugs and love.

Paris/Brussels pics...finally!

Ok, so to make up for the fact that I didnt update my blog for 2 weeks..I'm putting up a bunch of pics from Paris/Brussels. enjoy!

me walking by the seine

the "hostel group"-annie, ace, me, megan and chels, dancing on l'arc de triomphe
basically the best pic ever...me, ace, and annie. if you cant tell, our group absolutely loves holding hands and hugs (aka, hug it out). and i can say honestly that this picture was not planned, megan yelled, "look both ways" and snapped the pic without us knowing

hand holding...again :) ace me and steve on our way out to delirium, a bar in brussels with 2005 types of beer..the most of any bar in the world

pic outside the place ace and i spontaneously cut our bangs in paris

ace and i in front of le sacre-coeur

ace, meg, megan, laurel and annie at le louvre

last night in paris...me, ace, chels, and tucker (not pictured) got together a picnic of bread, cheese, fruit, chocolate and wine, and ate on the grass in front of la tour eiffel...it was a great night

i hope you enjoyed the pics! im definitely back in the blogging routine, so be prepared for frequent updates :) hugs and love.

11 days later...lugano, montreux, and a marathon

yes, i know. i am the worst blogger ever. the problem is that blogging is like exercising, in the beginning your really motivated and you do it everyday, then you start to get busy and its hard to find the time and then one missed day turns into two and suddenly you havent exercised (or blogged) in over a week. so i apologize. but i have made the decision to spend the next 30 to 45 minutes giving you updates and loading some pics.

so. not too much has happened in the past few weeks. but i guess ill start off with some lugano stuff which seems sooo long ago, it was the weekend of Friday October 9-Sunday October 11.

LUGANO!
my friends and i left after group presentations on friday. we stopped by migros (which is like walmart in the US kind of, it literally somehow owns everything and despite how we talk about how annoying that is, its cheap so we still shop there) to get some food for the weekend then took the train from geneva. Lugano is in the italian speaking part of switzerland, and i mean legit, it should be part of italy. this part of switzerland juts into italy and so lugano is probably 20 minutes or so from the italian border. pretty much no one really spoke english, so that was a challenge as i pretty much speak zero italian.

the train ride was 5 hours total, we had to switch trains in luzern. it was a fun train ride though on account of my new obsession with podcasts. and i literally mean obsession, my friends make fun of me all the time. we got there around 7pm and it was raining which was a downer. the hostel wasnt too far though from the train station. it was a really nice hostel/hotel and our room was awesome. we were a group of 7, but the room was for 9 which meant that there were 3 sets of bunk beds (if you cant do the math, that means the bunkbeds were 3 beds high) which were awesome!

the next day, annie, steve, seth and i went to hike. we took the funiculaire (this little tram thing that goes up hills) into the center of town and then took a bus to the hike. we had to wait a little while for the bus though so we explored this cute little market that was just opening. annie and i got these cute old-fashioned rings, my first souvenir of the whole semester, yay! the bus ride to the hike was crazy. we went up the mountain which mean winding our way up a too narrow road for 25 minutes.

but the hike was amazing. the day kept getting nicer and nicer the more we climbed. it was kind of like narnia on the hike (lion the witch and the wardrobe reference, duh).

narnia!

it was just so magical through the trees. once we started to get up towards the top though, there were some great look outs. lugano is absolutely beautiful. its right on the lake with mountains coming up on all sides, it was like a mesh of italy, figi, and new zealand.

me, annie, and seth
the hike all around was about 4 hours maybe. that night we went to an awesome italian place for dinner that seth found in his guidebook. it was totally authentic and off in an alley. you even drank wine out of little ceramic bowls. we got back to the hostel at 10 and planned to go to a club or something later since nothing opens till midnight. of course though, everyone is getting kind of tired, so ryan says im just going to take a 20 minute power nap. that all sounded like a good idea, so we all climb into our beds to rest for a bit. i knew it was over then when the lights went out...despite seth having set his alarm, we all ended up waking up not 20 minutes later, but 9 hours later at 8am the next morning. we all got a good laugh though.

sunday was the most beautiful day ever! it was perfect. warm, sunny, blue sky, beautiful blue lake. we walked around this park down by the lake for awhile and just chilled out.

look at the lake! so blue!

annie seth steve and i took an earlier train home at 1:15. it was another fun train ride, we spent a few hours making up would you rather questions, some of my favorites were: would you rather be the tinman and continuallly be out of oil, or would you rather be the scarecrow working in a brickoven pizzeria? and another that i came up with, although i dont know how as my creative side of the brain never seems to work. but nonetheless..would you rather always feel like you have to go to the bathroom or would you rather every time you brushed past something as you walked you got stuck to it for 10 minutes? it was a good laugh.

WEEK STUFF: October 12-16
nothing really exciting this week at all. we went to the UN a few times and the UNEP (united nations environment program) and the ILO (International Labor Organization) but thats about it.

WEEKEND: OCTOBER 17-18
it was a really fun weekend. saturday, the girls (me, megan, annie, ace, marissa, and molly) went to montreux for the day. its on the opposite side of the lake. we had lunch and then spent the afternoon at the castle chillon (which is super famous because of lord byron's poem called the prisoner of chillon). it was a huge and cool medieval castle.


this is the castle..so cool right??

me, chels, molly, marissa, and megan...
pretending to be constipated sitting in the "bathroom"...which was a box with 2 holes in it that just went down...


that night, some of us went to a concert at a venue in nyon. it turned out to be a heavy metal music festival. it was like a time warp back to the mid '90s. aka, yelling music, long hair, head pounding, the works.

WEEK: OCTOBER 19-23
again, another non eventful week. it was the last week of class though which was great. we start ISP (independent study project) period tomorrow so i have a whole month to research and chill and write my paper.

WEEKEND: OCTOBER 23-25
so finally, I am at the past day. Friday night was great, I went to a jazz concert at the same venue, but it was much more chill. lots of people, good music. saturday, us girls went into geneva to go to the market, its a huge flea market with tons of stalls all around this one square in old city. it was so fun and i got a really cool sweater/crocheted dress type thing.

Today was so amazing also. Ace, Annie, and I ran in a 1/4 marathon in lausanne. you could sign up to run a 1/4, a 1/2, or a full one. it was such a great experience. the start was by a huge park, so the whole area was filled with runners and people warming up. there was also a stage with 5 people running this aerobics/dancing warm up with tons of music. it was great.

pic pre-race...we got nametags and everything!

the running was fun, ace went ahead a bit, but annie and i ran together and finished in 55 minutes, which wasnt too bad. then afterwards, we got waffles and pizza from the stands by the finish. it was great.

post race-wearing our shirts and medals!

so now its 5:50, i took a break in writing this to skype with chris for over an hour which was great. ill edit the post tomorrow or something and put pictures up. but i hope this update is good for now. i have to do a take home test tomorrow and then i will officially be finished with class. i miss you all boatloads and hope your having great falls. Hugs and love.

sorry for the lateness! lots of updates

To start off, I apologize to all of my dedicated followers to the delay in updates on my life. I have been so busy and things have been crazy that I just have not had the time and patience to sit down and update. But here it goes.

Paris/Brussels
I won't go into that much detail as I think I gave a pretty good update in my video, but it was an amazing trip. Brussels and Paris both were such cool cities and I am proud to say that I got lots of opportunities to use my French. Paris especially was unreal. Just so beautiful and magical. I absolutely want to go back and stay for longer since there are so many places to explore.

So I got back from Paris 2 sundays ago, October 4, and was just so exhausted. We had monday off of classes, thank gosh, but in the afternoon a bunch of us went to see Mihkail Gorbachev (ex-Pres of Russia) speak at the United Nations in an event open to the public. It was so amazing and cool. Ban Ki-Moon (the secretary-general of the UN) introduced him and then Gorbachev spoke about nuclear disarmament and then there was a Q and A at the end. So that was a great day.

The rest of the week was fairly standard. Then this past weekend, some friends and I went to Lugano. Its a town in the Italian part of Switzerland which literally juts into Italy, so while its Switzerland it feels completely like Italy. Ok sorry to cut this off short...but I am so exhausted and have to prepare for an interview tomorrow. But I will finish this post tomorrow and put up pics and stuff. Hugs and love.

You know you have it good when...your bummed about going back to Switzerland (Paris/Brussels Trip)

hi all! i will update with stories and pics soon, but here is a video to tide you over since i know you are all going crazy with anticipation to hear about my latest escapades and probably haven't been able to sleep at night...

Fires and Museums

This will probably be my last post for a week or so unless I can get to a computer on our trip. So last night was really fun. We went over to Tucker's house and alot more people showed up then planned, so we made a bonfire in this fire pit in a field near his house. We stayed up till 3am or something, but it was really fun just hanging out.

Today I slept alot and then we went to "Nuit des Musees" in Lausanne where you pay 10 francs and get into all the 20 museums in the city from 2pm-2am. Despite the fact that we were all beat from the night before, it was still really interesting. I just got home a few minutes ago and now have to pack for tomorrow. We leave at 9:15 tomorrow morning for our week long Paris/Brussels trip. I am not looking forward to having to trek across Paris tomorrow through the metro with our huge 40 person group. But oh well, at least it will be a chance to sleep. The trip should be fun, I'm quite excited. I'll try and update during the trip at an internet cafe or something, but decided it was not a wise decision to bring my laptop.

That's all for now. I don't have any cool new pics or anything, but I should have plenty after this trip. Hugs and love.

TGIF

YAY! finally friday. so it was a great friday. This morning we had a speaker who talked about the European Union for 3 hours, it was so boring and also kind of interesting at the same time. After that we went to the Jardin Botanique (Botanical Garden) near the lake which is free. When we got of the bus, it was right across from the WTO (World Trade Organization) and UNICEF. It was pretty sweet, that all these places I've been reading about in books for the past few years..I am seeing in person and they are a 5 minute bus ride away.

So we hung out in a grassy area for a little while to eat lunch and talk. Below is a pic of the group:

everyone slowly drifted off as we had advisoree meetings today, so chels, megan, annie, and i just walked around and then walked down by lake and got icecream. we then had our meetings and i got home around 6pm. it was so nice just to have a chill day. tonight im going into nyon to a friends house to hang out with the group (pictured above)

love you all and miss you and here are some other pics of the garden:

hugs and love.

VIDEO POST!

HELLO! so basically i am awesome. ok not really, but i posted a video so all you dedicated followers can actually see me (and when i say all, i really mean like 4 family members). but anyways, yea, i hope you like it and feel free to comment...like if you want to see more pictures or want more videos or what. hugs and love.

Birthday!

ok, so i'm going to write a little and also post my video, as well as picture. hopefully it will make this blog more fun, since i think everything i write is quite boring and my dad commented to me how he loves it because it reflects my personality (i was a little taken aback as the writing is fairly bland i thought). so this is my effort to spice things up.

so after a crazy weekend at electrosanne, monday was fairly dull. , then french in the afternoon (typical). then that night i had work to do as we had a paper due yesterday (wednesday).

then tuesday...BIRTHDAY! 21! i wasn't actually that excited about my birthday, i was pretty neutral as i am already of legal drinking age here although it will definitely be nice finally able to drink legally when i return to the states. we had a trip to the UN and UNHCR (United Nations High Commisioner on Refugees). both speakers were pretty bad and i was basically falling asleep all morning. Ace's hostmom made me an apple tart for my birthday (apparently a very swiss thing to do, its in a round cake pan) which was funny when we brought it through security at the UN. below is a picture of Ace, Annie, and I holding the cake in front of a sign inside the UN:

sidenote...to enlarge the pic just click on it.

we ate lunch at the UN cafeteria where Annie bought me a bottle of wine and they gave me my birthday presents which consisted of a very funny card, temporary tattoos, and 3 chocolate bars. below is the card they gave me...its especially funny for us because whenever we play that "what animal would everyone be" game, we always say annie would be an organgatan and she gets really mad, so of course she is the orangatan on the card.

in the afternoon i had french but i had to leave early as i had an interview with the Director of the Global Institute for Water and Health (for all our papers, we have to incorporate interviews so we have first hand research and can network) which went really well. when i got home my package finally arrived from home (thanks mom and dad!!) although i realized why it took so long: mom, you completely forgot to put the street address on it, ha. you put:

ashley st.john

chez rolf russ

1270 trelex

switzerland

and forgot about the "13 ch. du couchant", haha. but i guess since its such a small town and at least you remembered to put my host family's name on it that they figured out where to send it. anyways, so i went for a run, ate dinner with my host family, and had tiramisu for dessert that my host mom made for my bday. then the rest of the night consisted of finishing my 10 page paper which was due yesterday.

all in all, it was definitely a good birthay, despite the fact that i didnt get to truly celebrate turning 21 in the cliche sense.

yesterday was a really good day. we had 2 more speakers at the UN, one on disarmament which was so interesting and one woman from OCHA (Office for the Coordination of Human Affairs) which was also really good. after that i finished revising my paper. no french yesterday which was a nice day off. in the afternoon chelsey and i we're on a mission for and waterbottles. my camelback waterbottle that i got for christmas leaks (which is such a bummer) so i wanted to get a SIGG bottle since they are swiss made, but they are definitely not as common here as in the US so after searching for 45 minutes, i got a purple hannah montana one from the kids section of the dish section of the bottom floor of a department store. i want lie, its pretty sweet, i know you are all jealous.

that night was good too, i felt relieved to have the paper over with. chelsey lives in a town nearby, so we ran and met in the middle then explored all these cool paths through meadows and the forest. then last night i decided i owed it to myself to go out since i didn't get to on my birthday. i took the train into nyon and met up with megan, but everyone was in gland (a town a 5 minute train ride away) because 5 people live there. so megan tucker and i took the train there to meet up with some people at a bar. it was pretty quiet since it was a wednesday, but still fun nonetheless. of course the trains stop running early and we are all too cheap to even consider a taxi so we crashed at our friend seth's house and woke up at 6:45am to take the train back to nyon and get ready for the day.

i was planning on taking the train home to get changed since it was another business casual day, but i didn't have time because of the schedule so chelsey brough a skirt for me and i borrowed megan's heels so i could look semi-presentable. before the train to geneva, we sat at pub de la gare, a bar right across from the train station and 3 of the guys got guinness (as it is the 250th anniversary of guinness today). i refrained from having a beer at 8 in the morning, but didn't feel too bad as we had done irish car bombs last night.

our morning class was really good today. we went to visit a museum that used to be an old house on these beautiful grounds and a professor gave us a tour and told us all about history. of course the one day i wear heels is the one day that instead of sitting and listening to a lecture we were walking and standing for 2 hours, so my feet were hurting alot. but it was all really cool what he told us, switzerland is basically amazing.

i came home early today since my french class was cancelled. so finally i have time now to update my blog (thanks if you are even still reading, i know its a long post) and chill out, maybe even catch up on sleep.

this weekend should be really fun, saturday night in Laussane is "nuit des musees" so from 2pm-2am you pay 10 francs and can get into all of Lausanne's 26 museums. then after it ends is a huge party (or so my host sister says). so we are planning to go (obviously) and just go straight to geneva from there at 7am since we are leaving at 8:30am to go to Brussels. we are justifying this all nighter since we have all day sunday to sleep on the train. so yea, we leave sunday morning for brussels and then go to paris on wednesday. we'll get back to geneva the following sunday. it should be a super fun trip and we have lots of free time to explore and go out.

i think thats about all for now, oh except one random thing. i am absolutely obsessed with gruyere, its a swiss cheese. i have had bread and cheese every day for lunch and am planning to continue with that when i go home (if my face hasnt blown up too much from gaining weight-i am not prepared to deal with abroad pictures like our ones from italy-mom, dad, chris, and al, you know what im talking about, ha).

ill try to update my blog in paris and brussels although i don't know how much time i'll have. and thanks for all the birthday cards and emails everyone!! i miss you all and love you!!

oh and just for fun, here is a picture of me eating the apple tart.

PICTURES!

this is the view from "La Dole" (picture of it is underneath this blurb) which we climbed the second weekend here

view from halfway there
pictured below: i took this sitting at the train station in my town one saturday afternoon, the pasture is empty here, but there are usually 5 or 6 horses there and you can see the lake in the distance and the mountains

so sorry everyone, i know that my blog is boring without any pictures to look at. so i'm going to add a bunch now and update later tonight.

this is a view of the jet d'eau (the big fountain) down a walkway by the lake, so beautiful

Bern and Electrosanne

Lots of new updates, I've been forgetting to update. So this past Wednesday we went to Bern (September 16). We took a train from Geneva. It's a really old city surrounded by a river. We had a tour in the afternoon and then that night went out to dinner at a cute little place across the river.

The next day we heard 2 speakers in the morning and then had the rest of the day off. Chels and I went to an art museum in the afternoon which was really fun and then that night a group of us went out to dinner. Ace has a friend from Zurich named Andrea who met up with us so that was fun. After dinner we got drinks then went to a club in Bern with some locals that Annie and some other had met the night before. It was really fun but a late night.

Friday morning Ace, me, Tucker, Steve, and Jason went to the Museum of Communication which was so fun. It was really interactive. We took the train home that afternoon and we were all completely exhausted. I stayed in that night to start work on my big paper due Wednesday and got to sleep early.

Saturday (September 19) I did some more research for my paper then Meg and I went to watch Ace in her frisbee game. She joined a team and they had a huge tournament yesterday which was really fun to go to. That night, Annie, Megan, me, and some other people went to Electrosanne. It's this huge electronic music festival in Lausanne (a city about 30 minute away). It takes place in 5 clubs and lasts from 7pm-5am. Once you get a wristband you can go to any of the clubs all night. We didn't get into Lausanne until 11:30 and then took a 5:20am train home. It was such a crazy fun time. We listed to famous DJ's and danced all night long.

I got home at 7:30am this morning and proceeded to sleep until 3:30pm and I feel surprisingly ok right now considering I was watching the sunrise this morning over the lake on the train back. Tomorrow we have a review session in the morning then French in the afternoon, then Tuesday we go to the UN in the morning and I have an interview with a director of a water conservation NGO in the afternoon for my paper which should be interesting. Oh yea, and my birthday is on Tuesday. It doesn't feel as monumental as a 21st birthday should as I am already legal to drink here, but it will definitely be a major plus when I get home. My friends are planning something for it so that should be fun. That's about it, I'll try to update more frequently. Hugs and love everyone

Lots of updates

Hey all-

I have lots to update due to my previously broken computer...

So this past weekend was amazing. I went with my friends (Chels, Annie, Megan, and Steve) to Zermatt which is in the southern part of Switzerland in the Alps. It's a super tourist town which you can only get to by train. It's in a really high altitude and surrounded completely by mountains. It's home to the Matterhorn which you can see from everywhere in town.

I woke up at 6am saturday morning to take a 7:10am train. We got there by 11am, stopped by the tourist office to figure out a good hike then went to our hostel. We brought lots of food so we could make sandwhiches and stuff and then went hiking. We took a train up to a base camp of sorts called Sunnega Paradise and then hiked from there. It was sooo beautiful. The Alps are huge and amazing and the day was perfect. We hiked by little lakes, sheep, and had a view of the matterhorn the entire time.

On the way down we got a little lost and ended up in Winkelmachen, a little neighborhood area of Zermatt, where a street festival was going on a with a local folk band. We got cafe bailey's as by the this point it was cold and raining/snowing. After that we went back to the hostel to chill for a little bit. We were hanging out in the lounge and met a Canadian guy named Ben. Then another guy came in named Jerry who is Swiss-German (Ben and Jerry, ha) and told us about a street festival.

So we went to that which turned out to be the same one in Winkelmachen, but this time a Swiss-German band was playing American cover songs. It was sooo fun hanging out with all the people and listening to the music. We got the munchies around 12am so we went into a tent and got Raclette which is cheese and potatoes and little onions and pickels and stuff.

In the morning we just walked around Zermatt and took a 10:30 train back home. All in all it was such a fun weekend. Despite the fact that we barely slept it was definitely worth it.

Yesterday (monday):

Pretty boring day, we had a field studies seminar from a Professor at the Graduate Institute in Geneva which was painful to sit through, then French in the afternoon. I had to drop off my computer which had majorly freaked out and wasnt working at the apple store. Then later that night I went over to Ace's house to hang out.

Today (Tuesday 9/15):

I got a call at 9:30am that made my day, it was the apple store saying my computer was fixed!, yay! so I went and picked it up on the way to Geneva then headed to my advising session for my ISP (Independent Study Proposals) then French in the afternoon. I went for a run, had dinner with the fam, and then have mostly been packing for Bern since we leave tomorrow morning. That's all for now, I'll write about Bern when I get back on Friday. Hugs and love.

revised address

Hi everyone-

I'll write an update in the letter, but here is my revised address:

Ashley St.John chez Rolf Russ

Ch. du Couchant 13

1270 Trelex

Switzerland

ah, its been 2 weeks?!

Sooo yesterday was September 8. It was a fairly uneventful day, we had a lecture in the morning then my friends and I went to the same crepe place as last week for lunch (we're thinking every tuesday will be crepe day). Then French in the afternoon. I went for a run when I got home, I ran for 30 minutes and was completely beat and exhausted so I walked the last 15 minutes home. Dinner was great, per usual, we had roquesha (I have no idea how to spell it, but Switzerland is famous for it. It's potatoes with cheese that are kind of like homefries)

Today was pretty much the same except we ate down by the lake for lunch and had a lot of time so played frisbee in the park by the lake right near the WTO (World Trade Organization) which was pretty cool. The day was absolutely beautiful and all I wanted to do was swim. This afternoon I walked with Chels and Ace around Old Town a little bit which was fun, it reminds me alot of Prague. I decided to take a day off on the running since I've been pushing myself pretty hard, but will definitely be going tomorrow. Tonight was fun, I made pancakes for dinner for my family (or griddlecakes rather, from the Fannie Farmer), they turned out really well, I made some with blueberries and some with raspberries and the fam loved them! I was a little worried since I'm not the best cook but I was very happy how they turned out so that was good.

Also on the major plus side, tomorrow is a holiday in Geneva so we have off from class. A lot of people are making day trips to places but I think a few friends and I are just going to go the beach in Nyon. It should be a super chill and relaxing day. We're going to bring a picnick of sandwhiches, fruit, and wine and lay out and swim. Oh and sleeping in before that, I can't wait.

I am also very excited about this weekend. The original plan was to go to Zermatt for the weekend which is apparently an amazing city in the Alps where the Matterhorn is. But now apparently it might be raining/snowing there, so if thats the case we are going to take a train to Zurich instead. I love that we can go anywhere and not have to decide early and just take off at a moments notice. The freedom is amazing.

Well that's all for now, hugs and love.

awesome day: September 6-7

So enough trying to figure out what day it is. So yesterday was sunday september 6. I slept in late, till 12:15pm i think. It's nice because my host sisters sleep in around the same time so I don't feel bad about it. My host parents were going on a hike and invited me to go but I was still tired and sore from Saturday's hike that I decline. Instead I went with my friend Megan to France which is right across Lake Geneva. We took a huge cool old boat from Nyon to Yvoire (about a 20 minute ride). Yvoire is an old medieval town right on the lake. It's basically just a touristy town with shops, icecream places, and restaurants, but its so cute and beautiful. It was such a gorgeous day and I absolutely loved being on the lake. It was also neat to have a view of Switzerland since I'm always looking across the lake at France.

Today was an awesome Monday, surprisingly since I usually intensely dislike Mondays. This morning we went to the International Red Cross and had 2 presentations by people who work there about what the Red Cross does and some of its different missions and then a lawyer talked about International Humanitarian Law. It was super interesting. It was another gorgeous warm sunny day, so for lunch my friends (the same 3, Annie, Ace, Chelsey) and I took the tram to the University Park. It's a big park with lots of grass, benches, a restaurant, and an outside icecream stand. It also has huge chessboards (you have to stand up to play) and the pieces are probably 3 feet high. Lots of old men and business guys play around lunch time. We just got sandwiches from a bakery and ate in the grass.

French was in the afternoon...nothing new there. Then after, Ace, Chelsey, and I went to see the Horlage Fleurie which is a big clock whose face is made out of flowers. It was pretty cool, but was really just something for us to cross off our sightseeing list. We hung out in the park by the lake for a little while then took one of the little ferry taxes back across the lake to the side where the train station is.

I got home around 7:15 and went for a run. I don't know what it is, maybe all the healthy food, or the air, or mountains, or lake or something. But I just feel fantastic. I went for a 45 minute run through the woods and fields and probably could have gone longer except for all my leg muscles were really starting to hurt. I definitely want to keep running and get in shape. I'm sure I'll be doing more hiking as well.

So that's about it, oh and I watched some of the Roger Federer match in the US Open, he is my host dad's idol (since Federer is Swiss). Hopefully this weekend my friends and I are going to to Zermatt, which Chelsey's host dad says is the best city in Switzerland. So things are great here, and I'm definitely almost completely adjusted. Hugs and love and keep in touch!

...continuation

....so yes, thursday I went for a run. Then friday we had off of class but had a mini-project. For our field studies seminar we were put into 6 groups and each group had to go to a different library/organization in the city and basically find out everything about the place then we will give a presentation on it. Its just for our benefit so we know about the different libraries in the city. My group went to the International Environment House. It was a cool place, it is basically a cooperative of a bunch of environmental organizations in Geneva and it had a small library.

After that me and my friends Tucker and Andy met up with Ace in old city (which is older, hence the name) and just walked around a bit. We spent awhile looking for a cheap place to eat (everywhere is soo expensive) and then got on a random tram for fun to see where it took us. We ended up in a completely different part of the city and got caught in the rain. We made our way down to the lake and then took a taxi/ferry boat across the lake because we had to get back to the SIT office for a meeting.

After the meeting, I went home and went for a run with my host-mom. The loop is probably 1.5 miles maybe, I ran the first with her slow and then the second fast by myself. It is so cool running through the woods with no sounds but birds chirping and the wind, I loved it. Then we had another great dinner of chicken and quinoa (Chris and mom will love that). Then I took at 10:35pm train into Nyon to meet up with some friends. We hung out at a bar there for awhile and then took a 12:15 train home (while the trains are great, the last one is at 12:15 and the next isn't until 5am). I slept in this morning and when I woke up, organized a hike with some friends. (oh and Mimi, my hiking boots are awesome. They have taken no time at all to break in and were so perfect for the hike)

Me, Ace, Chelsey, Annie, Tucker, and Steve took the train farther up into the mountains to a town called St-Cergue. Right when you get off the train, there are a bunch of signs for different hikes to do. My host dad had told me about one called La Dole which is a peak in the Jura mountains. The town is so cute and is a ski town in the winter. The hike to La Dole was about 2.5 hours and so fun. We walked sometimes through the woods but alot through hill type pastures. There were cows everywhere, you are literally like a foot away from them and they all have giant bells on them so the whole hike you hear constant ringing, it was amazing. As we got higher, the views got better. We had an amazing view of Lake Geneva, the French Alps, and Montblanc (which is a MASSIVE mountain, it looks like its just floating in the clouds because its covered in snow. it looks like a castle in the air, so incredible). The top of La Dole was amazing too. We sat up there for probably 30 minutes along the ridge eating snacks, talking, and taking in the view.

We took a slightly different route down and ended up in St-Cergue again where we caught the train just in time. The whole hike was probably about 5 hours and everyone had an awesome time. It was definitely my favorite day so far. Tonight I'm having dinner here and then probably going into Nyon again with friends. I will post pictures soon, but I'll have to wait and steal some from my friends cameras, the quality on mine doesnt capture the incredibleness of it all.

Oh and minor sidenote, Mikhail Gorbachev is speaking at the UN on October 5 about "Resetting the Nuclear Armament Agenda" so my friends and I are registering and going. How crazy is that. I am definitely going to keep updated about speakers and stuff, tons is going on in Geneva all the time.

Days 9-10 and part of 11

Im leaving to go on a hike soon with some friends so this post will be short, but I will catch up on everything later today, I know I'm a little behind.

So thursday, we had a lecture in the morning on International Security. I thought it was going to be boring, but actually ended up being really interesting despite the fact that he kept us until 12:30 (usually we end at 12). After that we grabbed some quick sandwiches at Migros, which is a grocery store. It was not good at all, so won't be going back. Then french in the afternoon, nothing new.

When I got home I went for my first legit run which was amazing! I just explored through the woods and roads, went through a bunch of fields past cows and horses. I ran for 35 minutes and was pretty proud of that. ok thats all for now...time to hike...more to come

Days 7-8: More class and the UN

So yesterday was September 1 (so crazy!) We had our Field Studies Seminar in the morning which is kind of like an anthropology class, but all about field research so we will be doing projects actually researching a topic that has to do with Swiss life and making contacts with people and conducting interviews then synthesizing everything. So it should be really interesting and its supposed to prepare us for our ISP (Independent Study Project) which is the last 4 weeks of the program where we choose any topic we want and research it through interviews with experts and stuff. It's completely open ended, so we can do any topic we're interested in.

Then for lunch a few friends and I went to a creperie which was AMAZING! (slightly different then yours Chris since I had more of a meal crepe). I had a "crepissimo" which has ham and cheese inside with a sunny side egg on top. Then we had more french in the afternoon. Despite class being almost 3 hours, it goes by pretty quickly and I think it will definitely help with my grammar and speaking.

That night when I got home I went for a run with my host mom on these cool trails in the woods near our house. I was worried I wouldnt be able to keep up since I'm so out of shape, but so is she so it was more of a jog/walk which was fine by me. I will probably start running more though, there are lots of cool trails around. It was nice though because we were able to talk alot. She is originally from France and really nice.

Today we had to get to class by 9 instead of 9:30 which was hard waking up. Our guest speaker today was an expert from the International Migration Organization (IMO) and he talked to us all about migration and immigration and all that. It was kind of boring, alot of statistics but definitely interesting. We then went straight from class to the United Nations. (as a sidenote, when we have guest speakers and go to organizations we have to wear business casual, so to Chris and mom, I wore the amazing black skirt that chris found which I absolutely love and got so many complements on)

It was pretty surreal being there. Since I'm an International Relations Major, the UN is talked about all the time so it had kind of become this place far away, sort of imaginary. So it was crazy being there. The UN has a great library and we get passes for it, so we had to wait a long time to get our pictures taken and badges made. But its pretty sweet, for the next 4 months I can go to the UN whenever I want to. We then had lunch in the cafeteria there which was crazy since it was lunch hour and really cool because people of so many nationalities are all around.

We then had a tour of the library which was boring but will definitely be useful. We got finished early today (around 3:30) so a bunch of got off the train in Nyon (the big town that I switch trains in). We walked around and then got some gelato which was amazinggggg. After that my friend Ace and I just missed the 5:17 train so we had to wait for the 5:53. I had to power walk home as I was getting picked up for the group fondu party at 6:15. The program hosted the night for us and all the families. It was up this super windy hill all the way up a mountain (I felt so car sick, obviously) but it was so beautiful and amazing.

The fondu was great and it was a really fun atmosphere. (to my fam, it was the type of place like the one we went to in Italy, middle of nowhere, and so local). I was sooo full though by the end and I am completely exhausted. We only have 2 more days of class left this week and then my friends and I are figuring out some fun plans for the weekend. Maybe a hike or a trip to a nearby city called Lausanne which is apparently soo fun. That's all for now, hugs and love to you all.

Day 5-6: Premier jour de classe

I didn't make a post yesterday, so day 5 is from Sunday August 30. It was a fun day, I woke up and had breakfast with some of the family. Every meal is eaten together for the most part and all the food is brought out to the table and then served. I am definitely getting spoiled, my host mom cooks a good meal every night for dinner and breakfast is usually fresh bread, cheese, some fruit and either tea or coffee.

In the early afternoon, Jessica (the older one) and I watched a movie, we watched it in english but with french subtitles. Then she took me into Nyon which is a beautiful town right on lake. It's a bit bigger and is where I transfer trains when I go into Geneva. We walked around a bit and down by the lake. It's definitely a more touristy place, and for good reason. There is a beautiful old chateau that has an amazing view of the lake and alps (France is on the other side of the lake). Jess speaks english fairly well so our conversations are a random mixture of french and english.

This morning I got up around 7:30 and took an 8:35 train into Nyon. The station is about a 7 minute walk so its super easy. I met my friend Tracy (we call her Ace) on the train since she is living in a village a bit north of mine. Then in Nyon we got on a bigger train to Geneva and saw a bunch of other students from the program. We had our seminar class from 9:30-12 which was so painful. It was almost impossible to keep my eyes open and at one point I started leaning over to my left falling asleep so that Ace had to shake me awake. It was almost all lecture with just a 15 minute break. Hopefully the other lectures will be more interesting. Then we had a break from 12-1:30 where we went and got baguette sandwiches for lunch. Then the group met to take the tram to french class, just 5 minutes away. We were put into classes based on level of about 6-8 students per class. French was from 2-4:45 with a 20 minute break. It wasn't too bad, but I definitely will be getting more sleep tonight.

After French, I hung out a little with some friends then got home around 7pm. I have a bit of reading to do tonight, but one article is by the professor that gave us the lecture and he said the lecture was completely based on the reading, so I don't think I will be doing anything more than skimming it.

Oh and in case anyone needs to send me anything, my address here is:

Ch. du Couchant 13

1270 Trelex

Switzerland

That's about all for now, the rest of the week is class then I'm sure we will do something fun this weekend. Hugs and love to you all

Day 4: Move in with ma famille

I moved in my with my family today! Last night was our last night at the hostel in Geneva, we went back to the lake again at night which was fun. Then this morning we met our families at Hotel des Alpes in Nyon (a town about 15 minutes from Geneva). My host mom picked me up, her name is Nadia and very nice. She speaks hardly any English, but we were able to communicate pretty well.

We picked up my host sister Tamara, who is 17 and then went back to the house. I have my own room and had time tom unpack and get settled, then Nadia made some lunch for us and I met my host-dad and his friend. The food was great, tomatoes, bread, cheese and couscous salad. Everyone was really nice and the dad and his friend talked to me in English a little when I couldn't keep up with conversation.

They also have wi-fi which is really nice. Ill definitely be able to keep up this blog and check my email and stuff. Well that's all for now, we're all just hanging out with our families this weekend and then classes start on monday. Hugs and love.

Day 3

So Day 2 was from August 27...I wrote it last night but didn't get a chance to post it until now.

Anways, its day 3 and everything is going amazing. I already feel more at home in the city and am starting to learn my way around. The public transportation system is amazing, the program gave us passes to get around on all buses/trams and they run every few minutes all over the city. They are also electric and clean and hardly make an noise. I am also getting closer with the other kids in my group, everyone is really cool and super fun to hang out with. We had more academic orientation this morning, then a lunch break, then our French placement tests in the afternoon. I should definitely be much better at French than I am, having taken it for 8 years, but oh well. This is my chance to improve.

After that, my 2 friends Annie, Hartley, and I went on a search to get cell phones. Apparently all the nearby stores had sold out of the cheap phones so we took the bus a few minutes away to a farther store. We found super cheap phones and most people in our group are getting the same server (so its only 9cents per hour for calls with people with this server, which is basically free).

Tonight we are all going out to a later dinner and then out somewhere after. This is our last night actually in the city at the hostel, tomorrow morning we meet our host families and then go to their houses for the weekend. Classes start monday, so that is the beginning of a busy 8 weeks.

The program is great though, we have class from 9am-12pm every morning, but tons of different speakers/experts come in, like from the United Nations and stuff. Then we have French class from 2-5pm on Monday, Tuesday, Thursday. Despite all the time in class though, the homework is pretty minimal so we will definitely have time to explore the city and the country.

That's pretty much all for now. Annie and I are sitting on a bench facing the lake right now. I still can't get over how beautiful everything is. Hugs and love to everyone.

Day 2

It’s only day 2, but I feel like I’ve been here for way longer. Everything is already getting easier. The girls in my room at the hostel are all really nice and I’m getting to know them a lot better and the other people on the trip as well. There are only 40 people in the group, so I’m sure we will all get to know each other really well since we will be taking classes together every day.

Today we had a long orientation session in the morning, then lunch, then a 2 hour walking tour of the city. I feel a bit guilty for not listening too much, but our guide was really old and we were all exhausted. The tour ended at 4pm, or (16h) and after that some of us went down to Lake Geneva to swim.

It was absolutely beautiful. You pay just 2 francs and then walk down this pier type deal with lots of places on either side to sit and lay down a towel. There were tons of people there along with a 3 story diving platform thing. The lake is beautiful and its so cool swimming and seeing the city all around the lake. It’s also a much more relaxed environment than in the US, tons of people are drinking and smoking (cigarettes and pot) and just hanging out.

We then had a group dinner at this Italian place. It was really good and then after a few of us went back down to the Lake to hang out around 10pm (22h). It was awesome, there is a small outside bar right next to the water and sooo many people just hanging out on the wall of the lake and in the grass. Apparently the discos do not get lively until around 1am, so we’ll see if I actually can make it up that late…

That’s pretty much all for now, we have more orientation stuff in the morning then our French placement tests in the afternoon, oh man. Tomorrow night we are planning to go to dinner late and then out to the lake or something after. I love you all! I’ll try and take pictures and put some up. Hugs and Love.

Day 1

So I actually made it to Switzerland after a very stressful trip. I arrived in Brussels with an hour and a half till my flight to Geneva, there was a HUGE mess of people trying to get through the passport check...I made it through around 8:40 (my flight was at 9am), then I had to go through security and needless to say I ended up running through the Brussels airport arriving at my gate around 8:50. The flight to Geneva was easy, but of course my baggage was delayed/lost. One bag came in from a later flight but I am still awaiting my other bag, the more important one obviously which has my toiletries and shirts and everything. It will hopefully get here either tonight or tomorrow morning.

The people in my group are really nice, we are doing a bunch of orientation stuff the next few days and staying at a hostel in Geneva. The city is absolutely beautiful, I am sitting in a grassy park area right next to the lake where the city provides free wi-fi. I won't lie, I'm a little nervous about having to get around on the public transportation and meeting my host family on Saturday, but I'm sure I'll be all settled in after a week or so. The program provides us with a food stipend as well as an unlimited transportation pass which is nice.

I miss you all so much, please email me and let me know what is going on in everyone's lives. I think the trick with this whole experience is just to take it a day at a time and enjoy every minute. That makes it seem more fun and less overwhelming. Well, that's all for now. I will make every effort to keep up with posts. Hugs and love!

Day -1 of Geneva

Dear World, I know that all of you will be reading my blog and one day it will be turned into a book like the Julie and Julia blog that is now a movie. I am already in the midst of the casting process for my movie which will star a young Audrey Hepburn as future me and my brother will be played by either Jude Law or Orlando Bloom, I know they look exactly the same. Crazy right? Anyway, I am off to Newark Intl. Airport tomorrow to fly on some random Indian airline to Brussels and then a Belgian airline to my new home. As many of my soon to be thousands of readers know, Geneva is known for its chocolate, fashion, and super-amazing -awesome-crazy-fun-lifestyle. I will be updating you all constantly with videos, pictures, and blog posts; so don't expect too many personal emails, if you email me first however, I may fit you in. HAHA! Bring it on Switzerland. I will miss you all just so much, but Chris I will miss the most, sorry Mom, Dad, and Mackenzie. Boom! Roasted.

OK, so this is actually Ashley . Chris wrote that first intro (obvi...which I guess is the new abbreviated word that I have added to my repertoire). All of this above is true, however the movie of my trip will be a sequel to the first movie of my summer in San Diego (Barry, you are already hired as the director and cast manager of this future Lifetime movie, Chris says he wants to be a co-writer however I leave that decision up to you). So yes, I leave tomorrow night to embark on my junior semester abroad, as Chris already included I will be updating with videos and posts. That's all I have for now but I will try and give an update as soon as I can and also give you my address when I find that out (I will be expecting hand written letters).

I love you and miss you all! (equally)