It is scary to think that I am now on the latter
part of my Erasmus journey. The
countdown is well and truly underway with less than five weeks to go until I am
back home. Unfortunately as the end is
in sight it also means that it is assignment and exam time, with this week
starting off with the writing of essays - but as James, W. says:
“Action may not always bring happiness, but
there is no happiness without action.”
On Saturday we were asked to join our study buddy
Bea for a late breakfast date and what a breakfast it was. It was an ‘all you can eat’ restaurant and
cost 16euro each. Furthermore the
restaurant/café had everything you would want for breakfast - a table crammed with
fresh fruits, breads, chesses, hot food and someone standing making omelettes
to order in front of you. The restaurant
was open from 10am until 4pm and while we were there we found out that once you
paid you could stay as long as you like as the 16euro covered lunch as
well! Safe to say we took complete
advantage of this and did not need food for the rest of the day!
Monday started another week of classes and looking
back at the beginning of the semester it is great to see how accepted and
welcomed we have become in this programme.
You may recall that in one of my early blogs I commented how I had to
try to adapt my speaking style to ensure I was fully understood – well, I have now
noticed that I have trained myself to speak in the required ‘Oxford English’
and as such can conduct continual conversations with my Swiss friends without
having to repeat sections. However, it
will be hard to keep the Oxford English accent when I get home as I am pretty
sure it will be much too posh for Fermanagh!
This week we decided to take our travels further by
heading to Lugano in the south of
Switzerland for the night. This is an Italian speaking town that is
placed on the side of a Swiss mountain overlooking the Lake Lugano in the
canton of Ticino, which borders Italy.
This place was truly wonderful with beautiful views and luckily for us -
beautiful weather. This would have been
my first time staying in a hostel and as my friends and family at home would
know this is a big change for me. However,
I have to admit this was a luxurious hostel that had a pool overlooking the
Lake! Who would have thought when I left
for my Erasmus experience I would be sitting pool-side in my bikini sunbathing
in 30 degree heat! I promise I am doing
work! Whilst there we thought we should
treat ourselves by having dinner in a nice restaurant and eating nine euro
fruit for breakfast. Although
exorbitantly expensive it was an experience to live as the ‘other half’ does,
even if only for a short period.
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| Enjoying the sun and view at Lake Lugano |
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| In our paddle boat in the Lake |
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| In our pool |
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| Out for our meal |
On our way home we decided to take a stop off in
Luzern where we took a boat ride around the Lake Luzern and visited the
monument and the Chapel Bridge. We
hadn’t really planned this, but as our travel pass covered all modes of
transport for a day it seemed such a shame not to
get the full value out of it.
The bridge was built in the 14th century and served as a rampart as
well as part of the town’s fortification; it contains some original paintings
that date back to the 17th century in Renaissance style.
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| At the Chapel Bridge |
As I write this I am totally amazed that I find
myself describing architecture and art - how cultured I have become over the last
number of months!! I have really taken to
travelling and am looking forward to what my last weeks have in store.
Tschüss
Stephanie
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