stairway to heaven

Never ever have I ever.... hated and loved something so much at the same time. In case you haven't guessed, I'm talking about our "little" hike up Mt. San Salvatore that we took yesterday. The first 20% of the trip was the worst because A. I knew that I would never make it to the top if the entire trail was like this first part, and B. I was tired and hungry and everything was foggy so we were afraid that we would make it to the top without being able to see anything. Let's just say that with Brinberg leading, we were sprinting up 18 inch steps with no breaks and we all wanted to die.

Halfway through, we all realized that we weren't turning back, so we sucked it up and trucked on. There wasn't much talking, considering the fact that we were all panting and staring down at the feet of the person in front of us to ensure that we didn't miss a step and fall off of the mountain. Also, we got to the point where we were ABOVE the fog in town, so we got to see everything pretty clearly. When I finally took the last step to the top, I was so happy I could cry.

We all took pictures and then Brinberg explained that we would take a different route down the mountain. We walked through the coolest little farm towns that reminded me of movies sets. At one point, while crossing through a pasture-type thing, we heard a stampede coming and cowbells ringing and then saw two giant clydesdales run across our path 30 feet in front of us (noted: 1st time narrowly escaping death). It was pretty amazing, mostly because of how striking similar the scene was to one in my old Barbie horseback riding computer game. Then we got lost and had to walk through little neighborhoods to get back on track. Picture it: 50 americans walking through a tiny silent rural neighborhood. I can't imagine what the locals thought of us.

 

 

We finally got home, showered and immediately everyone took naps. We had to rest up for our first Saturday night in Lugano! We went out to dinner at a small restaurant where we were immediately treated like kings and queens. Our waiter, who we perceive to be the owner, speaks little to no english-but his exaggerated facial expressions and hand signals kept us hysterically laughing all throughout dinner. He graciously offered us free wine refills, quickly winning us over. We now call him papa and we even ended up going back for dinner tonight!

After dinner, we went to a bar called Coyote Ugly and had fun interacting with the locals. The big thing to do here is foosball, but they are strict on rules, so we just watched in amazement. The music is almost all american hits, with a hint of techno added in the background. Afterwards, we went to a club in the town and everyone was extremely friendly. We were exhausted, so we gathered everyone outside and headed home.

Today, we lounged around and explored the town a little more. We found a few more great restaurants and stopped for some comfort food at Burger King-- small french fries and a small coke...... SIX FRANCS, but most of the shops were closed. Later, we started planning out our big trips and thinking about where to go on the weekends. Papa was happy to see us back at dinner and we were happy to eat more of his delicious margherita pizza.

Tonight, we all hung out and played cards and began to prepare for classes tomorrow. I'm not sure what to expect and I don't have ANY supplies.. so I'll let you know how it goes in my next post.

MISSING EVERYONE BACK HOME! So happy that I got to FaceTime with some friends and family tonight. I'm so thankful for the technology and the ability to join my family's sunday funday, even when I'm thousands of miles away.


CIAO!