Ein Prosit!!

Ein Prosit- a form of cheers in German/Bavarian song.

Wow, what an amazing weekend we had in Bavaria, specifically Munich.

The adventure started with a car ride up to Fussen, Germany where we stayed with
our grandparents in a hotel at the bottom Neuschwanstein's Castle. From our porch window you could see the castle all lit up, quite dreamy. That night for dinner we enjoyed some traditional German fare - bread dumpling, raisin pancakes with applesauce, sauerkraut, and pork roast (all of which have much cooler German names that I a.) can't remember or b.) can't spell).

After saying "farewell" to Grandma and Grandpa on Saturday morning, Sondra and I boarded a 2 hour train to Munich. Our goal was to make it in time for the 200th Oktoberfest opening parade. Out of pure luck, not only did we make it in time but we also stumbled upon it after walking less than 5 minutes out of the train station. Seeing the Bavarians decked-out in their traditional costumes (lederhosen-female and dirndl-male) made me really wish the U.S. had more festivals that celebrated our culture in a fashion that EVERYONE participates, gets dressed up, and comes together for a common purpose. The Bavarian clothing was seen on infants all the way up to the elderly. Everyone was a part of the festivities.

A second lucky aspect of our adventure was getting into a beer tent! The fact that it was a Saturday, the first day of Oktoberfest, and the 200th anniversary made this feat seem almost impossible. But, only after twenty minutes of waiting Weezer and I entered our beer tent. For me, it was one of the most beautiful things I have ever seen. Not because I'm some crazy beer lover (although I will add that this beer puts Coors and other mainstream American beers to shame), but because of the decorations, size, and number of people congregated. (Video shown is from our first beer tent of three that we visited during the weekend)

Aside from the Oktoberfest activities - we were very fortunate to stay with my friend Kiersie from Huntington University and her fiance, Andi who lives outside of Munich. This was one of the best, if not the best, experiences Sondra and I have had so far on this trip. It was great to stay with the locals (Kiersie, I'm going to call you a "local" now:) and learn firsthand how they live. Kiersie and Andi were extremely hospitable. For breakfast they made us a traditional Bavarian breakfast - wiesswurst, also known as "white sausage" for apparent reasons, pretzels (brezel), beer for Andi, and a special hot chocolate, oh yes, and mustard of course! I fell in love with weisswurst! I loved it so much that when we returned to Lugano, I went straight to the grocery and found a small package (not as large and inexpensive as in Germany, but I'm just glad I found some). I can't wait to find some in Indianapolis to share with friends and family.

Next blog: Venice (from two weeks ago & Florence/Pisa = this weekend's trip)
Next, next blog: Brittany is expanding her computer capabilities - this is monumental if you know me and my computer skills or lack thereof. I swear I was born in the '50s.

20 countries in 20 months....and Poland

I have this goal...

it's a mixture between embarressing and a reminder of how fortunate I am.

My goal is to have visited 20 countries in 20 months.

Through Semester at Sea (last summer) I was able to visit the following countries:

1. Canada (Halifax, Nova Scotia)

2. Spain

3. Italy

4.Croatia

5. Greece

6. Turkey

7. Bulgaria
8. Egypt
9. Morocco

A Christmas family cruise added countries #10-12 to the list:
10. Mexico
11. Belize
12. Guatemala

And now Sondra and I are closing in on the remainder of the last 8 countries.

So far, we have been able to visit:
13. Ireland

14. England

15. Belguim

16. France
17. Switzerland

This goal is so interesting to me because when I was in middle school all I ever dreamt about was visiting Italy to see where my family was from. I never even imagined that I would be so blessed to see so many amazing places and especially in such a short amount of time. I could relive Joanna and I's Semester at Sea summer a thousand times and it would never get old. And now, Sondra and I are trying to create our own memories by living together in Switzerland.

I might be getting into this blog thing too much, but I found a quote that made me think of how these amazing adventures have changed my life: "Travel is more than the seeing of sights; it is a change that goes on, deep and permanent, in the ideas of living." --Miriam Beard

Poland:

One of the main reasons Franklin College Switzerland stood out to me was its Academic Travel element that requires students to participate in a two-week educational trip half way through the semester. After having an amazing experience on a mission trip to Mississippi after Hurricane Katrina, I couldn't resist Franklin's service trip to Poland. For two weeks we will be volunteering with Habitat for Humanity and fitting in a few day trips to nearby sites such as the city of Krakow and WWII's largest concentration/death camp, Auschwitz. I'm pretty nervous about the visit to Auschwitz. I know it will be a once in a lifetime opportunity to see the history up close, but it's going to be pretty rough.

On a food-related note, the Poles love soup just as much as I do. Borscht, a beet soup, is very popular in Poland. The Ukranians, Russians, and Poles argue over its origins. For me, it originated in Sharmin Brenneman's kitchen. She shared this beautiful soup with me in 8th grade and ever since it has been one of my favorites. Zurek is another popular soup in Poland - it is described as a "sour rye soup with potatoe, sausage, or an egg, sometimes served in a bread loaf." (the whole hard boiled egg in soup thing throws me off - they did it once with my gazpacho in Spain - don't get me wrong, I love a good hard boiled egg, just not in my soup).

Fun fact: Poles like put ketchup on their pizzas instead of pizza sauce...I might have to check this out.

Today's highlights:

Sondra and I slept in until 9 a.m. this morning, I know, I know, we're pretty wild. We went out with some locals/students last night to this really authentic Swiss restaurant up in the mountains. It was a great experience. The meal started off with cheeses, pickled vegetables, wine, bread and cheeses (also a mustard that I'm going to have to find and bring home with me). These dishes were followed by polenta which is a corn meal-based dish served much like a pasta (think of fried mush only soft like mashed potatoes). The polenta was served with veal which is a typical Swiss meat dish.

This morning we went in to town and stumbled upon a charming antique market. We finally were able to find some souvineers we could afford. We stopped by a tea room and grabbed ourselves some brunch (black forest cake with chocolate shavings and a mozzarella pomodoro sandwhich) and ate it on a bench (it's cheaper if you take your food to go rather than sit at the restaurant's tables). From there we paid a visit to H & M and Migros, the local grocer. The highlight of our grocery visit was discovering the bulk produce in which we could afford to buy massive amount of kiwis, tomatoes, potatoes, carrots, etc...it looks like we're feeding a family of ten with these bags of produce. Our afternoon consisted of some homework and then a lovely dinner with our new friend, Amy. Amy contributed a local Ticino wine to the meal and we made a delicious tomatoes soup recipe by Jamie Oliver (pappa al pomodoro). We also had a salad, breaded zucchini with shaved parmesean and a cherry chocolate bread pudding shaped like a horse that I made without a recipe (I'm just a little proud of this). Overall, it was a great day. I'm really enjoying our visits to town and the sense of "settled in" that time has brought.

Swiss Sustainability

Needless to say, the Swiss kick our asses at going green. They have one of the lowest carbon footprints for a country and recycling isn't suggested, it's a law. How can they make it a law? (I'm assuming this is your question) There are people whose job is to randomly trash dig- they will search for materials that tie the trash back to you. But, in all reality, the Swiss as a general population are committed to recycling and it doesn't need to be forced. One of the features of this lifestyle that I really appreciate is the special attention they give to using local products (produce, etc.) and specifically Swiss-made goods. For such a small country they seem to be able to make many of their products within their own boundaries.

The problem I am seeing with their recycling law, as an American, is that their system is quite inconvenient. To recycle our glass and plastic, we have to load them up in bags and hike them into town (literally hike- I could use some serious boots for this trot). As for cardboard and paper, they are collected on certain days of the week. I don't want to come off as anti-recycling, but I just don't see a system like this working in the states. Being the mass consumers that we are, we'd have bottles and glasses piled up in our houses till the next time we hike into town. Maybe I would see it differently if I had a car here, but I think I've just been spoiled with the U.S.'s at-your-door recycling services.

On an additionaly sustainability note, I am in the process of joining Franklin College Switzerland's gardening club. I visited the garden...it could use some love. Looking forward to the challenge.

Not-so-fun fact: The U.S. goes through 2 1/2 years worth of available resources in one year. 2 weeks ago, we surpassed the resources available to us and now we are continuing the year on resources' of future generations.

Reminder: Going Local Week is September 5 -11! Okay, I'll step down off my soap box now.