Cibo

Shredded cheese for our Swiss Mac n' Cheese

Cibo = Food in Italian

...and boy, do I love food.

I am going to dedicate this entry to the food of southern Switzerland, specifically the region of Ticino, which is where Lugano is located. Before I came on this trip, I researched the native food of every country we were going to visit and packaged all of this information into a folder. Sadly, this folder was abandoned somewhere in London.

Needless to say, I am starting my food adventure from scraps. Other than the popular Swiss cheeses and chocolates, I have learned that fondue is a cultural staple around here (I must have missed this somewhere in my research, but it makes sense). The fondue of the Alps and the fondue of the U.S. are quite different. Don't imagine the extremely cheesy concoctions we have. The fondue here, in my opinion, tasted more like 80% wine and 20% cheese. Sadly, I wasn't a fan. But, I'm going to give it another whirl this Friday night when Sondra and I join a local student I met to a restaurant that is off the beaten path and serves up traditional Swiss cuisine.

Tocino's region is sometimes referred to as Switaly. This term is very representative of the restaurants and food that is available here - a half and half mixture of Swiss meats and cheeses and Italian pastas and polenta...and gelato! Polenta is a very popular dish in Ticino. It is also on our grocery list for next week. I am quite familiar with Fried Mush, a form of polenta, but I have never prepared it any other way (salty, etc.).

It is very expensive to live in Switzerland. We are learning how to really stretch our budget and menu as long as we can. However, I am trying to make sure we don't eat spaghetti every day and are able to sample local favorites (dishes, veggies, fruits, etc.) With this week's grocery visit we brought home a fresh fig, two types of cheeses, and sausages (the only meat we can afford- I looked at Sondra and said, "pick out your one meat for the week").

I am looking forward to seeing what food Poland, Germany, and Austria have in store for us in the upcoming months.

Side note: There is an amazing international food conference through SlowFood in Torino, Italy in October that I am trying to weasel my way into. It's only 3 hours from here and I would realllly like to go the workshops. Wish me luck!

The tail end of backpacking

Our first two stops on our backpacking journey were a blurrr to say the least. Due to exhaustion, jet lag, an unfortunate hostel stay, and homesickness

we were not able to give Ireland and London our 100% attention (I suppose they'll need a second visit...). However, we learned to give our next stops more time and adjusted our itinerary so this would be possible (sadly, we had to eliminate Barcelona and Amsterdam - but we added, Zermatt, Switzerland). Brugges, Belgium was a success. The pedestrian-friendly streets

and city walls reminded me of Jo and I's time in Dubrovnik. Out of pure luck we stumbled upon Brugge's twice-weekly open-air market in the city square. Every inch of this space was filled with cheese, sausages, chocolate and most of all, flowers. Northern Dutch country is the world's number one source of flowers - so, you can imagine how beautiful and plentiful the

flowers were at this market. From Brugges, we had a 4-hour layover in Paris - quickly visited the Eiffel tower and hopped back on the train to some random town we picked to stay in for a night in France (Limonges). The next day was followed with extreme efforts

to get out of France and into Switzerland. We were ready to finally see those Alps! (although we were extremely not prepared for the cold weather in Zermatt). We stayed 3 nights in Zermatt, a tiny, carless village tucked at the bottom of the famous Matterhorn (think Grinch's mountain - it's based on the Matterhorn). This town was breath of fresh air that Sondra and

I needed. We rested up and had enough time to truly enjoy where we were. Sandals are not made for hiking nor snow, so we rented coats and boots and took a train up into the snow-topped mountains. We packed a picnic and ate our meal in the snow by a lake. It was one of the most succesful days of our backpacking adventure. It was officially my first time hiking too-

something I look forward to trying again. After this period of R&R/hiking we made one last train ride to our final destination: Lugano, Switzerland.

Ireland and London

We did it! We've survived our first two stops. I have to admit the first four days were miserable - between the time change and hostel arrangement (sleep-non existent). It seems like we are starting to get into the swing of things though. If I could do Ireland all over again, I would skip Dublin and head to the west coast (Galway/Cliffs of Moher) where all of the classic Irish countryside and carless towns are. (Even the Irish say that is the best place to go) One day...Today Weez and I tackled Westminster Abbey, the London Bridge, Shakespeare's Globe Theatre, Big Ben, The London Eye, and The Tate Museum of Modern Art. London reminds me of Chicago a lot with its set up with the Thames River and bridges. Tomorrow we head to Brugges, Belguim. We plan to rent bikes and ride to the countryside and Belgian coast. (waffles, pommes frites, chocolate, and beer are on our dining agenda). Our chins are up and the homesickness will slowly drift away (fingers crossed). --this is odd, I've never been homesick. It's no fun when you have five months ahead of you. Ta-ta -running out of internet minutes!!

Countdown to Dublin

Well the time for Weezer and I's journey is drawing near with only 20 days till we fly into Dublin, Ireland. I can't believe that I have been fortunate enough to study abroad not once, but twice during my undergrad - and better yet, with my sister. There will be two weeks of backpacking before we make it to our school (Franklin College Switzerland) in Lugano, Switzerland. During our two weeks our fluid itinerary looks as follows: View from the school

Dublin - 3 days

London- 2 days

Amsterdam- 1 day

Bruges, Belgium - 1 day

Luxembourg - maybe

Paris - 2 days

Toulouse, France - 1 day

Barcelona - 2 days

Then make our way to Switzerland and possibly stop in Zurich, Geneva and/or Berne.

I plan to use this blog, pictures, videos, and my travel journal to record the day-to-day events and lessons from our journey. I hope to take more video footage on this trip than previously taken on the Semester at Sea trip (summer 2009).

During our 5 months away - our grandparents, Joanna, and parents all plan to make visits at some point.

I cannot wait to meet our classmates - Franklin College Switzerland is made of 70% international students and 30% American. Our apartments are situated in the center of Lugano (an Italian speaking resort town on the border of Italy in the Swiss Alps - on a lake, to top it off) - we have a 15 minute or so hike to school. I love the life without phones and cars - can't wait, can't wait, can't wait!!!

Ducks in a Row

So, I've been spending a good bit of my summer devoting time to

1.) My 13 pet ducks.

2.) My surprisingly successful garden. (Have I mentioned that my mother is extremely jealous?)

So, I am going to share some pictures of these highly time-consuming endeavors. I know, I know, I've just been sooo busy this summer....

"Farmer's Market Challenge" Outcome

We did it! We survived a month of only purchasing Farmer's Market food.
I will, however, admit to going to Broad Ripple's Kroger to purchase the ingredients
for Joanna's birthday grasshopper pie.

I don't believe the challenge was difficult enough because we had dried/canned/frozen goods
in our house. So, I plan to give the challenge another chance when I return from Switzerland in
January. Weezer and I's anticipated apartment is conveniently located a few blocks from a winter's farmer market as well as the Indianapolis City Market downtown.

To give our challenge the extra step, Joanna and I biked every time we went to the markets. I have to admit that I have grown quite fond of Ron, owner of Locally Grown Gardens on 54th street - he's got that sexy, earthy, older hippy thing going for him. Needless to say, I'll be a loyal customer to his establishment.

Farmers Market Challenge....also known as Project Starvation

Joanna and I have decided to live off only Farmer's market food for the month of May. To keep this little challenge budget-friendly, our goal is to only spend $25 a week on food. We will also clean up the food we already have in our cabinets, but our main food will be coming from the market. Being the avid bike riders that we are (more like 5mph/leisure riders), we will ride our bikes to the market to purchase the food. Our options are the downtown City Market farmer's market, Broad Ripple Farmer's Market, and the adorable food stand on 54th street. This will be interesting - we might starve to death actually. Looking forward to the first Broad Ripple market of the year Saturday!