Halloween en la Suisse

So, like, they apparently don't do Halloween in Europe.

I don't know about you, but any holiday that celebrates free candy should be celebrated internationally, if you ask me.

Actually, it seems that Halloween is kind of a budding holiday. There's one house on our street that has a few fake cobwebs up, and there's a small costume section in the grocery store. But I'm not expecting the full, everyone dressed up, candy everywhere, lots of sugar high kids type thing.

So, the American and Canadian families from my dad's work are putting together a Halloween party for all the kids. Aww. I think it's sweet. The one negative is that out of the 17 kids in this group, I am most definitely the oldest, by a good four years or so, so I might end up dressed as a pirate and babysitting some two year olds. Not that I mind. I'll still get the free candy.

Still, we're going all out with the decorations and such, and I'm even going to the American store in Geneva tomorrow to get some real, legitimate American candy. I wanted to make pumpkin cupcakes too, but we don't have cupcake pans at the mo. Sad day. Anyways, I'm kind of excited. It's like the first time in my life that I've ever observed my dad put any effort into a holiday event (that may be an exaggeration, but lets just say he's not exactly a holiday decorating kind of guy), so I know it's gonna be good.

But like I said... I'm being a pirate. That automatically makes everything better:

Arr.

I'll let you know how it goes.

Happy Halloween, everyone! :]

chilling in the Alps

No pun intended.

OK, I lied. The pun was totally intended.

Anyways, yesterday we spent a gorgeous day hiking in the Alps. We drove about an hour and a half to a little town called Verbier--it was the perfect little Swiss Alpine town. Honestly, it looked like something off of a postcard, and it was obvious that during ski season, this town was bustling. We took a ski lift up to the top of a mountain--I may have gotten unnecessarily freaked out when it randomly stopped, with us dangling way too far above the ground for comfort--and then spent a good two hours gambling down--I also may have gotten unnecessarily excited at the snow on the first hour of the path. It was beautiful. Can I repeat that? Beautiful. Like, beautiful to the point of ridiculousness. Beautiful to the point that about every five minutes we would just kind of stop and look around us and stand there with our mouths hanging open. Beautiful like this:
(view from the top of the mountain)
(view from part way down)

And honestly, this doesn't really do it justice.

the world's best chocolate croissant

Today was practically the best day in the history of the world.

Some of you may have heard from my mom that the darling, amazing little bakery across the street from our house was closed for remodel for the past three weeks.

I'll be frank: It was the hardest three weeks of my life.
OK, I exaggerate. But honestly, it was shocking how quickly we had become reliant on our bakery... walking over there every morning at six thirty am to grab a loaf of still-warm bread and a pastry or two for breakfast... mmm.

So, when we woke up one Monday morning a few weeks ago, and found the bakery closed and dark, we were slightly traumatized... we had to make do with buying bread from the supermarket for three whole weeks!

Today, the bakery reopened. It was better than Christmas. We walked across the street and entered, and it smelled like butter and flour and chocolate. There were new types of bread, and baskets heaped with croissants, pain au chocolat, croissants, tartlets, and various types of rolls. It was heaven in carbohydrate form.We splurged, buying two loaves of bread, two types of croissant, and these tiny, delicious apple-almond tarts dusted with lots of powdered sugar. Unfortunately, I don't have any pictures of the actual pastries--we ate them too quickly.

Now, we're off on a hike in the Alps for the rest of the day, to exercise off all that amazing bread!(The view of the bakery from my bedroom window)


Also, a quick thank you to everyone who commented, and let me know they were following my blog! :]

a chance to breathe and other extraneous tid-bits

I don't know if you guys have picked up on it, but school is way too much work for my liking. Whoever said that senior year was supposed to be a breeze lied (though I suppose it is a good wake up call before college...). So anyways, tomorrow is my last day of school before a beautiful, wonderful, glorious ten days of freedom. I'm so excited. I'll have ten full days to... study. And do homework. And do college applications. And study some more. And try to figure out what the heck I was supposed to know in the last two months of Calculus.
But hopefully, I'll also get a chance to go on a few adventures, watch a few good movies, read a good book or two, and catch up on this blog! (Because, honestly, I have noticed my lack in posts. I would say it's a combination of ridiculous amounts of homework everyday, and a deficit in cool adventures in the last couple weeks. For example: last weekend, my parents drove around Lake Geneva into France. I stayed at home and wrote essays and got a headache over derivatives.)

Also! There are two new pieces of good news. Number one: my mom got her B permit. This is basically a permit that allows us to live in Switzerland. We originally had D visa, which is a one time entry into the country, but since we are definitely planning on visiting other countries, we needed a B permit. My dad and I haven't gotten out permits yet, but we suspect it's because they do it alphabetically. But it hopefully means we will get our permits in the next few days!
Piece of good news number two: our container has almost arrived! As I mentioned a few posts back, we shipped a huge amount of stuff over here, and it's finally almost made it. It should be getting into Basel next Wednesday. Then all we have to do is rent a truck (or something) and drive it down here. Let me assure you, I am overjoyed at the prospect of having more than just four outfits.

Last bit of random news: it is honestly cold here. We've been having a "heat wave" and it's been about 7*C. I'm still awful at the conversions, but that's pretty much the average temperature in California in February. Also known as cold.
So, I've been discovering that what I considered to be heavy winter jackets are really only appropriate for early fall here. Next on the agenda: winter coat shopping!

One last thing... I know that there are a few of you reading this, but I'd really love to know how many and who you are! If you don't mind just leaving a comment or following this blog, I'd really appreciate it... I'm just curious!

switzerland october = california february

Wait, I lied. Switzerland in October is colder than California in February. On Friday, it's supposed to be 3*C. Which, for you Celsius ignorant people (like me), is nearly freezing... also known as too cold.

It's not snowing. Yet. If it snows before December, I will be seriously upset. I like snow, don't get me wrong, but it's only supposed to snow around Christmas. I want my autumn, please. What happened to that balmy, breezy couple of months after summer? Apparently the weather gods in Switzerland forgot about putting fall on their agenda or something.

Oh, and for those of you who are complaining about the massive rain storms in California right now... count your blessings. It's been pouring since August. :]

Paris, postponed.

We (sadly) decided not to go to Paris this weekend, as the five + hour drive was too long to do for such a short time. Instead, we're contemplating going when I have an October break (yeah, they don't do Thanksgiving here, so we get a week off in the end of October instead), or else at the end of the winter holidays, when my brother joins us in Europe.

However, just because we decided to postpone Paris does not mean we were content to doing nothing this weekend. So, my parents are going to Zurich early in the morning tomorrow, and then I'll meet them later in the day in Bern--so I get a chance to go to ballet, and get some homework done! So, we'll celebrate my dad's birthday in the capital.

Oh, I forgot to mention! You know how in the States, when it's someone's birthday, you'll bring them flowers or sweets or a cake or whatever? Well, here it's the opposite. Whoever is having their birthday brings something to share with everyone else. So, since tomorrow is Daddy's birthday, he brought in cinnamon rolls to share at work today. They were homemade, of course, because Europeans seem to not have discovered the wonder that is cinnamon. While they've mastered the use of chocolate, cream, and nuts, the plethora of pastries here is lacking one crucial element--cinnamon. So, us Americans have to start a new trend, haha.

Have a good weekend, everybody!

a traveller comes home

Yesterday, my mom returned from a week and a half trip to the States--if she didn't get to see you, don't be offended, she didn't even make it to the Bay Area (except to fly in and out of SFO)! It was mainly for a college counseling conference (ooh, alliteration. My English teachers would be proud) and a get-together in Idaho that had been planned since before we even knew about Switzerland.

But, it did give her the opportunity to stock up on things we've been suffering without. Peanut butter, for one (if you guys hadn't already guessed, from my plethora of posts about this incredible food item, I can't really live without it), which is perfect, as I was just running low on the amazing stuff I received in my vegetarian survival kit from Sara. Peet's Coffee, for another. While Switzerland has adopted the phenomenon that is Starbucks, they haven't picked up on the even better phenomenon that is Peet's. And while the coffee here is good, the majority of it is super super super strong espresso--which is good for those days you stayed up late studying for a ridiculous AP Euro test the night before, but not ideal for your average morning.

dance and whatnot

I found a dance studio :]

Let's just say this makes me very happy. I'm SO glad to be able to whip my butt back into shape again, after a month of minimal exercise and Swiss chocolate (not a good combination, I promise).

It's a studio in Geneva called Dance Area, and they not only have a solid ballet program, but they also have lot's of other types of dance. I'm going to attempt hip hop. It's going to be extremely comical.

In other news, we're really enjoying our new house. Perroy is an adorable village... not only is it cobblestoned and old and very Swiss, but there is a bakery, market, and church with a clock tower--so I never have to check the time!--across the street. The good news is the bakery has amazing chocolate croissants. The bad news is the bakery has amazing chocolate croissants.

It is a 35 minute schlep to school for me, but it's a good opportunity for last minute homework. Plus, who could complain about riding a train overlooking Lake Geneva with a view of the Alps in the distance?

Another bit of news: next weekend, we're going to Paris for my dad's birthday. I've never been, and I am ridiculously excited. I promise I will write a gushing blog post about touristy things that most anyone whose been to Europe has already experienced. Don't hate.

And more news... in two weeks, we should be getting the shipment of our ten billion boxes and my dad's car! I'm so excited. While I only packed 5 boxes (in comparison with my parents' 35), I'm really looking forward to having more than just four outfits to wear.

Happy Friday, everyone!