Tag: jkichton

By jkichton

And just like that 3.5 months flew by! Today I write this post in the post-apocalyptic danger zone that is known as my room. I am currently packing up all of my stuff because my program is officially over and tomorrow I leave for Italy! This post will be dedicated to how I spent my last days in Switzerland, a general reflection on the program, and how I am saying goodbye.

This past week has been crazy. On Wednesday one of my best friends in my program and I went to Zermatt, Switzerland to see the Matterhorn! The Matterhorn is Switzerland’s pride and joy. It’s one of the largest mountains in Europe and has many roller coasters named after it. It’s huge. Like. 14,692 ft. Crazy. Anyway, it only took a little more than three hours to get to Zermatt by train. On our way there we passed many a snowy scene in the Swiss countryside. My friend said that it looked as if we were riding through a black and white photograph because the snow contrasted with the darkness of the mountains and darkness of the farms. Once we got to Zermatt, a lovely and quaint mountain village, we walked around. Thank goodness all the shops were closed for their lunch break, or else we would have done some damage to our alredy suffering bank accounts. We then took the Gornergrat train up a mountain so that we could get a better view of the Matterhorn. Problem was, it was snowing! Like an actual blizzard. So we couldn’t see anything when we got up there, at 10,135 ft. It was just a sheet of white! Oh well, my friend had never seen snow before so we got to play in it.

...continue reading "Au Revoir, Suisse!"

By jkichton

The attacks in Paris on November 13^th, 2014 leave me speechless. I remember sitting in my bed in Commugny, Switzerland when I got a CNN push notification about a shooting in Paris that left a handful of people either dead or injured. Immediately, I shared it with close friends in my program just in case they were there or they knew someone there. As news updates came and went and the number of killed increased and increased, I could not fathom the kinds of terror and horror that were spreading throughout the same city I had visited just two months ago.

...continue reading "The Paris Attacks"

By jkichton

Hi readers! This week’s post is written while I’m lounging my worries away in my Airbnb host’s guest bed in Wien (Vienna), Austria. I have done a lot of traveling since my last post and because of that I have learned a trick or two. This post will explain the best things to do in order to experience the place you’re traveling around. Auf Wiedersehen!

The first thing I tell people when they come to DC is to go to all of the monuments at night because 1) no tourists will be there to ruin your Instagram worthy picture and 2) they are so, so, so much BETTER at night. Same for monuments in Europe! This also holds true for buildings, and especially cathedrals or churches. Have you ever been to a cathedral at like 8:00pm? Many will not be open, but I had the pleasure of seeing St. Stephen’s on Halloween night and it was awe inspiring. It really brought out the age of the architecture, and the darker side of such a beautiful piece of history.

...continue reading "5 Travel Tips to Embrace the City You’re In"

By jkichton

This week’s blog post will be dedicated to my current thoughts on Switzerland. As I have now been here for a little more than two months, I definitely have a new perspective on it. I have been to Geneva, Bern, Zurich, and Basel; all of the major cities in Switzerland who all have their own idiosyncratic personalities. Additionally, I have written a ten page research paper on xenophobia in Switzerland which has also changed my views. So, this blog will serve as a reflection thus far.

...continue reading "Reflecting on Switzerland"

By jkichton

This week’s blog post will be dedicated to the oddities of the countries that I have spent the most time in thus far. Since there are many obvious differences between the US and Europe, I would like to now discuss the no-so-obvious differences.

...continue reading "Did you know…?"

By jkichton

I write this week’s blog post under two blankets and propped up against three pillows, slouched on my bed in my host mom’s house. This weekend was the first weekend in three weeks that I was actually home! It felt really weird…having no plans, lounging around, and wondering what I should do with my time. Additionally, when I went on Facebook, I saw several other people in my program had gone to the Swiss Alps, or to Italy for the weekend. I thought to myself, “Did I just waste, another weekend here? Should I have gone somewhere, even if it was just for a day trip? I need to make the most of my time here, right?!”

...continue reading ""FOMO" syndrome"

By jkichton

I am typing away at this blog post currently on a train coming home from Zurich, Switzerland. I was there because I had an interview in a nearby city, Baden, and decided, why not? The train ride is three hours long so I figured I should make the most of it. Earlier in the week I had another interview but this one was in Bern, Switzerland. Bern is only 2 hours away, and, if you were wondering, is the capital of Switzerland! Not Geneva. So this week I have finally visited the three main go-to cities in sweet lil’ Switz. The best thing was that I saw them alone and without any real plans. An important distinction, this blog post will be dedicated to the concept of traveling alone.

...continue reading "Where is the u with the two little dots in Microsoft Word?"

By jkichton

I write this post perched on my bed in Commugny, Switzerland with my host mom’s cat, Ronja, purring away by my side. I just returned from Paris three hours ago, and am completely and utterly exhausted. The “study trip” was the perfect length: one week. Just enough time to run around haphazardly doing most of the touristy things but it also allowed for some rest and relaxation. However, that said, I am still tired and wanting to hole up in my room for the next three days straight instead of go anywhere or talk to anyone. Traveling is hard! This post will be dedicated to my very confused and bewildered perception (and reflection) of Paris.

...continue reading "Breadth verses Depth"

By jkichton

Nothing extremely interesting has happened in the past week since my last blog post. As of now, I am deep within my program's routine: go to school, go to lunch, go to French, do a little exploring (either in the grocery store or around town), go home. Our weeks are more packed with lectures and site visits than sardines in a can. So, as a method of relaxation, this week’s blog post I am dedicating to one of the closest things in my heart: food.

Chocolate

Swiss chocolate is all the rage here, probably because it is a cheap way to get $20 out of a tourist’s wallet and into your hands. Every street I turn on and BAM there you find a Chocolat Patisserie. In these little chocolate shops you find the most darling, artful little sweets. Decorated and displayed with a sense of grandeur and glamour, the chocolates seem too beautiful to eat. They are usually made in-house (or so they say) and have so many types of chocolates, that you really should just invest and buy the medium sized box that fits 15 pieces. But they don’t just stop here, oh no! They often have macarons, little gateaux, croissants, and of course coffee. If you’re really willing to treat yo’self, then ditch the shop and go straight for a chocolate making factory!

Cheese

France is rumored to have as many cheeses as there are days. And with it being a literal 12 minute drive from here, some of their cheeses spill into the area of Switzerland that I am in. A few nights ago, I was telling my host mom that I missed having dessert and had a real sweet tooth. “Dessert?” she said. “Why that’s cheese!” You guessed it, after dinner she came out of the kitchen with a plate of cheeses and some toasted bread. I was hesitant because I am not a fan of soft cheeses, and both of the cheeses she presented were soft. The first was Bleu cheese straight from France. It even had the blue holes scattered across the wedge! WARNING: Do not smell cheese before you eat it. When I picked it up, I was immediately attacked by the stench of ammonia, and the cheese wasn’t even near my face! This influenced my perception of the cheese and the whole time I was eating the measly little pinch that I spread on my toast I tried not to gag. The next cheese was Reblochon which had only 10% of the ammonia stench as Bleu, and tasted like a very watered down version of Brie (even though I was told it was nothing like Brie). Fun fact, the “Swiss cheese” that Americans use on their pastrami sandies is actually just Emmental cheese!

Chips

No Lays, Pringles, or Cheetos here! However, what tickles me is that their most popular chip flavor is Paprika! Paprika chips here are more popular than Lays Classic chips in America. Their red, plastic bag with flowers and peppers sprouting up around the orange-colored chip is easily recognizable anywhere. In the grocery store, they have their own section of bags upon bags of them. For good reason though; they are addicting! Just enough flavor with just enough of the classic chip you know and love. Think of barbeque chips, then take 10% of their flavor and you have Paprika chips. Lays, if you’re reading this, please bring this to America!!!

Cream

Ice-cream that is. (I wanted to stick with all “C” foods). In Switzerland, there is no ice cream. Only gelato. I know, I know, gelato has more milk and less cream compared to ice cream which, combined with less churning than ice cream, makes it denser. For me, I have tasted or felt no difference. But maybe that just means I am eating cheap gelato? Well, that can’t be it either since I paid $4.50 for the smallest bowl of gelato at Manu. I wouldn’t normally pay that much but I had a hankering for gelato and Manu was the first place we found during our mandatory two hour lunch break. Additionally, there was a sign in their window that said Manu was voted “Premier champion Suisse de glaces artisanales”. They did have some pretty interesting flavors! I got orange chocolate and popcorn. A weird mixture, but I honestly just picked the two flavors that looked the coolest.

As you can tell, my taste-buds and stomach are going on a whirlwind adventure here in Switzerland. Wish us luck!