Those wonderful moments of being a crazy exchange student

Yesterday we planned to go to Lugano, in Tessin (the only Italian Canton in Switzerland) with a big group of exchange students. As it turned out, it was just me and Carly and Ana (who live in Bern), none the less it was a very eventful day! Once we arrived in Lugano, after a 3 hour train ride... we set out to find Italian pizza for lunch.
   
We wandered around for a half an hour trying to find an appropriate restaurant, not too expensive and preferably not too fancy. None of us speak any Italian, and in Tissin very few people speak German. We found a reasonable place for lunch, and spent a long time deciding on which pizza to get and confusing our waiter when we asked to split one, three ways. The pizza was fantastic, and perfectly Italian.    We ordered 'Porcusito Pizza e Funghi', basically ham and mushrooms on pizza with mozzarella and the most amazing tomato sauce. The best part was that each of us had our pizza a particular way, Ana- who didn't like the ham, Me- who does not eat mushrooms, and Carly -who loves both. The pizza was absolutely delicious. Our waiter, who spoke no German and very little English was very confused at why we were in Lugano. After our fabulous lunch we just started walking, no idea where we were going or what were going to find. We didn't plan anything, we just walked and stopped to take pictures. Lugano is an absolutely beautiful city, it looked similar to Luzern- Lugano is also on a lake- but reminded me of being in Italy. I frequently forgot we were still in Switzerland, everyone was speaking Italian and it didn't seem like we could still possibly be in Switzerland. In true Italian fashion, we had to stop for some gelato, which was absolutely amazing by the way. It was extremely hot for October, probably because we were so close to Italy...but in Switzerland there is fresh clean drinking water everywhere. And its free.

Carly, Me, and Ana in Lugano

After gelato, we decided we could take a train to another city 30 minutes away- Belinzona. We all have train-bus-boat passes so we just hopped on a train to Belinzona. Once we arrived, we walked around for a little bit, when we happen to stumble upon a tunnel, which led to two elevators. We of course rode the elevators up, and voila! A Castle! We had just happend to stumble upon an old Italian castle, on a hill... It was a wonderful surprise! We just started walking around the grounds, enjoying the beautiful view of Tessin. We also happened to find a tunnel, under-neath a double sided wall. There was enough light to see, but we kept looking for dungeons... we didn't find any. 

Ana, Me, and Carly; Sitting on part of the walled castle.  

When we left the castle, we decided we should buy some food, at 'coop' to eat on the train home. Once we left the castle, we about 25 minutes to find food and head up the hill to the train station, the problem is we might have gotten a little distracted in 'coop', and got stuck in a long line. When we got through the line, after purchasing: bread, turkey, cheese, cookies, and bananas, we had all of five minutes to catch our train. We sprinted up the hill and barely caught our train! The three of us were completely exhausted to the point where literally everything was funny. I felt really bad for the people in the same compartment as us. We were hysterically laughing at everything and being really abnoxious, but we didn't care. We played 'Crazy Eights' on the train ride and practiced German phrases. We talked about what we have seen, the people we have met, and the journey we took to get here. I am really jealous that Ana flew into London, and because she had to change airports her father hired a driver who stopped along the way so she could take pictures. A year ago yesterday, I was sitting in an interview to be an exchange student, and yesterday I was sitting on a train in Switzerland, speeding through mountains, heading home.

I had the most amazingly wonderful day, definitely one of my best memories so far. Something that I will remember for a long time because of the randomness of the adventures we had. We never planned anything, other than what time we would meet. I never expected that any of this would have happened, because when you go on exchange anything is possible and you can't plan the unpredictable. I don't think I have ever laughed this hard since being here, with people who I met for the first time that morning. It felt like we had known each other forever, Ana and Carly have been friends for two months and both of them met me today. Exchange gives you something to talk about, something that no one else will ever understand. We already have inside jokes from silly It so strange to think that I have friends all over the world, and from every corner of the earth. I can't imagine not being here because this has become my life, the new normal.